Scuba divers spent more than 639 hours underwater to raise more than $10,000 for the Cayman Islands Breast Cancer Foundation for Women’s Dive Day 2021.

Hitting 639 hours was not an arbitrarily goal — it’s the equivalent of 2.3 million seconds, which is a second for each person diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020.

Divers in the Cayman Islands (and some around the world) took part in the dive-a-thon, says Joanna Mikutowicz, owner of Divetech, the dive center that organized the event. Off the Wall Divers, Ocean Frontiers and Red Sail all donated tanks and other resources in support of the fundraiser.

In the run up to the event, Mikutowicz encouraged international that could not make it to the Cayman Islands “join us from wherever they are, even if it is from their bathtub.”

Divers around the world took her call to heart. “Between everyone diving at the event, people diving elsewhere in Cayman and the Sister Islands, and dive groups that ‘joined’ in all the way from Hawaii to Nova Scotia to Florida, we exceeded our goal of 639 hours,” Mikutowicz tells the Cayman Compass.

Groups of divers in the Cayman Islands contributed a total of 396 hours in the water, with some divers getting in the water as early as 7:30 a.m. and others getting in throughout the day, still surfacing in the late afternoon.

“We had over 130 divers come and join in the event, so many people from overseas call in donations because they can’t be here to join us this year, and so many wonderful raffle prizes,” Mikutowicz says.

“The outpouring of support for this event from the community, other dive operators and the hard work of the Divetech staff and volunteers made it successful…I am truly honored that we can make such a large contribution to the Breast Cancer Foundation.”

PADI’s Women’s Dive Day is celebrated annually on a Saturday in July.