South African scuba diver sets new deep dive world record

South African scuba supremo Nuno Gomes is the deepest diver in the world. On Friday, after 12 hours and 20 minutes of Red Sea time, Gomes surfaced with a new world record under his belt.

Official measurements revealed he had reached a depth of 318.25m. Gomes, a 52-year-old engineer, reached a depth the length of the Eiffel Tower, including the aerial at the top.

Even though he had planned to go to 320m, his plunge was still enough to beat Mark Ellyatt's 313m record set in Thailand in 2003.

It took Gomes about 20 minutes to reach that depth and 12 hours to surface in order to decompress.

Gomes is one of only a handful of divers who have been below 250m.

In fact, more people have gone to the moon than have gone to that depth.

He now holds the world records for the deepest sea and deepest cave dives.

In 1996 he descended into the inky blackness of Boesmansgat, in the Northern Cape, 282.6m under water.

Source: www.capetimes.co.za