Aoife O’Connell chronicles the adventure in the diary below:

Mike McKenzie on Scuba Diving in the Red Sea:

  

"it was my first open water dive after doing the pool sessions in Nottingham, so I was a little bit unsure of what I was going to meet, and being thrown off the back of a boat for the first time was perhaps a little worrying. As it turned out once I hit the water, bobbed up to the surface, I felt totally relaxed, perfectly comfortable and from then on I felt totally at home in the sea!"

Mike has no legs and no feeling below chest level, so for him diving was always going to be slightly different to most people's experiences;

"Basically I had to use my arms as other people use their legs, which is not the most efficient way of swimming because fins on your feet are designed to make it comparatively easy to swim quite quickly. Its really hard work on the arms, I had a pair of webbed gloves, which acted a bit like fins and gave me a bit more propulsion. One of the problems I have is that without my lower legs my position in the water is mainly vertical and not horizontal, because normally the lower legs would have buoyancy and particularly a wet suit keeps you buoyant and the body horizontal. In my case we were playing around with different weighting combinations trying to get weight on my chest to pull that down and therefore my lower end up. It was partly successful but a lot of the time I was swimming in an upright position, which was a bit of a challenge to say the least!"

The team spent six days completing their underwater challenge in the Red Sea, there were many high points and very few low points, unless you count sitting on the bottom of the Red Sea as a one! For Mike the whole experience was a high point;

"There were so many highlights its difficult to pick out just one. But coming up after the first dive and having been to the bottom, seeing the fish and what it was all about - it was just mind boggling really! The night dive was another highlight, it was a phenomenal experience. I didn't find any of it claustrophobic because I was so fascinated by what was around me, probably largely down to diving with Jim both as a buddy and an instructor. I just felt totally relaxed and able to really really enjoy it" Will he do it again? "Yes! As soon as possible!"

Miles Hilton Barber on Diving in the Red Sea:

"For me the biggest transformation that took place in the Red Sea was I'd done a bit of scuba diving before I had my open water ticket, but I had never felt very comfortable in the water. For the first time, I just found it an amazing experience where my equipment felt like it was an extension of my body, I felt so at home underwater, almost like I belonged there with the fishes. Day by day it just became more and more wonderful. I got a lot out of watching the progress of Caroline and Mike learning to dive, our team Captain Jon and Aoife our journalist who managed two dives, which was fantastic…but for me the challenge was getting a man paralysed from the waist down, in and out of the sea safely".

On the Dive team:
"I think I was humbled by the enormity of the support that we had from people like Jim Corbally and Darren Brookes Project manager who put it all together. I can never fully understand why so many people help us in such a fantastic way; we're just an ordinary group of people. I was humbled by the depth of commitment from people like Mary Munley from Regal Dive, the Hilton Hotel, and Oceanic for all the equipment and of course Emperor diving, and the great big diving boat they sponsored…the extent of the support was all down to Darren co-ordinating everything is such a great way"

On the first dive:
"I suppose as a blind person I am constantly trying to become aware of my environment, like on the boat - where's my cylinder, where's my equipment? It always feels a bit strange strapping on about seventy pounds of lead weight and equipment and then jumping off the back of a boat and expecting to float! So for me, because I can't see what's going on around me it's like a leap of faith!

The sound is always amplified under the water, as soon as we got down around the coral reef with Darren as my buddy, I was very aware of the light tinkling coral sound all around the coral. You can here things like parrot fish chewing the coral, and all the different forms of sea life crawling around on the coral reef. I loved that! Just to hold my breath and to listen to it. As a blind diver I hold on lightly to my buddy Darren's wrist - it gives me some sense of spatial awareness and what direction we are going in. I have a little computer which speaks to underwater. It tells me things like my depth, how long I've been underwater and whether I need to stop for a safety stop."

Night Dive:
"The big thing about the night dive for me was that there was more light and activity. I can pick up light and darkness with my left eye and all I could think about was the nature programs I watched as a child, it was an amazing privilege then to be actually part of this underwater world."

Special moment:
"For me the photo-shoot was so unique, probably one of the most unusual photo shoots ever, a blind man with his white stick pushing a man with no legs in a wheelchair along the bottom of the Red Sea."

Something for the future?
"I am sold on scuba diving! I have just qualified for my advance open water scuba ticket. It is a sport I will be doing in the future and encouraging people with disabilities to get involved in Dive able. I would recommend diving to everyone, give it a go, chances are you can probably do it!

Caroline Casey on scuba diving in the Red Sea:

Ten years ago, Caroline was told she would never be allowed to dive because of her sight. She had picked mandarins in Australia for six weeks to pay for the scuba diving but failed the eye exam in her medical and was told she would never dive. Ten years later, Caroline has her PADI ticket and has dived in the Red Sea;
"It was an amazing experience; I know now why people are addicted to diving. Combined the three of us did 11.5 miles together, I was fining really quickly and they had to get me to slow right down, and actually when you slow your fining down it's a far more enjoyable dive!

I think the team really needed it; we were all tired and exhausted. After three weeks on the road we had come into our first problem areas, people being tired and sick, our camera being stolen, moving the whole time, and then we got to this place and you would have had to have been the biggest cynic ever not to have been in awe of what went on under the sea. But as a team together we all wanted to achieve the same goal, dive together. As a team I think it brought us all closer, it was one of those magic weeks in our lives, it was awful saying goodbye! But the whole experience was a dream come true."

The Night Dive:
"Although I saw nothing on my night dive, it didn't take away from the experience for one moment. It was still absolutely exhilarating to be down there like a fish swimming, breathing, moving silently. One of the people on the boat said they think diving is almost spiritual, and I would have to agree. You just float, your mind shuts off and your are completely taken with this world under the sea"

All aboard:
The team that looked after us were fantastic, if it wasn't for them I wouldn't have been able to do it. I was told ten years ago I could never dive, I met two people Darren Brookes and Jim Corbally who said 'Yes you can' and it's them and their confidence in us that made the whole thing so amazing and so much fun…somersaulting in the water was like being in space and I don't think my eyes took away from the experience in any way. To me that week was something so completely different and new, it didn't matter that I couldn't see it!"

Special moment
"Seeing Mike underwater was very special. I shook his hand and seeing the smile on his face was fantastic, it was this huge beam!"

"Another magic moment was seeing dolphins by the edge of the boat in the evening sun. If they had been any further away I wouldn't have seen them, I have to say that was pretty cool"

Would she do it again?
"I'm trying to convince Darren and Jim to take us back in February, its something I know I will continue to do and really love doing, it's the best thing in the world!"