At a dive resort in the Florida Keys, a professor from a US university broke the record for the longest period spent submerged without depressurization.
Joseph Dituri has been living in Jules’ Undersea Lodge in Key Largo for 74 days when he submerged on March 1. The lodge is at the bottom of a 30-foot-deep lagoon.
Professor Dituri, popularly known as Dr. Deep Sea, consumed a protein-rich lunch of microwaved eggs and salmon in addition to resistance band workouts, daily push-ups, and an hour-long snooze.
The lodge does not employ technology to compensate for the higher underwater pressure, unlike a submarine.
Two Tennessee professors, Bruce Cantrell, and Jessica Fain, broke the previous mark of 73 days, two hours, and 34 minutes in 2014 at the same spot.
Prof. Dituri, however, is not content to simply set a record and surface; he intends to remain at the lodge until June 9, when he hits 100 days and completes the Project Neptune 100 mission.
The Marine Resources Development Foundation, which owns the habitat, organized the mission, which mixes medical and ocean research with educational outreach.
“The record is a small bump and I appreciate it,” said Prof Dituri, a University of South Florida educator who holds a doctorate in biomedical engineering and is a retired US naval officer.
“I’m honoured to have it, but we still have more science to do.”
He conducts regular physiological studies as part of his research to examine how the human body handles prolonged exposure to high pressure.
“The idea here is to populate the world’s oceans, to take care of them by living in them and really treating them well,” Prof Dituri said.
The outreach portion of Prof Dituri’s mission includes conducting online classes and broadcast interviews from his digital studio beneath the sea.
During the past 74 days, he has reached more than 2,500 students through online classes in marine science and more with his regular biomedical engineering courses at the University of South Florida. While he says he loves living under the ocean, there is one thing he really misses.
“The thing that I miss the most about being on the surface is literally the sun,” Prof Dituri said.
“The sun has been a major factor in my life – I usually go to the gym at five and then I come back out and watch the sunrise.”