An American professor has broken the record for the longest time living underwater without depressurisation at the Florida Keys Lodge for scuba divers.
Joseph Dituri spent 74 days living in Jules’ Undersea Lodge which is situated at the bottom of a 30-foot-deep lagoon.
He broke the record for the longest time living underwater while residing under the sea to carry out research.
He took to Twitter today to share the achievement saying, “Today I broke the world record for living underwater. The curiosity for discovery has led me here.
“My goal from day one has been to inspire generations to come, interview scientists who study life undersea and learn how the human body functions in extreme environments.”
With the record of having lived 74 days underwater under his belt, he isn’t stopping there but targets 100 days. He plans to stay at the lodge till June 9 to reach 100 days and also complete an underwater mission dubbed Project Neptune 100.
The mission combines medical and ocean research along with educational outreach and was organized by the Marine Resources Development Foundation, owner of the habitat, AP reported
Dituri, who also goes by the nickname “Dr Deep Sea,” has been eating protein-heavy meals of eggs and salmon prepared using a microwave, exercises with resistance bands, performs his daily exercise and takes an hour-long nap while underwater.
“The record is a small bump and I really appreciate it,” said Dituri, a University of South Florida educator with a doctorate degree in biomedical engineering, “I’m honoured to have it, but we still have more science to do.”
“The idea here is to populate the world’s oceans, to take care of them by living in them and really treating them well,” Dituri, a retired U.S. Naval officer, said.
His research daily experiments in physiology to monitor how the human body responds to long-term exposure to extreme pressure.
While he says he loves living under the ocean, the only thing he misses is the sun, he said.
The previous record of 73 days, two hours and 34 minutes was set by two Tennessee professors – Bruce Cantrell and Jessica Fain – at the same location in 2014.
