HMAS Brisbane Dive

Dive Mooloolaba News

New world record holder for living underwater

Two new world record champions, Jessica Faine and her co holder Bruce Cantrell spent 73 days underwater and emerged as the new World Record holders.

Fain spoke of how warm it was as she sunbathed in the Florida heat.

It was the third day in October that Faine and Cantrell first made their way to their new home for the next 2 and a half months, both are being praised for what they have achieved especially as students studying in a college housing 6200 students’ miles from water in Tennessee.

Both new record holders held their thanksgiving celebrations and Halloween 25 feet under water in a living area of just 300 square foot. Their meals were brought to them individually by divers and they enjoyed both Wi-Fi and the movie streaming service from Netflix.

The facilities support was overseen by Jules Undersea Lodge which is known to be the only kind of underwater hotel that can be accessed by those who dive recreationally. The pair said that they thought the time spent underwater exceeded their expectations as they were worried how difficult it was going to be. The fact that they got on well helped them to pass the time with ease, except the fact that one of Fain’s movie choices was vetoed. They even stated that they would have been happy to spend even more time down there if they were given the thumbs up to do so.
To pass time they both gave out classes and seminars on a weekly basis using Skype facilities to connect with children from all over the world.

The pair were interested to find the difference in opinion of children’s favourite subjects between years 1 and 6 and those of high school age. Maths and science came up trumps in those in the lower age brackets yet was among the hated subjects when they reached high school.  Those who started the project are looking to make a change to these statistics holding children’s interest throughout their education.

They are quite confident that they have managed to interest a few of the students into becoming ocean explorers and even ocean scientists so there project was not all about beating the world record.

It was Koblick who set the original record back in 1992 living underwater for a total of 69 days. Presley came to the project to see his record topped at long last more than 2 decades later. It was he that was there to see the new record holders emerge and gave them a warm congratulatory handshake on their victory. He was then pulled into the water and embraced by Cantrell so he could feel once again what it was like to be in the water. Presley is confident that the new record holders glory will be short lived saying that his own sons are looking to challenge them soon.

Back on dry land Fain is planning her next holiday shop while Cantrell is looking forward to his breakfast on solid ground. He states that over the final week he had been talking a lot about what he would like to eat when he emerges, with a full fry up being on the menu. He also said he looked forward to eating gravy and biscuits.
To thank supporters for being there for them, the pair would also like to visit those who have been watching their journey underwater throughout even though these fans span over 124 countries around the world.