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Tennessee man attempts world record freshwater scuba dive

Posted at 8:06 AM, Aug 01, 2013
and last updated 2013-08-01 08:06:59-04

Right now, a man in Tennessee is trying to break a world record for the longest freshwater scuba dive.

Angela Yingling dove down to talk to him.

A beautiful day on South Holston Lake - but Jerry Hall isn't around to see it.

Instead, he's under water working to break a world record.

Thanks to an underwater camera system - we got the chance to talk to Jerry Hall.

"How are you doing?"

"I cannot complain."

Hall entered the water Saturday. Since then, he hasn't come up and he says so far...so good.

He's even eating small bites of food.

"He cut up in small bites in a plastic baggy. He takes a breath - pulls a bite out, pushes it through his lips, any lake water that gets in he spits it out, chews it up."

Hall is talking with friends, watching movies...even sleeping.

"I actually slept really good last night. I mean, I'm in the world's largest water bed."

"If you've ever stayed in the bathtub too long, you know the feeling that your hands and feet get when they get really wrinkly after too much water? To prevent that, Jerry is using a special cream while he's in the lake. Volunteers are putting it in gloves and socks, and every 12 hours or so they're changing them out to try to prevent Jerry's hands and feet from getting too wrinkly."

The team of at least 20 volunteer divers is also working to make sure Hall has a steady supply of water and Gatorade.

Hall hopes to stay in the water until Friday at noon. He hopes to not only break the world record, but add several hours onto it - making it harder for someone else to top.

You can track how Jerry's doing on his website, HERE.

He has running countdowns to the world record and how long he's been underwater.

He even has some cool underwater pictures posted - a fish, an underwater TV, and a checkers board.