(DiverWire) Tamanna Balachandran became the youngest scuba diver to be PADI certified at the tender age of ten-years-old. Balachandran lives in Mumbai, the capitol of Maharashtra in India.
On April 16th, the day after her tenth birthday, Balachandran earned her PADI Junior Open Water Scuba Diver’s certificate, thus entering the history books as the youngest certified diver in scuba history. She got in just under the wire, too – ten years and 3 days was the previous record, set by an Egyptian diver.
The Junior Open Water Scuba Diver’s test requires knowledge of depressurization, underwater communication, and strong swimming skills, among other techniques like gear knowledge and safe practices.
Balachandran first had to complete a BubbleMaker course, which she did two years prior. She finished her Junior Open Water certification near the Nicobar islands, in the eastern Indian Ocean. The final certification took two days, and required that the ten-year-old dive in real, actual conditions.
“So much diving and swimming we did!” Said ten-year-old Balachandran, in an interview with the Times of India. “It was absolutely amazing.”
