8 minute read
PSYCHEDELIC ICE CUBE
TAries
March 21 - April 19
After a few years of getting serious about who your friends and supporters are, perhaps even cutting some folks out who didn’t serve your highest needs, you are embarking on a journey of intimate self-discovery. Starting now, every moment when you are in solitude is a moment to solidify your boundaries and grow into your personal authority. You’re a boss, you’ve always been a boss, but what does it mean to be the boss of yourself?
Taurus
April 20 - May 20
You’ve consolidated your work life in the past few years, really honing in on what you want to be doing in the public sphere. You’ve cut the fat, put in the time, and grown as an authoritative figure. Now, start to carefully analyze the people who surround you. There are folks who genuinely want what is best for you and there are folks who feed off negativity. Sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference, but now is the time to start a true analysis.
Gemini
May 21 - June 21
Since December 2020, you’ve been really honing in and getting serious about your worldview and belief systems, which has served to put your career into context. How do you live out your value system on a daily basis? Either you’re doing the work you should be doing and you are ready to double down and mature in your role, or it is time to make some serious changes so your career aligns with your beliefs. You are the authority in your lifetake charge.
Cancer
June 22 - July 22
You’ve been growing into your own confidence by seriously processing feelings connected to old loves and/or by getting deliberate about your financial debts. Now that you’ve freed up that baggage, you can get serious about the open vistas that await you. What is the new world without the weights that used to hold you back? You have the opportunity to define fresh new values for the life you want to live.
Leo
July 23 - Aug. 22
Well, Leo, the astrology of the moment reads “breakup.” Now, it’s never cut and dried like that for everyone. Perhaps you’ve ended a relationship, perhaps you’ve ended a relationship for what it was, perhaps you’ve entered a new phase of a relationship. However this has manifested, you now have to get serious about dealing with the emotional and financial aftermath. Time for some serious compromise.
Virgo
Aug. 23 - Sept. 22
A couple years of sincere analysis of your routines have come to fruition, Virgo, and you know how to organize your life around your needs now. Your routines are on point, you have mature habits and you are focused on your physical well-being. Now it is time to bring that same level of scrutiny to your romantic and professional partnerships. Get serious about your boundaries in these spaces and speak your needs.
Libra
Sept. 23 - Oct. 23
Joy is serious work, and you’ve been putting in the hours to make sure that you can pursue your bliss. You’ve gotten mature in your creative endeavors, building the necessary structures around your artistry so that it can take on a life of its own. Now, you are being called to turn your attention to your own routines. How do you structure your days? Do you structure your days? Time to create some new habits and develop your muscle memory.
Scorpio
Oct. 24 - Nov. 21
Either you’ve grown into your home or you’ve grown out of your home. You’ve made serious choices regarding your home life, and now it is time to do the same for your creative life. You are starting a process of getting serious about your craft, whatever it may be. Build the walls necessary to incubate your creative process. Mature bliss is your method right now.
Sagittarius
Nov. 22 - Dec. 21
How do you feel about your communication style and methods of getting your point across? You’ve had a few years to learn some hard lessons in this area and dive deep into your authoritative voice. Now it’s time to bring it home. Home and family are going to be major themes in the next two yearsdefine them and get serious about them. What is your foundation?
Capricorn
Dec. 22 - Jan. 19
It looks like you’ve spent some time getting your finances in order, taking control of your income and spending. The same can be said about your emotional accounts, taking control of your needs and empathy. Now that you’re an authority on your own needs, you get to step out into your community as a leader. Consider how you communicate your wisdom to others and make it digestible.
Aquarius
Jan. 20 - Feb. 18
After a few years of self-development, becoming the expert on your own health and personality, now you have the opportunity to become the expert on your financial and material well-being. Now that you know who you are, how do you surround yourself with the things that support you? Start doing some rearranging so that your possessions reflect your mature sense of self.
Jacqueline Hale
www.keysweekly.com
RESEARCHER DESCENDS TO JULES UNDERSEA LODGE IN KEY LARGO IN PURSUIT OF RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND A WORLD RECORD
Just as he had done thousands of times since the age of 10, at 9:30 a.m. on March 1, Joseph Dituri stood at the edge of the water, suited up to scuba dive.
But this dive would be unlike any that he – or anyone else – has ever done.
“We have to descend to succeed. We are going to figure out this planet and everything that lives on it. The only way to do it is to look,” Dituri said to a camera crew and a small group gathered to witness the event as he placed his mask over his eyes and made a peace sign with his fingers. “100 days, ya’ll.”
Dituri took a breath, felt the warmth of the sun on his skin one last time, released the air from his buoyancy control device and descended into the lagoon at the Jules Undersea Lodge compound in Key Largo. If all goes according to plan, Dituri will not see the sunlight or the surface for 100 days.
His descent marked the beginning of Project Neptune 100, a mission to break the world record for time spent in an underwater fixed habitat, with the goals of spreading awareness about marine conservation and furthering medical and marine research.
Only bubbles at the surface now hinted at what was happening below: Dituri swam toward his underwater home for the next 100 days – Jules Undersea Lodge. After a few pictures, he emerged into the moon pool entrance to the lodge, which sits 30 feet underwater and consists of the wet room entrance, two bedrooms, a common room, a kitchenette with a microwave and minifridge, a toilet, a shower, Wi-Fi and round windows with a view of the lagoon’s sea life.
As Dituri dried off and got accustomed to the space, on the surface, another diver stepped into the water. Ian Koblick, a pioneer in undersea living and the designer of the habitat, dipped beneath the surface to complete a simpler, yet still important mission. He appeared in the round window of the habitat to present Dituri with the Explorers Club flag, a prestigious honor for the professional society of explorers and scientists.
“This has never been done before,” said Koblick, who has been involved in every world record for living underwater since 1969. “This is so different because this is not about a world record. Will it be the longest anybody stayed under water? Yes. Will it be a world record? Yes. But that’s not what it’s about. It’s about real marine diving medicine.”
While still only bubbles show on the surface, the habitat has been a hub of activity since day one of the mission. In the first week, Dituri made significant steps toward achieving the mission’s goals of research and education.
Dituri, a retired Navy commander and chief researcher for the Undersea Oxygen Clinic who holds a doctorate in biomedical engineering, completed preliminary testing in several experiments. The research, focused on learning more about the body’s response to significant time under pressure, has implications for hyperbaric medicine as a treatment for traumatic brain injury.
The habitat has already seen its first guests. Hunter Hines, who holds a doctorate in microbial ecology, and Harrison Albert, who is focusing on virtual outreach to kids in landlocked states, descended to the habitat for a five-day mission. In addition, five divers from DiveN2Life, a youth organization seeking to connect kids with science and the environment through scuba diving, stayed overnight, got hands-on
1. Before descending to begin his 100-day mission underwater, retired U.S. Navy commander Joseph Dituri enjoyed the last few minutes of sunlight. JACQUELINE HALE/Keys Weekly
2. On day one of the 100-day mission, Joseph Dituri emerged from the water into the moon pool entrance of Jules Undersea Lodge.
FRAZIER NIVENS/Florida Keys News Bureau
3. Joseph Dituri views the Jules Undersea Lodge habitat 30 feet underwater where he will spend 100 days living and researching.
FRAZIER NIVENS/Florida Keys News Bureau
4. Ian Koblick, a pioneer in ocean exploration and designer of the Jules Undersea Lodge habitat, prepares to present the Explorers Club flag to Joseph Dituri. JACQUELINE HALE/Keys Weekly
5. Ian Koblick presents the Explorers Club flag to Joseph Dituri through the habitat window. Koblick has been a member of the club for 45 years, and Dituri is the chairman of the Florida chapter.
FRAZIER NIVENS/Florida Keys with research and emerged as aquanauts.
“What it’s really all about is energizing the youth to take care of the problems that our generations and those before us have created,” mission director Thane Milhoan said. “We’ve done bad, bad things to the ocean. It’s in a state where, if we don’t act quickly and aggressively, then we may already be past the point of no return. But we’re not going to give up, and we want to use this mission as a way to inspire everyone that we can and certainly the young people who have the biggest stake in the game.”
Between now and June 9, some 40 students will have a chance to join Dituri in the habitat while many others will participate in virtual talks and question-and-answer sessions. A lineup of researchers and social media influencers will make the descent to conduct research and use their platforms to spread marine conservation awareness, including Sylvia Earle, a world-renowned oceanographer and explorer.
The mission and its research will also be a stepping stone to further missions both underwater and in space. Project Neptune 100 will contribute to a NASA program run out of Stanford University looking at safety protocols for extreme environments.
“That’s an extreme environment,” Koblick said. “It’s as close to leaving this earth as you can get without going into space. It’s a hostile environment. I mean, try getting out of the habitat without your gear on. Walk around. It doesn’t work.”
As for the man living in this extreme environment, everything has gone relatively swimmingly. Dituri’s only complaint: a lack of caffeinated coffee, an issue that has been resolved by a French press and Folgers coffee. Friends are sending him photos of the sun every morning and evening. Logistics continue to be an issue, particularly transporting expensive video cameras and microscopes underwater and under pressure, and the separation from his girlfriend and three daughters is understandably difficult. But in those moments, he remembers why he is down there: to advance science and to inspire the next generation.
“I’m not sleeping in the field. Nobody is shooting at me. This is pretty darn easy. There are tough people out there and I don’t have to be one of those to be in here,” Dituri said. “You got to go live in a mobile home for 100 days with this view? Okay. You can get out, swim and have lobsters as friends? Come on. It’s okay. It’s not bad.”
Follow Jules Undersea Lodge on Facebook and the Jules Undersea TV YouTube Channel for mission updates and live streams.
