13-year-old girl to dive between tectonic plates separating North America and Europe

24 Jul 2015

13-year-old Charlotte Burns plans to dive between the Silfra fissure, the tectonic plates separating Europe and North America.

Charlotte Burns, a 13-year-old schoolgirl from Kent in England, has received special permission from the Iceland government to attempt a dive through the Silfra fissure that separates the tectonic plates of Europe and North America.

At 12, Charlotte became the youngest master scuba diver in the world after qualifying with the Professional Association of Diving Instructors.

Her permission to dive through the Silfra fissure comes after eight months of lobbying the Icelandic government. The age limit is 18.

Silfra, which is located in the Thingvellir National Park, is the only place on Earth where you can dive directly between two continental plates.

Burns intends to do the dive at the end of September with Monty Halls, the British explorer best known for his BBC Great Escape series.

Charlotte hails from a family of scuba divers and started diving when she was 10. Her older brother Will (26) was previously the world’s youngest junior master scuba diver at 14. Her dad was a Royal Marines Commando.

So far she has completed more than 130 dives around the world, including locations in Scotland, Cyprus and California.

A previous feat of bravery by Burns included raising £420,000 for doing a scuba dive in a tank full of live sharks.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com