A university professor who spent over 100 days living under water at a Florida Keys lodge for scuba divers resurfaced on Friday, June 9, 2023, and raised his face to the sun for the first time since March 1, according to Key Largo, Fla. (AP).
Dr. Joseph Dituri, who also goes by the nickname “Dr. Deep Sea,” is a University of South Florida educator who holds a doctorate (PHD) in biomedical engineering and is a retired U.S. Naval officer.
He set a new record for the longest time living underwater without depressurization during his stay at Jules’ Undersea Lodge, submerged beneath 30 feet (9.14 meters) of water in a Key Largo lagoon.
The diving explorer and medical researcher shattered the previous record of 73 days, two hours, and 34 minutes set by two Tennessee professors at the same lodge in 2014.
“It was never about the record; it was about extending human tolerance for the underwater world and for an isolated, confined, extreme environment,” Dituri said.
In a photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, the diving explorer and medical researcher Dituri points to his watch on Friday, June 9, 2023, indicating that it is time to surface after spending over 100 days in the Jules’ Undersea Lodge marine habitat at the bottom of a Key Largo, Fla., lagoon.
According to Mariano Lorde/Florida Keys News Bureau via Key Largo, Fla. (AP), Dituri broke the previous 73-day record for underwater human habitation at ambient pressure, undertook medical and marine science research, and interacted online with more than 5,500 students during his Project Neptune 100 mission organized by the Marine Resources Development Foundation.
However, Guinness World Records listed Dituri as the record holder on its website after his 74th day underwater last month.
According to foundation head Ian Koblick, the Marine Resources Development Foundation, which owns the lodge, will ask Guinness to certify Dituri’s 100-day mark.
Koblick said that Dituri’s undertaking, dubbed Project Neptune 100, was organized by the foundation.
He added that unlike a submarine, which uses technology to keep the inside pressure about the same as at the surface, the lodge’s interior is set to match the higher pressure found underwater.
Dituri said that the project was aimed at learning more about how the human body and mind respond to extended exposure to extreme pressure and an isolated environment and was designed to benefit ocean researchers and astronauts on future long-term missions.
The doctor noted that, during the three months and nine days he spent underwater, he conducted daily experiments and measurements to monitor how his body responded to the increase in pressure over time.
Dituri said that he also met online with several thousand students from 12 countries, taught a USF course, and welcomed more than 60 visitors to the habitat.
“The most gratifying part about this is the interaction with almost 5,000 students and having them care about preserving, protecting, and rejuvenating our marine environment,” Dituri said.
Dr. Dituri plans to present findings from Project Neptune 100 at November’s World Extreme Medicine Conference in Scotland.
