Living 11 meters below sea level off Panama, in search of a record

With his unusual adventure, which he plans to continue for another two months, this 59-year-old aerospace engineer wants to set a new world record to demonstrate that one can live in total immersion.

"We should move to the ocean. It's much more peaceful down here, it's not like city life, you can hear the waves" and the faint "sound of the fish," Koch told AFP, who visited him in his voluntary confinement.

It has 30 m2 of living space with a bed, toilet, television, computer, exercise bike and fans. The internet connection is via satellite and solar panels on the surface provide electricity. It has a backup generator, but no shower.

"I wake up at six o'clock, listen to the news, do some work and then have breakfast and do my daily tasks," says Koch.

Turquoise light

On a small table sits a copy of his bedside book, "20.000 Leagues Under the Sea" by Jules Verne. An admirer of Captain Nemo's adventure, Rüdiger Koch began his challenge on September 26 and plans to return to open air on January 24, thus breaking the record for the longest immersion without depressurization, held by the American Joseph Dituri, who spent 100 days in a cabin submerged in a Florida lake.

Two digital clocks tell him how much time has passed and how much time he has left to win his bet.

The underwater capsule is attached to a house perched on a metal cylinder above the water, a 15-minute boat ride off the coast of Puerto Lindo on Panama's northern coast.

A narrow spiral staircase in the hollow of the cylinder leads to the underwater capsule at a depth of 11 metres, through which Mr Koch retrieves his meals.

"It's not particularly difficult, I don't suffer from anything except sometimes the urge to go swimming," he says, pointing to the circular windows of his capsule from which a turquoise light comes, and through which fish of all sizes and colours can be seen.

Rüdiger Koch assures that the material of the underwater capsule is environmentally friendly, its outer walls being able to accommodate corals and shelter fish.

"A good shower"

Four cameras film him constantly to ensure his health and that he does not resurface. Installed in the house above, the Israeli Eial Berja, a security expert, monitors his movements from a screen.

"We faced wind, rain and waves, at times we couldn't see anything, alone in the middle of the ocean," says Mr. Berja, explaining that a storm nearly put an end to the project a few days ago.

Apart from the press, the only visitors are a doctor, his two children and his Thai wife. "The last time I saw her we were still married," jokes Mr Koch.

"We embarked on this quest for the Guinness World Records to show the world that we can innovate and live underwater," Canadian Grant Romundt, a partner of Rüdiger Koch with whom he founded a company and built three houses on the water in this area of ​​the Panamanian Caribbean, told AFP.

Halfway through the engineer knows exactly what the first thing he will do once he leaves his hermitage: "I'm going to take a good shower, at least for an hour."