13-year-old’s dive illegal in Iceland

The dream of a 13-year-old British diver to becom­e the youngest per­son to ever dive into the Silfra fissure at Þing­vell­ir may be thwarted by Icelandic legal obstacles.

Charlotte Burns – known by the nickname ‘The Tect­onic Kid’, with reference to her diving ambitions in Iceland – is not old enough to dive under Icelandic law, which states that amateur divers must be at least seventeen years of age.

Charlotte is enthusiastic above the famous Icelandic site.

“I find it amaz­ing – the fact that you can touch two tect­onic pla­tes at the same time is awe-inspir­ing,” Char­lotte told mbl.is. She disco­v­ered Silfra in a di­ving magaz­ine and, af­ter look­ing it up on­line, th­ere was no turn­ing back.

Sadly, at this stage, the Tect­onic Kid’s dream looks like it may have to remain just that – at least for the next four years or so.

Replying to questions from mbl.is , the Icelandic Transport Agency said that, “[we] do have no legal authority to waive the statutory minimum age. Icelandic legislation and regulations on diving make no provision for powers to grant exemptions.”

The young diver planned to do two forty-minu­te di­ves in Silfra – the first on 25 Sept­em­ber and the second on 26 Sept­em­ber. She was to be accomp­anied by the Brit­ish explor­er Monty Halls who is best known for his BBC series, Great Escape, in which he li­ved in remote parts of the UK along with his dog.

Charlotte was initially under the impression that the diving company dive.is had received authorisation from Þingvellir National Park rangers for the dive, but it transpires that this is not the case.

If you want to see more from Char­lotte you can follow her on Face­book or even take a look at her website .