Topic: Stay-Focused

Young American divers with disabilities and local Caymanian interns have spent the last three weeks diving together.

Five runners who work for various hotels in Grand Cayman will be taking part in the upcoming New York City Marathon to raise funds for Stay-Focused, a charity that brings young people with disabilities to Cayman to learn to dive.

Three teenage Caymanian students have spent the last few weeks volunteering in a unique programme that brings young people with disabilities to Cayman to learn how to dive.

Four runners from the Cayman Islands joined the team of the Stay-Focused charity for last weekend's New York Marathon.

The sea is dead calm as the Red Sail dive boat pulls out from Seven Mile Beach and the divers check their gear and get ready to head underwater. For this group, it's not just a matter of sorting out their dive bags and replacing their sunglasses with scuba masks; these divers are also putting away their wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs and crutches before strapping air tanks to their backs.

For Clint Mooney, diving in Grand Cayman is a reminder of his independence. The ability to freely explore a new, underwater world grounds him and brings a sense of calm.

Despite growing up in one of the Caribbean’s premier dive destinations, Jaeda Kirchman, 15, did not spend much time exploring Grand Cayman’s waters. Like many of her classmates at Clifton Hunter High School, she mainly stuck to activities on land and ventured out for an occasional ocean swim with family.