Spotlight: Living Under the Sea in Panama

At a depth of 11 metres off the coast of Panama, German citizen Rüdiger Koch has been living for two months in a capsule attached to a futuristic house built on the waters of the Caribbean Sea.

With his unusual adventure, which he plans to continue for two more months, the 59-year-old aerospace engineer wants to set a Guinness World Record and prove that it is possible to live peacefully and work under the sea.

“It’s much quieter down here, it’s not like city life, all you can hear are the waves and the soft sound of fish,” Koch mused while in confinement.

The 30 m square house has a portable toilet, a bed, a television, a computer, a stationary bike and fans. It also has satellite internet and uses solar energy, although it has a small electric generator. But it does not have a shower.

“I wake up at six, watch the news, do some work and then make breakfast to deal with all the things that come up every day,” says Koch.

On a small table is a copy of his favorite book: “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” the classic work of 19th-century French novelist Jules Verne.

An admirer of Captain Nemo, Koch began his challenge on September 26 and plans to emerge on January 24 to break the record for the longest time spent underwater without depressurization. That title is currently held by Joseph Dituri, who spent 100 days in a submerged cabin in a Florida lake.

Two digital clocks, each measuring one metre, mark the days, minutes and seconds that have passed and those that remain.

The houseboat, located off the coast of Puerto Lindo in Portobelo, can be reached after a 15-minute motorboat ride from Linton Bay Marina.

The house, which is circular in shape and has 360-degree windows, is mounted on a cylindrical structure, so to enter it you have to climb a hanging ladder or a freight elevator.

Once inside, a narrow spiral staircase leads down the cylinder to Koch’s submerged cabin.

“It’s not particularly hard, I don’t feel like I’m suffering down here at all, although the hardest thing is that sometimes I want to dive,” he says.

From the circular windows of his capsule, fish of different sizes can be seen. “You have a very different view,” he says, looking at the turquoise waters.

Koch says the material of the capsule he lives in is environmentally friendly; its outer walls are made of a shell-like material that provides a habitat for corals and fish.

Four cameras monitor him to ensure that he does not abort his mission and that everything is going well. Upstairs in the house, Israeli security expert Eial Berja monitors his movements from a screen.

“We’ve had winds, waves and rains where we can’t see anything, we’re alone in the middle of the ocean,” says Berja, who said that a few days ago a storm almost put an end to the plan.

Koch is supplied with food from abroad and visited by a doctor and his two children. “Last time I checked, I was still married,” he jokes about the upcoming visit from his Thai wife.

“We decided to go for the Guinness World Record to show the world that you can innovate and live underwater,” Canadian Grant Romundt says. Koch founded a company with him that has already built three floating houses in the Caribbean region of Panama.

Whether or not he wins the Guinness, when he emerges from his voluntary confinement, Koch is clear about the first thing he will do: “I’m going to take a good shower, for about an hour.”