08x10 - Jonathan Bird's Blue World

[bunniefuu]

- [Narrator] Coming up, the
Bird family goes on a local dive

in Massachusetts and meets
some friendly locals.

But first, Jonathan dives in
search of an elusive fish,

The Stargazer.

[upbeat music]

Meet Jonathan Bird, 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.

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

Jonathan documents the
world beneath the waves.

Welcome to the Blue World.

[music continues]

- [Jonathan] This might look
like a plain old bridge.

Nothing special.

A way for cars to cross over

Florida's intercoastal waterway.

There are lots of bridges like this.

This one, however, is special.

It's the Blue Heron
Bridge in Riviera Beach,

one of the most famous
muck dives in the world.

The Intercoastal waterway
is connected to the ocean,

but protected by land, so it's calm.

Water moves in and out with the tides,

but without big waves it's
a great place for boating

and diving.

Who would think that in
the sand around the pilings

of this bridge would be
a world class dive site

for rare marine life?

Cameraman Todd, Zach of all trades and I

head on down to Riviera Beach, Florida

for a critter diving adventure.

The last time I was here
back in 2016, I saw all kinds

of stuff, like batfish, an octopus

and a jaw fish with eggs,

but I definitely didn't find everything

that the site is known for.

My quarry today is the elusive stargazer.

They're here but they're
really hard to find.

Our adventure begins with a
quick trip to Force-E Scuba

to rent some scuba tanks,

and I'm gonna try to convince
my friend Jeff Nelson

to be our dive guide

because he knows where
all the cool critters are.

Hey, Jeff.

Good to see you.

How are you?
- Good.

- This is Todd.
- Hi.

- How you doing buddy?

- So what time's the tide tonight?

- Six o'clock.

We're getting in the water, getting wet.

- Man, we better get going.

All right.
- Let's set out.

- [Jonathan] Located at one
end of the Blue Heron Bridge

is Phil Foster Park.

It's a nice beach under a bridge.

If you love the beach but
you don't like the sun,

this is the place for you.

We've arrived at sunset
because the tides determine

our dive schedule.

You can only dive at slack tide
to avoid excessive current.

Soon, slack tide is approaching.

It's time to hit the water
so we start suiting up.

[cheerful music]
[Jonathan whistling]

Haven't been scuba diving in a while.

[music continues]

Suck it in.

[music continues]

Woo.

Nice.

This is such a fun dive.

I'm always excited
walking down to the water.

I know I'm going to see something cool,

I just don't know what it'll be.

We don't even swim out.

We start the dive in waste deep water

because we'll find stuff immediately.

Jeff takes the lead, pulling
our dive flag floating above,

which keeps us safe from
boats in the shallow water.

It's already a night dive,

but if anything, that makes it
easier for Jeff to see stuff

with his powerful flashlight.

We're not even two meters deep

and he starts finding
seahorses everywhere.

[gentle music]

Most of them are brown and camouflaged,

so they're very easy to miss.

I don't think I would find
most of them on my own.

As I film something, Jeff
looks for the next cool thing.

The seahorses here have
a lot of experience

with photographers and I
think they've figured out

that we won't hurt them,
so they're pretty tolerant

of our lights.

While filming this reddish
seahorse, I noticed

that the rock in the background is moving.

Wait, is that a rock?

It's a batfish, one of the
weirdest fish in the ocean.

It has pectoral fins
turned around frontwards

to work like feet.

It has hidden gill openings in its armpits

so it can stay camouflaged.

There's a pouty little mouth

and a lure that comes out
of a hole in its face.

Wait for it.

There.

[music continues]

The water here isn't even
as deep as a swimming pool.

[music continues]

The batfish seems pretty sure

that its camouflage is working,

but finally it gets tired of
me and decides to swim away,

which looks like a combination
of swimming and waddling.

Swaddling?

Definitely not very graceful.

[music continues]

Soon I find a flounder expertly
camouflaged in the sand.

Unlike most bottom dwelling fish,

flounder lie on their
sides, not their belly,

but in the adult form, both
eyes end up on the same side

of their head so that one of
them isn't buried in the sand.

That gives them good vision
from that low vantage point,

and super camouflage.

Nearby, Jeff finds a sole,

which is basically the
same thing as a flounder.

This one, known as a naked
sole, doesn't have particularly

good coloration for
camouflage, so it has a trick.

[gentle music]

With a light dusting of sand and pebbles,

it blends right in, ready for ambush.

[music continues]

[water warbling]

Moving along and scanning the bottom,

I come across a burrowing anemone

that lives in a tube in the sand.

And nearby, a fire worm.

An animal with needle-like bristles.

This is one critter you never touch.

And not far away, a large cushion sea star

marching across the sand.

Its bright. Coloration is
the opposite of camouflage.

It's called aposematic.

It means go ahead and try to eat me,

I dare you. I taste bad.

[whimsical music]

[music continues]

Talk about camouflage,
Jeff finds a scorpion fish

hanging out in a pile of rubble.

Although these fish are
not aggressive at all

towards people, they have
a potent defensive sting.

You need to be careful
where you put your hand.

A little puffer fish
escaping from my lights

runs right into an arrow
crab mining its own business,

who gives a few defensive jabs.

Excuse me, sorry, coming through.

[gentle music]

It is hard not to love arrow
crabs with their spindly limbs,

blue claws and a face
like a cartoon character.

Speaking of crabs, we find
a little decorator crab,

which has covered itself in red sponges

and a couple little white coral polyps.

It's a tiny walking coral reef,

but unfortunately it looks
like maybe the camouflage

has gotten a little bit out of control.

It can barely walk with all that stuff.

And maybe a little front heavy,

like an overstuffed scarecrow.

[whimsical music]

A scuba tank lasts a long
time in 10 feet of water,

but after nearly two hours
underwater, it's finally time

to head back to the beach.

The next morning it's back to the bridge

for another slack tide.

[cheerful music]

Todd and I suit up and hit the water.

[music continues]

- [Narrator] Don't go away.

Jonathan still has to find the stargazer,

and he plays with some friendly seals.

- [Jonathan] Once again,
Jeff has our safety float

and his eagle eyes for critter spotting.

During the day, it's
a little more apparent

that this is not deep diving.

I feel confident that today
we will find that stargazer.

We spot an upside down jellyfish
pulsating on the bottom,

waiting for the strong sunlight

that powers the symbiotic
algae in its skin.

Jeff takes me over to an
old mooring with a bit

of rope still attached.

There's a tiny striated
frogfish that lives here,

but it can be very hard to find a frogfish

even when you know it's
around here someplace.

Just when we're about
to give up, he realizes

that it moved from the mooring
to the end of the rope.

The frogfish is so small
that I don't even realize

what he's pointing to.

Once I actually see the
teeny fish, I switch over

to my super closeup lens.

[ethereal music]

[music continues]

The striated frogfish, otherwise known as

the hairy frogfish, is one
of the most sought after

creatures of this dive site.

Looking like a sponge
covered in marine growth,

the hairy frogfish waits
patiently for prey.

She's only about the size of my thumb,

but this is a serious predator.

She has a fishing pole on her forehead.

On the end is a tiny little
lure that looks like a worm.

Here, fishy fishy.

[whimsical music]

Jeff returns and rescues me
from a curious fire worm.

[music continues]

[music continues]

Swimming along, we find
a tiny section of reef.

All the fish hang out on the
reef, while just a few feet

away on the sand, it's a different story.

[music continues]

On another reef, a school
of sheep's head hang out.

Reef fish like reefs,
so out here on the sand,

any small patch of reef is
like an oasis in a desert.

And since the reef is kind of small

and the fish really don't wanna leave it,

they allow me to get pretty close.

[music continues]

Jeff leads me on towards another spot

he wants to investigate for a stargazer.

We don't find a stargazer, but
we do find this little guy.

He's a dragonet, a tiny fish,
only a couple inches long.

He has a big yellow
dorsal fin that he uses

to impress the female dragonets.

Hey baby, check out this awesome fin.

She is not impressed.

Oh, well, there's plenty
of fish in the sea.

Jeff just keeps swimming,
and I'm beginning to wonder

how far we're going.

Soon he starts heading under the bridge,

on his way to the other side.

He knows where he's going,
so I just keep following.

I hope I have enough air,

but we're only 10 feet deep, so if I have

to surface, I'll figure it out.

On the other side of the
bridge, Jeff finally spots

what he's looking for.

The telltale face of a
stargazer in the sand.

Buried up to the eyeballs,
the stargazer is the ultimate

ambush predator.

It can sit still without moving for days.

I can't believe he actually found one.

Jeff tries to remove the sand
a little without spooking

the fish so I can get a better shot.

But the fish knows she's been spotted.

I don't wanna lose the fish
that took so long to find,

but if I follow too close, she'll panic

and bolt out of range.

So I have to hang back and, you know,

swim casual-like.

Finally she stops.

Jeff and I keep our distance
so she won't flee again.

She landed in a spot with too much rubble

and not enough sand,
so it's not a good spot

to bury herself.

And that's lucky for me
because now I can see

this awesome fish really looks
like when it's not buried.

So are they called stargazer

because they have starlike spots

or because they gaze at the stars

with those skyward gazing eyeballs?

Maybe a little of both.

She's being super cool about
the camera in her face,

but eventually she's ready for a spot

she can bury herself and takes off.

[gentle music]

[music continues]

After what seems like forever,

she finds an appropriate
piece of soft sand

and demonstrates the
process of digging in.

She's gulping lots of
water in through her mouth

and then blowing it out
through her gills at the bottom

of her body to blast
the sand out of the way.

So she digs with water pressure.

And poof, just like that, she's gone.

I feel bad for the next
unwary fish to swim by.

With our tanks getting really
low, Jeff and I turn around

for the long swim back to the beach.

The tide has started to turn
and the current picked up.

Fortunately for us, we're
drifting with the current,

so that helps us get back more easily.

And we're back in no time.

Diving the Blue Heron bridge
is always an adventure.

Whether it's night or
day, whether are all kinds

of creatures to see.

Some animals are easy to find,

but for the rarer things, having
a good guide really helps.

The rubbly, sandy environment
has cultivated a wide variety

of adaptations for survival.

Finding something like
a stargazer is not easy,

but when you finally find it,
what a rush to see something

so rare and amazing in the Blue World.

So a couple of days ago we
dropped his sister at college.

And we're kind of
depressed as we miss her.

- Yeah.

- And we needed a little picker upper,

so we're here in Cape
Ann with Captain Fran,

and we'll see what we can find today.

We're diving Cape Ann, Massachusetts,

my local stomping ground where I learned

to dive all those years ago.

We depart from the marina in Gloucester

and head out to the north
through the Annisquam River.

[cheerful music]

Eventually we pass the
Annisquam Lighthouse.

[music continues]

Look very excited.

Liam and Christine are ready
for some cold water fun.

We cruise around the north side
of Cape Ann to reach a bunch

of rocks called the dry salvages,

memorialized in a TS Elliot
poem by the same name

where they were made
to rhyme with assuages.

As a result, many people
today still call them

the dry salvages.

Whether salvages or salvages,
these rocks likely got

their name originally
from causing a shipwreck

that needed salvaging.

In the fog at high tide,
they're easy to miss,

but they certainly are popular

with the local gray seal population.

At low tide, they haul
out to rest and warm up.

But at high tide they hunt for fish

in the surrounding waters.

[music continues]

Captain Fran pulls up and
throws anchor a ways off

while Christine, Liam
and I suit up for a dive.

[Jonathan speaking indistinctly]

[water splashes]

Down on the rocks below the
boat, we find lots of algae

and a healthy sea star population.

There's no way to sneak up on
seals with noisy scuba gear,

so the only way to see
them is to wait for them

to get curious.

So we look for other things to film.

Liam finds a rock crab.

There are lots of rock
crabs apparently feeding

on the prodigious quantities
of muscles on the bottom.

It looks like Liam has himself a new pet.

[music continues]

[music continues]

I find a lobster hiding
under a giant boulder.

It's definitely not coming out

with the bright lights in its face.

Then a seal takes a
pass by to check us out.

[gentle music]

Seals are really curious.

If they think they're
missing out on something fun,

they definitely come over to have a look,

so we need to look like we're having fun.

I'm hunting around for
a good spot to hang out.

Not too deep and not too shallow.

A little gully makes an ideal place.

A seal makes another pass.

[music continues]

We didn't get the best visibility today,

and the shallow water has
a lot of loose stuff in it

churned up by the waves,
but at least we can see him.

[music continues]

[music continues]

If we tried to chase the seals,

they would be frightened and swim away.

They have to come to us, so
our mission is to be patient

and look like we're doing
something really interesting.

Christine doesn't even
realize she has a seal

nibbling on her fins.

The seals seem fascinated with our fins.

Finally, one seal develops a curiosity

about the camera lens.

[whimsical music]

[music continues]

Then Liam uses the secret weapon, fins.

For whatever reason, seals
just love to investigate fins,

so we sit and flap them around.

[music continues]

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After a while, having had our fun

and starting to get cold,
we head back to the boat.

The salvages are just a
bunch of rocks barely poking

above the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.

They're responsible for
more than one shipwreck

over the years, but
they make an ideal place

for seals to climb out
of the cold water to rest

and warm up.

And if it's not too rough, a
great spot for a family dive

in the Blue World.

[upbeat music]

[music continues]

[music continues]

[ethereal tune]