Meet Zak, who trains in icy cold lakes in Milton Keynes to become the UK's youngest Master Scuba Diver

Zak Egan completed his PADI Junior Advanced Open Water, Junior Rescue Diver and Junior Master Scuba Diver qualifications on his 12th birthday recently following years of practise.

Twelve is the minimum age that the exams can be taken.

It is now beleived he is the world’s most experienced scuba diver for his age and certainly the youngest in the world to complete the qualifications feat in cold water.

A student at Oakgrove Secondary School, Zak has trained through Northampton Scuba School.

"They have been absolutely fantastic at supporting Zak to achieve this and I’d highly recommend them for anyone wanting to learn scuba diving especially for younger children,” said his dad Andrew.

He added: “Zak’s experience is extremely varied with over 50 dives at many locations including a number of UK inland dive sites where the water is cold and murky often with poor visibility. These sites have included Gildenburgh Water, Vobster Quay, Capernwray, Dosthill, Stoney Cove and The Blue Lagoon in MK”.

Outside of the UK, Zak has dived around some small wrecks in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Cyprus, a lost sunken city at the Archaeological Marine Park of Baia situated on the northwest shore of the Gulf of Naples and also in the Grottos off Nerano, the picturesque bay nestled between Sorrento, the Island of Capri and the Amalfi coast.

“Being extremely interested in marine wildlife he has dived with sharks at the Blue Planet Aquarium completing a shark aware course and also interacting with wild seals off the shores of Lundy Island in the Atlantic Ocean,” said Andrew.

Zak’s diving started with the bubble maker course when he was eight years old. When he was 10 (the minimum age) he became a qualified scuba diver, gaining his Open Water licence. When he was 11, Zak completed his Adventure Diver and Speciality qualifications for Boat Diving, Drysuit, Digital Underwater Imaging, Peak Performance Buoyancy and Fish Identification.

On his 12th birthday he completed his Advanced Open Water qualification with a deep dive down to 21 metres (nearly 70 feet) and then his Rescue Diver where he had to perform exercises dealing with a distressed diver and find a missing buddy at the bottom of Stoney Cove, bring the unconscious adult diver to the surface, then tow them to the shore whist performing emergency care.

But diving isn’t Zak’s only passion. He is also dedicated to kick boxing, where he is a brown belt, and is working towards his Black Belt with Total Dojo in Milton Keynes.

He’s also a competitive gymnast and has competed in numerous competitions including the English Silver Tumbling competition representing Milton Keynes Gymnastics.

In total, he trains for around 20 hours a week for all his activities.

Zak, who lives in Woolstone, now plans to wait until he is15 until he can take the next scuba diving qualification – diving with Enriched Air (Nitrox) and at night.

He also aims to complete qualifications for full face mask and driver propulsion vehicle (DPV).

"He has many more diving adventures to come,” said his dad.