07x07 - Jonathan Bird's Blue World

[bunniefuu]

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- [Narrator] Today on "Blue World,"

Jonathan searches the Philippines

for one of the world's
most elusive octopuses.

But first, he explores World
w*r II shipwrecks in Palau.

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Meet Jonathan Berg,

one of the world's top underwater
nature cinematographers.

Traveling the world on assignment

for all the major networks,

he is an Emmy Award-winning authority

on the underwater world.

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In freshwater or salt,
reefs, wrecks, or caves,

Jonathan documents the
world beneath the waves.

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Welcome to the "Blue World."

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[light thudding]

- [Jonathan] The Republic
of Palau is an island nation

consisting of more than 500
beautiful unspoiled islands

in the Pacific.

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This blue water paradise
is a top destination

for scuba divers from around the world.

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Located 500 miles east of the Philippines

in the middle of the Pacific Ocean,

Palau is not easy to reach.

Julia and I traveled all the way here

to spend a week diving on
the Rock Islands Aggressor,

a luxury live-aboard dive yacht.

We've already done some incredible dives.

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We visited massive coral caverns,

filmed some shark action...

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Seen colorful coral...

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Huge schools of fish,

and dove in strong
currents with reef hooks.

It might seem like we've seen
it all, but there's more.

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Today we're diving a Japanese
shipwreck called the Iro.

- [Person] Follow the boarding line now.

- Palau is notorious for being the site

of the bloodiest battle of the
Pacific during World w*r II.

Here, the United States and
Japan fought for control

of this tiny nation in a battle
that took over two months.


Remnants of the battle are everywhere,

both above and below the water.

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It's a cloudy morning as we head out

to the wreck of the Iro,

but we soon forget the weather

as we roll into the warm ocean.

The Iro definitely has
the shape of a ship,

but there's something odd about it...

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This ship grew a beard.

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Closer inspection reveals

that every square inch of the wreck

is covered in a thick
growth of healthy coral.

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Swimming across the deck at 25 meters,

a pass-through super-structure

that barely resembles its manmade origins.

The ladder is the only giveaway.

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Sponges add a splash of red.

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Sinking into one of the cargo holds,

the visibility drops significantly

due to the deterioration of the cargo

and the lack of water movement.

We don't touch anything down here,

'cause there's a lot of live ammunition

that could explode even
after all this time.

Good buoyancy is important.

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A layer of who-knows-what

is suspended like clouds near the ceiling.

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There are cases of sake bottles.

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The wood has rotted out of these barrels,

leaving just the metal hoops.

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There's even rope, almost 80
years old and still intact.

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The Iro was a Japanese
warship, 470 feet long,

that survived a sub attack
and an aerial attack

before finally being sunk
by a 1,000-pound b*mb

that hit the engine room in March of 1944.


has replaced this ship's violent past

with a peaceful and benevolent existence.

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On the upper deck, a
field of lettuce coral,

the weight of which will eventually cause

the deck to collapse as
it rusts away underneath.

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Schools of fish find safety
within the protection

of a large stand of staghorn coral.

You need to back up to realize
this is not a natural reef,

but more like a beautiful terraced garden.

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Soon with our air running
low, we head back to the boat.

[water churning]

[Jonathan sighing]

Wow.

[water splashing]

Our dive on the Iro gave us a taste

of Palau's wide range of
wrecks, leaving us wanting more,

so at the end of our week
diving with Aggressor,

we decide to stay a few more days

and see a couple more wrecks.

We head over to Sam's Tours,

where we meet up with local
wreck expert Matt Boyle.

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All of Sam's Tours' boats
are named after sharks,

and today, we're on the Silver Tip.

Captain Ford Castillo knows these waters

like the back of his hand.

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We get our gear ready...

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And then, it's time to head out.

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You don't even need to go diving

to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Palau.

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Driving the boat between the islands

is a blast, and so picturesque.

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We've arrived at the
wreck of the Teshio Maru.

[wind blowing]

[water splashing]

As we head down the
algae-covered mooring line,

soon, the wreck comes into view.

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At only 24 meters maximum depth,

this is one of the
shallowest wrecks in Palau,

and it has pretty good visibility too.

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The twisted wreckage of the Teshio Maru

is fun to swim through.

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Matt leads the way on a tour of the wreck.

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Like the Iro, it has a
ton of marine growth.

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But the bow still looks like a ship.

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As I round the corner of the bow,

there's an opening in the hull

that is probably a result of an expl*si*n.

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Matt and I head inside.

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Bulkheads have rusted through,

providing a way to sneak
between holds safely.

We can always see the way out.

[metallic ringing]

In the engine room, we
find some kind of catwalk

and some electrical boxes.

It's difficult to determine
what a lot of this stuff was

after 75 years in the ocean.

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We turn and head back towards the light,

making our way through

the twisted remains of the hull plates.

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The Teshio Maru was
actually washed up on shore

after the attack, but
slipped into the water

following a storm, tumbling, twisting,

and breaking on its way down the slope

to its final resting place.

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This is one of the things
I love about wreck-diving,

crawling through tight restrictions.

[water churning]

Of course, it means you get
rust stains on your wetsuit.

[water churning]

On the end of a mast,

I examine a small reef community,

complete with sponges, fish, and coral,

a microcosm of the Palau marine ecosystem.

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After a decompression
stop on the mooring line,

I reluctantly head back up to the surface.

[wind blowing]

We switch our gear over
to fresh scuba tanks

because we have one more wreck to explore.

[boat roaring]

And it's not a ship.

[boat roaring]

[wind blowing]

[water splashing]

[wind blowing]

This is a Japanese seaplane.

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The seaplane is an Aichi E13A

Japanese Navy reconnaissance plane,

powered by a 14-cylinder
radial Mitsubishi engine.

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At only 38 feet long, it
was not a large plane,

which made it perfect for spy missions,

and the pontoons meant
it could land and hide

anywhere in the maze of Palau's islands.

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Today, the pontoons are deteriorating,

but they're still easily recognizable.

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Because the prop is not bent,

the engine was likely not
running when the plane sunk,

and because the canopy is open,

the pilot most likely escaped.

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Over time, the heavy
Mitsubishi engine fell off,

exposing the internals,
but there isn't much to see

since marine growth has
covered everything over.

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There is some kind of
electrical box on the bottom,

next to the wreck.

Swimming behind the plane,

I can see that the tail
section is missing,

allowing a look up inside
the back of the c*ck.

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And I can also get a pilot's-eye
view out the windscreen.

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On the right wing, some kind
of container, possibly for oil.

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Nearby, we find the tail section

completely overgrown in coral.

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Seems to me, this would make a great place

for fish to hang out.

A fish hanger.

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It is not a very big
wreck, but it's really cool

because you can see the
whole thing at once.

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Marine life doesn't seem to grow

on the aluminum skin of a plane

as much as it does on
the steel of a shipwreck,

so the plane still looks
almost ready to fly.

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Plane wrecks are cool,

and it's hard to believe that
that one is 70 years old.

It's so intact, the metal's
still shining. [laughs]

[water splashing]

Wreck-diving is one of
the most exciting ways

to revisit history.

The wrecks of Palau afford a
unique and interesting glimpse

into one of the most significant
battles of World w*r II,

but even for divers who are
more interested in marine life,

there's plenty of that on the wrecks.

The ocean has an effect on all of us,

but perhaps none so significant
as it does on sunken ships.

It's amazing how these weapons of w*r

have been transformed by the blue world.

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- [Narrator] When we come back,

Jonathan searches for the mimic octopus.

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- [Jonathan] In the previous
season of "Blue World,"

I traveled to Dumaguete in
the Philippines for a week,

diving with Atlantis Dive Resort

in the search for an elusive
octopus known as the wunderpus.

The wunderpus is a rare master of disguise

that lives in sandy habitats,

but there is another, even
harder to find octopus

that lives in this same
habitat, the mimic octopus.

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To find a mimic, I'm off
again to the Philippines,

but instead of Dumaguete this time,

I'm heading to the rich
biodiversity around Puerto Galera.

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In the village of Sabang,

nestled along the beach are
a bunch of dive resorts,

and I'm heading to my favorite, Atlantis.

The facility is a luxury dive resort

catering to discerning divers like me.

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It's nice.

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And most importantly,
it's right on the water.

As the crew readies our boat for the day,

the divers set up their gear.

I check my nitrox, and
then, our dive master Felix

gives us a dive briefing.

[indistinct]

They pull the boats right up
on the beach for easy access.

[faintly speaking]

Today, I get to share a boat

with my good friends
Howard and Michelle Hall,

who are sporting their
new "Blue World" hats.

With our friend Ed Stetson,

and "Zach of all trades"
filming, we're off.

[water splashing]

After a short boat ride,

Captain Tito helps us
don our gear, and then...

One, two, three, go!

[water churning]

We're hunting for mimics.

This sandy bottom might
not look that exciting,

but it's full of life.

A school of striped catfish
are feeding in the sand.

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Nearby, a seahorse, doing
its best to look like algae.

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It's so easy to miss these little guys.

You have to look closely at everything

you see on the bottom.

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I move over to a small patch of coral

to film some beautiful crinoids,

which are plankton-feeding
cousins of sea stars.

Then, I find a nudibranch that looks

like it has a bunch of dreadlocks,

and on the dreadlocks

are little patches of
algae called zooxanthellae.

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This nudibranch is literally called

"the solar-powered nudibranch"

because it gets most of
its energy from the sun,

in a symbiotic relationship
with this algae.

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So it's literally a solar-powered animal.

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I catch the shape of two eyes.

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I look closer, thinking I've
found my elusive mimic octopus,

but it turns out to be
a blue-spotted stingray

hiding in the sand.

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It's amazing what you find
when you're not looking for it.

I stumble across a tiny wunderpus.

You can tell it's a wunderpus

because of its pencil-thin
arms and orange-colored bands.

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Meanwhile, Howard is
filming something intently,

so I head over to see what he's found.

Wouldn't you know it, he
found a mimic octopus.

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It's easy to see how the mimic

is confused with the wunderpus.

They both like to create
banded patterns on their skin,

and they're both small,
living in the same habitat.

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But the mimic has more
webbing between its arms,

and a browner coloration.

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But what makes the mimic so special

is not how it looks, but how it acts.

The mimic octopus gets its name

because it likes to take on various shapes

that some people think is mimicry.

For example, when the mimic
octopus travels across the sand,

it takes on the shape
and color of a flounder.

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A flounder is a flat fish that
blends into the sea floor.

It swims like a magic
carpet just above the sand.

Is the mimic octopus trying
to look like a flounder,

or just taking on a shape
which is universally effective

for camouflage over sand?

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But not all of its
behaviors are camouflage.

Sometimes, the mimic octopus dawns stripes

and walks along with its arms sticking out

like the spines of a lionfish.

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Is it trying to frighten away predators

with a lionfish impersonation?

Because this is definitely not camouflage.

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Sometimes the mimic swims quickly

by adopting a torpedo shape,

but it also puts on a display of stripes,

making some biologists convinced

it's trying to look like
a venomous seas snake.

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The various shapes and patterns

that the mimic octopus can
adopt are very impressive,

and because they're not all camouflage,

there is evidence that the octopus

is mimicking other animals
to deter predators.

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The mimic octopus eats
mostly crabs and fish.

It hunts for food by investigating

every hole in the sand with probing arms.

The skinny little arms can fit way down

into even the smallest burrows.

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Like most octapods, the mimic
can create an ink cloud.

This dark cloud is meant
to distract predators.

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While a predator is attacking
the dark and obvious ink,

the octopus goes all pale and hard to see

while it squirts away to safety.

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And when underwater cinematographers
just get too annoying,

the octopus can bury itself
in the sand and hide.

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After spending nearly an hour
breathing from my scuba tank,

my ability to mimic a sea
creature has reached an end,

and it's time to head back to the boat.

[water splashing]

Puerto Galera is a scuba-diver's paradise,

with a wide variety of marine life

for underwater photographers
and critter-lovers.

The mimic octopus and wonderpus

are just two of the exotic
creatures to be seen here.

The reefs contain a variety

of healthy coral and marine animals.

I could spend a month diving Puerto Galera

and never get bored.

It's no wonder Puerto Galera
is so popular with divers.

There's so much to see in a small area.

It's one of the best places

to see weird and wonderful
critters in the blue world.

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