KEY LARGO, Florida –
A college professor who spent 100 days underwater at a Florida Keys motel for scuba divers surfaced Friday and looked up at the sun for the first time since March 1.
Dr. Joseph Dituri set a new record for the longest time spent underwater without a drop in pressure during a stay at Jules’ Undersea Lodge, submerged under 30 feet (9.14 meters) of water in the Key Largo lagoon. .
The diving explorer and medical researcher broke the previous record of 73 days, two hours and 34 minutes set by two Tennessee professors at the same motel in 2014.
“It was never about the record,” Dituri said. “It’s about expanding human tolerance for the underwater world and for an isolated, restricted and inhospitable environment.”
Dituri, also known as “Dr. Deep Sea,” is a University of South Florida educator who holds a doctorate in biomedical engineering and is a retired U.S. Navy officer.
Guinness World Records listed Dituri as the record holder on its website after his 74th day underwater last month. The Marine Resources Development Foundation, which owns the lodge, will ask Guinness to certify the 100-day mark of Dituri, according to foundation head Ian Koblick.
Dituri’s work, dubbed Project Neptune 100, is organized by the foundation. Unlike a submarine that uses technology to keep the pressure inside equal to that on the surface, the inside of the lodge is set up to accommodate the higher pressures found underwater.
The project aims to learn more about how the human body and mind respond to prolonged exposure to extreme pressure and isolated environments and is designed to benefit ocean researchers. and astronauts on future long-term missions.
During his three months and nine days in the water, Dituri conducted daily experiments and measurements to monitor how his body responded to the increase in pressure over time.
He has also met online with thousands of students from 12 countries, taught a USF course, and welcomed over 60 visitors to the habitat.
“The most gratifying part about this is the interaction with the nearly 5,000 students and getting them interested in preserving, protecting and rejuvenating our marine environment,” said Dituri.
He plans to present the findings from Project Neptune 100 at the World Extreme Medicine Conference in November in Scotland.
