08x11 - Jonathan Bird's Blue World

[bunniefuu]

- [Narrator] Coming up,
Johnathan and cameraman, Todd,

explore a tight silky
cave, called "Gator Hole."

But first, the Byrd family goes in search

of an elusive dolphin named, "Joe Joe."

[bright uplifting music]

Meet Johnathan Byrd,

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,

Johnathan documents the
world beneath the waves.

Welcome to the "Blue World."

[bright uplifting music]

- [Johnathan] The Turks and Caicos Islands

are probably most famous around the world,

for their beautiful,
soft, white sand beaches.

The Turks and Caicos are a
British overseas territory

consisting of 40 islands

located south of the
Bahamas in the Caribbean.

The most populated
island in the Archipelago

is Providencia known locally as Provo.

The eastern end of Povo

has a system of canals
leading out to the ocean,

and just off shore,

famously healthy corral
reefs full of marine life.

One of the most famous
residents of the reef

on this end of the island,

is "Joe Joe" the Dolphin,

who's been living here

and occasionally interacting
with humans since 1980,

making him at least 45 years old.

We're hoping to meet him.

It's February in New England,

so it's time for the
Byrd family to fly south

on a little dive vacation.

And only four hours later,

we're on the beach.

- Welcome to paradise.

- [Johnathan] It's not
all just scuba diving,

we spend a day driving jet skis

where we discover a shipwreck.

We go for a horseback ride.

Then of course, we hit the beach.

- Liam, let's go snorkeling.

- [Liam] Okay!

- [Johnathan] Liam and
Elise film a sea turtle.

Not bad for free-diving.

But tomorrow, we're going scuba diving.

We head on over to Big Blue Collective,

the dive shop right down the
street from our rental house.

They have a whole fleet of boats
for water sport activities,

not just scuba diving,

but Captain Roger is taking
us out on the big dive boat.

We grab our gear from the car

and then we meet dive master, Charlie,

who helps us load the boat.

- Safety on this boat,

life jackets are under the seats here.

- [Johnathan] ] We get a
quick boat safety briefing,

and we're off.

[easygoing music]

It's been windy this week

and the shallows are a
little milky from the surf.

But out on the dive site,

the water is a lot clearer.

At last, having escaped
Massachusetts winter,

it's time to hit some tropical water.

We sink down to the reef
and start looking around.

These reefs host lots of
different kinds of sponges.

Tube sponges are everywhere,

and so are big barrel sponges.

Charlie points out a
crab hiding in the reef.

There are a lot of gorgoneion,

which are a kind of soft corral.

And sometimes you can find
a brightly colored snail,

called a "flamingo
tongue," on the gorgoneion.

A Nassau Grouper give
us an apprehensive look

and heads for safety.

Elise finds what must be

the biggest barrel sponge on the reef.

She could probably fit inside.

A trumpet fish,

normally shy and hiding in the gorgoneion,

seems curious about us.

A puffer fish leads us over
to a deep ravine in the reef.

Down below,

the silty water from the
shallows is flowing through

like a spooky river.

So of course, we have to go
down there and check it out.

The kids notice that the gorgoneion

are bending in the current.

A big barrel sponge is growing
horizontally out of the wall.

We follow another trumpet fish

into a big patch of gorgoneions.

Trumpet fish hide in these
similarly shaped structures.

Dolphins sometimes cuddle up
to gorgoneions for a tickle.

Maybe "Joe Joe" will show up soon.

Elise has a good eye for details.

She finds a well-camouflaged
scorpion fish.

These fish are quite venomous

and confident in their camouflage,

so they rarely move,

even when you film them up close.

Further down the ravine,

we hit the sandy bottom
and swim up current.

I spot a moray eel under a ledge.

Unfortunately, it won't
come out even for Elise.

Liam finds a squirrel fish

and a porcupine fish.

A parrot fish nibbles on the fuzzy algae

growing on some corral.

Soon, it's time to head back to the boat,

so we start our ascent.

We do a safety stop under
the boat with some company.

It was a great dive,

even without "Joe Joe."

We untie the mooring line

and start making our way back to the dock,

when suddenly a shape
appears in the water.

Is that a dolphin?

There he is, "Joe Joe" the famous dolphin,

comes right over to the
boat to play in our wake.

"Joe Joe!"

As "Joe Joe" has gotten older,

he's become less interested
in playing with divers,

but he still loves surfing.

He will hang with us for a long time

if we stay near his part of the island.

But finally, it's time for us to leave,

and he goes back to his reef.

The Turks and Caicos Islands
are a wonderful place to visit.

There are plenty of things to do,

beautiful beaches,

and great diving for
all experience levels.

And with a little luck,

you might get to meet "Joe Joe."

- [Narrator] Don't go away,

Johnathan and Todd attempt
to explore a small silty cave

at the bottom of a pond.

- [Johnathan] Merritts Mill
Pond in Mariana, Florida,

is one of my favorite places.

This man-made reservoir was
created by damning up a river,

originating in Jackson Blue Spring.

It's a long skinny, shallow pond,

filled with clear water

and a bunch of great submerged caves.

Located in Northern
Florida near Tallahassee,

it's a cave diver's paradise.

During our expedition
to explore this area,

we dove Jackson Blue Spring

with legendary cave explorer, Ed Sorenson,

who owns the local dive
shop, "Cave Adventurers."

Then, Todd and I explored
a tiny fascinating cave,

called "Shangri-La,"

which gave new meaning
to the word restriction.

And today, we're off on another adventure

to explore a cave known as, "Gator Hole."

But first, we have to find it.

No, no, no, 'cause there's that thing,

but it wasn't that far I don't think.

I think it was a little bit
further from his shop, right?

Eventually, we do find it.

And we navigate through a
maze of tree stumps and logs

to approach the entrance of the cave.

There's a big log here, as well.

Some logs underneath.

You pass that one.

Big log, nicely done,

I think that's good right in there.

We'll figure out a way to tie up to this.

It's not very inviting.

Having no idea what to expect,

we suit up in full side
mount cave diving gear.

[gentle upbeat music]

[water splashes]

Woo-ha!

Oh! Oh! It's so cold.

At 67 degrees fahrenheit,

the water's not exactly warm.

I should've brought my dry suit.

And the thought has occurred to me

that there might actually
be a gator around here.

That's one way to do it.

We make our way to the cave entrance,

through the muck,

hoping it gets clearer inside.

We follow a plastic hose,

which was placed here
to sample water quality.

In this part of the cave,

there's still air above our heads.

Soon, we reach the stop sign,

and the real cave dive begins.

We go around a corner and
down to about 25 feet deep.

Here, the floor of the cave
is quite soft and silty.

One misplaced fin kick
will create quite a mess.

But we have no choice,

because we reach a low section.

Finally, we hit the first restriction.

Todd's no dummy, he
sends me through first,

to see if I can fit.

It's barely a foot tall
and I make a rookie mistake

by forgetting to release the air

from my buoyancy compensator.

So, it sorta grinds against the stone,

but to be fair,

I'm trying to minimize how
much I disturb the bottom.

On the other side,

the water's clear,

and I turn around to
film Todd coming through.

But he signals that he wants
to turn the dive and head back.

One of the principle rules of cave diving,

is that anyone can call the
dive at any time for any reason.

So, I turn around and
squeeze back through.

On the other side, it's really silty.

Going through the restriction
made quite a mess of the cave.

Todd saw how silty it was getting

and decided that it
would be safer to leave

before we made it any worse.

Because the dive is so shallow,

we don't have to worry

about doing any safety
stops or decompression.

- [Cameraman] Well, that was quick.

- Got to the first restriction
and I went through it,

and it's a really tight restriction.

I had to wiggle against the bottom

really hard to get through it,

and it just really silted the place up

and I was like, on the other
side where it's nice and clear,

and I'm like, hey Todd, come on through,

and I'll get a shot you,

and he's like, no, we're out.

[Johnathan laughs]

it was a good call.

- [Johnathan] After a conversation

about our mutual comfort
level with the silt,

we decide to try again the next day.

This time, with smaller cameras,

and the knowledge that
the cave will get silty.

The image quality on our Go-Pro rigs

is not as good as our full size cameras,

but they fit in this little cave better.

We head in and pass the now familiar

cavern zone and stop sign.

Down at the bottom,

the silt from yesterday has settled,

but not for long.

Doing my very best to minimize
disturbing the bottom,

I scrunch through the first restriction.

This kind of diving is not for everyone,

and honestly, I never would've
thought I would enjoy this,

but I do, it's super fun.

On the other side, we
encounter a low, wide passage,

with the same silty bottom.

I'm not sure what this catfish is thinking

being so far from the light of day.

We pass fragments of turtle shell,

the remains of turtles that
swam in, got lost, and drowned.

It doesn't take long before
we reach a second restriction.

I motion for Todd to go first,

so he will have a chance
to see some clear water.

The diver in front gets the best view.

We try to stick to the ceiling
to minimize the siltation,

but it's not always possible
in really low sections.

Following the low section,

I can barely see Todd's light,

even though he's only 10 feet ahead.

On the walls of the cave,

we can see evidence of lower
water levels in the past.

We reach a third restriction.

On the other side,

Todd suggests we turn to head back.

On the way back,

we can see how well we
preserved the water clarity.

And the answer is, not well.

I'm using the "OK" technique
to keep a hand on the line

because vis is so bad.

We always have to be gentle with the line,

because if it breaks,

that's a big problem.

In a higher flow cave,

this silt would be washed away,

but in this cave, it just
hangs there for hours.

The vis might be bad,

but as long as we never lose
the guideline, we'll be fine,

because it takes us right
back out to the entrance.

When we finally make it back to the pond,

I wonder how "Gator Hole" got its name.

I'm not sure I wanna come
face-to-face with a gator

in these murky conditions.

Well, I didn't keep going

because I wanted us to sorta
progressively learn the cave,

rather than trying to get
all the way to the end

because then if something goes wrong,

you're not as well prepared
for that contingent.

And I wasn't really sure
how clear it would be

on the way out,

so now we have a better understanding

of how quickly the silt will dissipate.

And so, we can use that to our advantage

in planning our next dive.

- Question is, should we do it again?

- [Johnathan] Merritts Mill Pond

is an amazing place to explore.

There are seven caves on this pond.

"Gator Hole" is completely different

from both of the other
caves we've explored so far,

and we've not even seen
all the way to the back.

I hope to explore this cave
again on our next visit.

But we also have four more
caves to find and dive

on Merritts Mill Pond,

giving us many more adventures
to come in the "Blue World."

[upbeat uplifting music]