Joe Dituri surfaces in Key Largo, Florida, after 100 days below the surface.
The Doctor's unlikely record: lived 100 days underwater
KEY LARGO. The sun is shining in Joe Dituri's eyes and he is longing for a cheeseburger. It's been a while since the last time. He has spent the last 100 days under the surface of the water. During the roughly three months he has shrunk in height, but thinks it was worth it - the test results the deep sea doctor has seen so far indicate that it was the pure health cure.
Once ashore, Joe undergoes medical examinations.
The body has been affected in several ways after the long stay below the surface.
A few hours earlier it had been bubbling to the surface in the small harbor as underwater research's own Neptune poked its head up and waved to the gang gathered on shore to watch the ascent. The last time he was above the surface it was the first of March on the calendar.
- We wanted to see what happened to the human body when it is allowed to be in an isolated, extreme environment, says Dituri.
It's a lot, apparently.
During the more than three months that he has lived in the "underwater hotel" in Florida, he has carried out a series of scientific experiments and tests on himself to see how spending so much time in a place where the air pressure is higher than above the surface affects you the same way it gets lower high up in the air).
Got shorter under the surface
The results they have so far indicate that basically everything has improved. All markers of inflammation show a halving. He says they have measured improved acuity in the brain as well.
- My cholesterol dropped by almost 40 percent, these are crazy numbers. I have no idea what this is due to. That is what we are going to find out now, and analyze. That's the boring part of science, haha! They say "we'll meet in six months and I'll come up with results".
But one thing is already clear on Friday when he came up: he has shrunk.
- I became almost an inch shorter. It has to do with pressure. Astronauts expand, aquanauts compress. We knew that would happen. But I'm over 1.85 so there was a bit to take off.
Cheerful mood inside the underwater dwelling.
Joe Dituri with food bags. On the right is the flag of the Explorers Club.
Dituri has a background in the US Navy and was an officer there before he saddled up and became a researcher.
What was it like on a personal level to be trapped there for so long, what did you learn about yourself?
- I relied on my 28 years of experience from the navy, and leaned on meditation and my faith. Then it was just a matter of biting the bullet and getting on with it. So yes, I've learned that you can persevere through a lot.
Like a cheek tooth cracked twelve days in. And a little later he had a sinus infection.
- I got very dizzy, so then I didn't feel very well. But that's what happens. You know, I knew it would be difficult to answer - that's why no one has done it before.
(The closest anyone has come before the deep-sea doctor struck was every 73 days, which a couple of researchers put up with nine years ago.)
This is what the underwater hotel looks like
The "underwater hotel" itself is eight meters below the surface and consists of two cylindrical spaces, approximately three by seven meters each (but only half of that is usable surface). One cylinder is the bedroom and the other is the kitchen and living room. At the ends of both tubes there are meter-sized round windows where you can look out at barracudas, spadefish and other exotic marine life.
In the middle, between the cylinders, is the entrance. It's like a hole in the floor that you dive into.
The goal of the experiment was not the record itself. He says that it was partly to see what happens in the body, partly to pay attention to the marine climate.
Joe Dituri when he was outside the hotel.
During the hundred days, he has had numerous video meetings with schoolchildren, and afterwards the experiment has received attention everywhere from CNN, the BBC to the New York Post and the Jerusalem Post.
- We have reached thousands of young people and can talk about how to preserve and protect the marine environment.
"Missing the physical contact"
How did your family react to you doing this?
- My daughters said "oh, dad, it's typical of you to do something crazy like this". So it was a bit tough. But they supported me. I got a lot of love from the family when I was here.
He says he was able to keep in touch with the kids, his wife and his mother via video calls, and even had visitors below the surface. But it was – of course – not a normal everyday life.
- What you miss is the physical contact. It was a bit like during covid - you had to learn not to touch each other. But now after the pandemic, people want to touch each other. So you can say this: now there will be a lot of hugs. And then I'm really longing for a cheeseburger!
Source:https://www.expressen.se/nyheter/doktorns-osannolika-rekord-levde-100-dagar-under-vattenytan/
