Dubai's 12-year-old youngest PADI MSD-certified diver

Listen to this article

Dubai-based 12-year-old Ellie May Craig has become the youngest diver with a PADI Master Scuba Diver – MSD qualification.

Ellie earned her qualification exactly on her 12th birthday and thus set an unbreakable record. Young diving students who take on this challenge in the future will only be able to equal her record. All because you must be at least 12 years old to apply for PADI Master Scuba Diver certification.

To obtain her MSD certification, the teenager performed a series of required dives off the coast of Fujairah. Among them was a simulated emergency situation at a depth of 21 meters. The girl had to find the missing diver, and later also perform CPR on shore.

It was a little more difficult than I expected. Everything was more physically demanding than mentally, nevertheless I had a lot of fun underwater. Both the tasks in the pool and in the sea proved to be quite difficult. It took me 11 hours to complete the whole thing, but I was determined to do it and break the record in the process – Ellie said.

Despite being only 12 years old, Ellie is already tying her future to the water and wants to become a marine biologist. Diving and proper practice can certainly make this much easier for her. In addition, more dives will provide a great incentive to explore and learn more about the underwater world.

The previous record holder was London-based Toby Monteiro-Hourigan. The teenager earned his PADI MSD certification in December 2020., a day after turning 12.

Technical diving is undoubtedly a topic that raises a lot of emotions. How to start the adventure of advanced diving and is it even for me? Help in answering these questions can be found in an article written by Andrzej Górnicki. You will find it in the 20th issue of our DIVERS24 quarterly! The digital version of the magazine is available free of charge, while you can purchase the printed version in our online store.