KEY LARGO, Fla. (AP) — A university professor broke a record for the longest time living underwater without depressurization this weekend at a Florida Keys lodge for scuba divers.
Joseph Dituri’s 74th day residing in Jules’ Undersea Lodge, situated at the bottom of a 30-foot-deep lagoon in Key Largo, wasn’t much different than his previous days there since he submerged March 1.
Dituri, who also goes by the moniker “Dr. Deep Sea,” ate a protein-heavy meal of eggs and salmon prepared using a microwave, exercised with resistance bands, did his daily pushups and took an hour-long nap. Unlike a submarine, the lodge does not use technology to adjust for the increased underwater pressure.
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.
But Dituri isn’t just settling for the record and resurfacing: He plans to stay at the lodge until June 9, when he reaches 100 days and completes 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.
“The record is a small bump and I really appreciate it,” said Dituri, a University of South Florida educator who holds a doctorate in biomedical engineering and is a retired U.S. Naval officer. “I’m honored to have it, but we still have more science to do.”
His research includes daily experiments in physiology to monitor how the human body responds to long-term exposure to extreme pressure.
“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 said.
The outreach portion of Dituri’s mission includes conducting online classes and broadcast interviews from his digital studio beneath the sea. During the past 74 days, he has reached over 2,500 students through online classes in marine science and more with his regular biomedical engineering courses at the University of South Florida.
While he says he loves living under the ocean, there is one thing he really misses.
“The thing that I miss the most about being on the surface is literally the sun,” Dituri said. “The sun has been a major factor in my life – I usually go to the gym at five and then I come back out and watch the sunrise.”
Ron S
Hi everyone, I just had an interesting dream about something very opposite to living underwater that I’d like to share:)
Read on if you’re interested☀️ here’s what I woke up to today.
I rarely remember my dreams, and if I do it’s usually just a very small part of it, but maybe because the dream this morning was happening in and around the time I woke up as to why I remember it pretty well.
The really odd thing about this dream is it made a lot of sense with the exception of one word I hadn’t heard before and in a language I don’t know (Spanish), but it fit perfectly into this dream setting and seemed very intentional… It actually made decent sense when I looked it up to see if it actually was a word.
The word (spelled as it sounded in English in the dream) was
Talla: Spanish, for representing size.
Different pronunciation in Spanish but it was the first and highest result I saw and it felt instinctually right to go with it.
Now ride along as I tell you what I remember from the dream.
It was just like some kind of exciting intro to one of those old heroic style westerns on tv. There was classic triumphant western music with a chorus (after each verse I think there was even a whip crack sound but only 80% sure on that.) that would be awesome if I could say it was 100% 😊
It was definitely in vivid color with a semi-wide overhead view of three guys on horseback in a wild chase over a rugged but grassy mountain, the lead rider was a bad guy trying to escape the other two (the other two riders had a good vibe of upholding justice.)
The bad guy (ahead of the other two) was pretty nondescript, but he was dressed dark and his horse was either dark brown or black… you just knew he was bad and trying to get away. You could tell the bandit was fleeing in terror for his life.
I got the impression I myself was one of the riders in pursuit but I was watching myself from out-of-body in a (2nd?) person point of view from above.
The main character or hero, who was also in pursuit was a real big guy (think Bambino from the Trinity series spaghetti westerns).
As the two good guys gave chase they managed to gain ground on the bad guy, there was an extremely intuitive sense how the good guys were working together and very much on the same mission.
The two good guys were using the gradual changes to the terrain in sync and each one had different and various riding techniques, zigging and zagging, conquering different types of terrain at the same time so they never used the same riding techniques as each other at the same time. It was really fun to watch.
As the good guys raced onwards zigging and zagging over different paths at full speed, they were making their moves to intercept, there was triumphant western background music to it all…and then the occasional upbeat male chorus would kick in over the music with these words.
🎶If I go right, he goes talla 🎶 (whip crack sound 🎵!)
🎶If I go left, he goes talla 🎶 (whip crack sound 🎵!)
-classic western instrumental continues-
(The camera or my view pans in from overhead to see the big guy on horseback catching up quickly to the bad guy).The big Marshal guy gets side to side with the bandit and leaps from his own horse onto the bandit, pulling him off and tackling him to the ground in one very athletic move.
The bandit is shaken, stunned and doesn’t have the energy to fight back.
…Then from behind a closer view of big Marshal, he’s clutching bad guys shirt in his left hand, and a zoomed in view of the big Marshals thick open right hand is poised still in the air and ready to come down in a power slap.
🎶For what is right, he shows talla 🎶
(Whip crack!)
Then there was some additional lyrics ( triumphant music still playing) about the bad guy getting slapped so hard he would literally soil himself ( but I was starting to wake up at that point and I’m not sure if that was pure dream or my own awakening conscious interaction into it. I wanted to see that slap so bad, lmao! THE END…almost.
Dang, that was such a catchy tune I’ve never heard before. I’ve been whistling and humming it all morning… it’s now a classic, at least to me:)
So I wake up immediately thinking “what is talla?” “Was that supposed to be the word tallow with a western drawl?”
No… I don’t think so. Everything else in the dream seemed so real and possible it would surprise me if the brain only glitched over just one word.
So I looked it up as a shot in the dark and typed it as it sounded in English, well it was a Spanish word, but still fitting for a western. My own take on it was I believe it was referring to big Marshals stature and size as a nod to gods power or righteousness. How he keeps everything in order with his “talla”.
So if this in fact is how it’s supposed to be interpreted, why would I have to look up a word I’d never heard, didn’t even know was a word, and from a language I am not fluent in? Keep reading and you’ll be surprised at how Gobsmacked I was myself within only moments.
I did have a thought that lasted a couple minutes where I said to myself, “Maybe it’s overthinking or coincidence, dreams can be funny like that”.
The next thing I know within minutes, something is compelling me to look at the definition again… even though the definition of “talla” was literally one word and my memory isn’t THAT bad lol!
But it felt right to comply and I go back to the search and look directly under the definition as if I’m supposed to see something.
Here’s where we get to the truly fascinating stuff.
What happened next when I scrolled down almost made me feel ill…it was incredible but also dark and disturbing. It felt like it completely went against the good feeling I got from the dream which was in a beautiful, natural setting and where good conquers evil.
Stop and look the word up for yourself (Talla) and scroll down… what do you see directly under the top result?
If you’re screen is like mine you might see an add for a business that uses computer integration alongside humans (AI) technology… and of course the logo is what?… yes… a brain.
I hope you’re as floored as I was. As God is my witness I feel like I’m being shown that (AI) is trying to take over. At least it wasn’t the top result in the search… yet.
You can’t make this stuff up people. I’m not a writer, not a reader or a researcher of anything in particular. Heck, I don’t even have confidence in my own memory to delve into anything deeper that the wading pool.
I’m not perfect by any means, I’m just as curious about life’s mysteries just like anyone. I live my life every day if I can with the hope to say something that might just give even one person comfort or even a smile. I live based on intuition, trying to be a better person, and simply paying attention to subtle changes and what I feel are signs or messages from a higher and sometimes even a lower power so I don’t get misled.
I feel like whatever is going on is giving me a better sense for sniffing out dark energy, maybe it’s through self preservation or that I have been foolish and naive and close to this energy many times that I know better what to look for…IDK
The best thing I can tell people though my own understanding so far is that you have to live closer to the light to uncover the darkness, that’s all I can say with personal best certainty, (it’s worked for myself) so I’d guess it has to be the same for everyone.
Apart from witnessing dark energy I’m very proud to say I have also been involved in discovering more of the beauty the world has to offer. I even once absolutely felt divine love and understanding and it forever changed me into how I experience life now.
I’ve never read the bible but I swear on everything that I am already convinced of a one true loving God, and yes there is also something very opposed to him, humanity as well. Darkness is currently still on a leash and only allowed so much chain but seriously we have to stop adding additional links.
I don’t want fame, money, attention, I don’t wish to gain anything from anyone but only to consider what I say and then choose wisely and hopefully you use your free will for good.
I know this sounds very preachy at the end here but it’s only coming from my personal journey so far, so take these words, or me, however you see fit.
God bless all of you and thanks for your time in reading this. 🙏🏼I hope to see you someday at the roundup:) 🌞
Ron S
“The lessons that darkness teaches are ones that only apply to what you blindly feel for yourself. The lessons taught in and by the light apply to everything else”.
—Me