Florida Man Has Been Living Underwater for Two and Half Months

"The thing that I miss the most about being on the surface is literally the Sun."

Now Recording

In spite of breaking a world record and missing the light of the Sun, a Florida man who's been under the Keys for nearly two and a half months is refusing to resurface.

In an interview with the Associated Press conducted from a deep-sea "lodge" — basically a small room, 30 feet underwater, that's existed for some time — biomedical researcher Joseph Dituri explained what he missed the most about the dry world.

"The thing that I miss the most about being on the surface is literally the Sun," Dituri, also known as "Dr. Deep Sea," told the news wire. "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."

10,000 Leagues

The University of South Florida professor and researcher said that he's staying underwater until early June, in spite of breaking the world record for time spent underwater without any kind of depressurization, to set a record of his own.

After going 74 days in the lodge and breaking the previous world record of 73 days, two hours and 34 minutes — which was set in 2014 at Jules’ Undersea Lodge in Key Largo, the same place where Dituri is staying — Dr. Deep Sea says he wants to make it to 100 days, which will be up on June 9.

"The record is a small bump and I really appreciate it," Dituri said. "I’m honored to have it, but we still have more science to do."

"The idea here is to populate the world’s oceans," he said of his research, which he's dubbed Project Neptune 100, "to take care of them by living in them and really treating them well."

Hopefully Dr. Deep Sea will decide to resurface after he sets his own record — but who knows, maybe he'll end up trying to go for 200.

More on life below the surface: Scientists Discover Leak in the Bottom of the Ocean