Page 16 - IAV Digital Magazine #572

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Florida Professor Resurfaces After A Record 100 Days Living Underwater
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmrcHF7ssPY
A man who spent 100 days living underwa- ter at a Florida Keys lodge for scuba divers has resur- faced.
Dr Joseph Dituri, a university professor, has set a new record for the longest time living underwater without depressurisa- tion during his stay at Jules' Undersea
Lodge.
The lodge was sub- merged beneath 30 feet of water in a Key Largo lagoon.
The diving explorer and medical researcher surpassed the previous mark of 73 days, two hours and 34 minutes set by two Tennessee professors in 2014.
Speaking on his experience underwa- ter, Dr Dituri said: "It was never about the record.
"It was about extend- ing human tolerance for the underwater world and for an iso- lated, confined, extreme environ-
ment."
After 74 days under the water, Dr Dituri was listed on the Guinness World Records website.
The record-breaking firm said on its web- site: "The longest time spent living in an underwater fixed habitat is 74 days, and was achieved by Joseph Dituri (USA), who entered Jules' Undersea Lodge, a steel-and-glass facility anchored at a depth of 9.14m (30 ft) just off the coast of Key Largo, Florida, USA, on 1 March 2023, as verified on 13 May 2023."
Now Dr Dituri has hit 100 days, the Marine Resources Development Foundation, which owns the lodge, will ask Guinness to certi- fy the milestone.
Dr Dituri's record- breaking mission, dubbed Project Neptune 100, was organised by the foundation.
Unlike a submarine, which uses technolo- gy to keep the inside pressure about the same as at the sur- face, the lodge's inte- rior is set to match the higher pressure found underwater.
Project Neptune is a long-term study which looks at the physio- logical and psycho- logical effects of com- pressors on the human body, and it uses "the uniqueness of the mission and location to bring more awareness of current marine research and the importance of conservation of our ocean's resources and processes."
In order to keep track of how his body responded, Dr Dituri carried out daily experiments to moni- tor his response to the pressure through- out his time underwa- ter.
Dr Dituri plans to present the findings from Project Neptune 100 in November at the World Extreme Medicine Conference in Scotland.
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine