A man who lived at the bottom of the sea for two weeks has revealed the scariest thing he saw.
Garrett Reisman, a veteran of NASA's Space Shuttle and International Space Station missions, decided to turn his gaze from the stars to the depths of Earth's oceans by spending two weeks at the bottom of the sea just off the coast of Key Largo, in southern Florida.
Reisman’s underwater research is part of a cutting-edge collaboration between space and marine science communities.
The project aims to simulate the challenges of long-duration space exploration by leveraging the parallels between the isolating and resource-scarce environment of the deep ocean and outer space.
Speaking of the experience during an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Reisman revealed the scariest thing he saw while he was 60 feet underwater.
The astronaut explained that if he needed to use the toilet, he had to swim to a gazebo and pull his trunks down to go to number two - but the problem with the process is that the fish also get "accustomed to it."
"So they go there knowing that you're gonna poop?" questioned the host.
"As soon as you drop in the water at night, it's like the dinner bell going off because this is feeding time," responded Reisman.
He then opened up about what he saw one time while he was on the toilet.
"You're in the pitch-black Atlantic Ocean 60ft down, no scuba tank at night at with the sound of the ocean lapping against the dome, and you're looking down at this endless black, you know, just a black void," he said.
"You're thinking about every single scary ocean movie like Jaws, you know The Meg, or whatever, The Abyss - all those scary movies, right, and you think about all those things that could be down there.
"It can't help but go through your head so it's kind of freaky," he added.
"Then you finish and you put your mask back on, and I took a big breath, and I went down, and I opened my eyes in my mask in the darkness with my flashlight and I saw like right in front of me, this huge eyeball like about the size of a saucer."
He described coming face-to-face with a 'big staring, unblinking" creature, noting that he "freaked I just tore off."
He went back to his underwater home screaming - as one would after such a terrifying experience - and his crew assumed he had come into contact with a shark.
However, the researcher responded by telling them it was "a giant f***ing fish!... It was a Goliath Grouper."
Just to put it into perspective, a goliath grouper AKA the Jewfish, is a saltwater fish of the grouper family and one of the largest of its species. It can weigh up to 992 lbs and float at eight feet tall.
I mean, if that doesn't make you want to stay well away from the ocean, I don't know what will.
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