Teen scuba-diving sensation makes a splash in Knaresborough

Ella Rose is one step closer to achieving her dream of becoming a Marine biologist by qualifying as a scuba diver - at the age of 13.
Ella Rose on a dive in Cyprus (s)Ella Rose on a dive in Cyprus (s)
Ella Rose on a dive in Cyprus (s)

The King James’ student has just completed her Junior Advanced Open Water qualification which included a dive to a depth of 21 metres.

Having already completed her Junior Open Water Course last year, Ella completed the advanced course in Cyprus the first week of April this year.

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Ella first started her diving training in 2014 in Harrogate with the Overland/Underwater Diving School, before completing four qualifying Open Water Dives in Cyprus.

The Year 8 student, who is now qualified to go diving with any other qualified diver, explained that her love of the activity was sparked by her grandad’s interest in it.

She said: “My grandad does it and so does my dad. I saw lots of pictures of them doing it and I just thought that it looked like fun.

“So I decided that I wanted to try it and I did it at this place in Harrogate with Overland/Underwater Diving School and immediately I knew that I liked it.

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“Both of the courses were a lot of fun but there were certain skills that we had to complete that were really hard and I did struggle with.

“One of them was taking off my mask and then putting it down and then back on my face. That was really difficult because of the salt water on my face but, after a lot of hard work, I managed to achieve that.”

During her Junior Advanced Open Water qualification, Ella completed a navigation dive using a compass, a peak performance buoyancy as well as underwater photography.

Ella is now hoping to continue her love of diving in Mexico and Egypt and, once she is 15, she will automatically qualify as an Advanced Open Water Diver with her dive limit extended to 30 metres.

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She said: “My favourite part of diving is seeing all the fish, you also get to see wrecks in ships under there and you can also go in them. It’s really cool and interesting to touch them.

“My grandad said I’m his new diving buddy now. Every time we go on holiday I always go diving with him because you always have to go in two.

“When I’m older I would like to be a marine biologist and that would be able to include my scuba diving.

“On one of my favourite dives this huge jellyfish swam past my face. It kind of shocked me at first but it was really cool.

“I also really enjoyed the dive where I did my deepest dive. You have to go further than 18 metres but the maximum is 21 metres and I managed to get there and I had a photo with the depth on it.”

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