03x09 - Sailfish, Potato Cod and Diver Ed

[bunniefuu]

[bright music]

- [Announcer] Coming up next

on Jonathan Bird's "Blue World,"

a funny fish that loves divers.

Then a crazy diver in Maine
who takes kids under the sea.

But first, the world's fastest fish

give Jonathan a run for his money.

All of this today on
Jonathan Bird's "Blue World."

Meet Jonathan Bird.

[bright music]

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."

[bright music]

- Have you ever wondered why a sailfish

has a sail and a pointy bill?

Well I have.

And to find out, I've traveled
down to Cancun, Mexico

to see if I can get up close
to a sailfish in the wild.

[upbeat music]

My day begins at the crack of dawn.

Nice early start, 6:00 AM,
time to go find some sailfish.

I load the car with all my gear,

and then we're off to the marina.

My guide is Jorge Loria
from Phantom Divers

who put this trip together for me.

It's a little tense this morning

because the weather is not looking good

for working offshore.

- Fair enough?
- Pretty windy.

- It is.

- [Jonathan] The wind is
blowing at nearly 20 knots,

which means that if we had
any sense, we'd stay home.

But this is the calmest day
we're gonna get this week.

It's go now or not at all.

The heavy surf speaks for itself.

We're in for a rough day.

We arrive at Solo Buseo,

the dive shop in Cancun
that's running the expedition.

Their boat is designed
for running way off shore.

[upbeat music]

I carry my gear in from the car.

Fortunately, I'll be
traveling light today.

Interaction with sailfish is
best done without scuba gear,

so I'll just be using a
mask, fins, and snorkel.

Big mama.

The protection of the marina

belies the rough ocean conditions.

A look at the trees shows the wind,

and just outside the
harbor, the waves break.

Yikes.

With all our gear loaded,

we push off the dock and head out to sea.

Alberto, the mastermind
of this expedition,

is on the phone checking to see

if any fishermen have seen
the sailfish this morning.

Our captain pushes up the throttles

for the long run out to sea.

It will be at least two hours

to get anywhere near sailfish territory.

- All right, we're gonna navigate

a couple hours north of Puntoy,

and we're going to be
looking for the birds

hitting the sardines and
therefore the sailfish are there.

So it's going to be a
two and a half hour ride.

Everybody's got masks and fins?

- Our our plan is to look for birds.

Believe it or not, to find sailfish,

we need to find some birds flying around.

That's because sailfish
love to eat sardines,

little silvery fish about this big.

But to find the sardines,

we find some birds that are
also hunting the sardines.

Everyone on the boat keeps an eye open

as we drive around the open sea,

hoping for a glimpse of
birds on the horizon.

And after a few hours, we find the birds.

Unfortunately, some
fishermen saw them too.

Well we're like 20 miles out

and we found birds
flying all over the place

feeding on a bait ball.

And I think that there's some sailfish,

and we're gonna jump in and
see if we can find them.

We pull up to the fish under the birds,

and it's time for us to jump in.

- [Guide] Okay sir, ready?

Go go go go go go go go.

- Jorge got in first,

and he has his hand up to tell
us where the sailfish are.

My first glimpse under the water

reveals just blue and some bubbles,

but then a sailfish comes
racing out of the distance.

[bright music]

The sardines are packed
into a tight school,

sometimes called a bait ball.

They're trying to protect
themselves against the sailfish

by staying close to each other,

but the sailfish are chasing them

and attacking from all sides.

They pin the sardines against the surface

so they can't get away.

The sardines often swim
close to me for protection.

I'm starting to get worried
about those sharp bills

on the front of the sailfish.

These beautiful fish

are among the fastest animals in the sea.

They can swim 60 miles per hour.

That's as fast as a car on the highway.

A sailfish uses its bill like a sword

to slash through the bait
ball and stun a sardine.

Then it can gobble the fish down.

They're getting awfully close.

[bright music continues]

Sometimes the sailfish
even skewer sardines

on the end of their bills.

Whoa, did you see that? Watch
it again in slow motion.

Here comes a sailfish from the left,

and it nails a sardine right
in front of the camera.

Even in slow motion, it's fast.

Watch it even slower.

Boom, right there! Talk about good aim.

The action is incredibly
fast-paced and tiring.

I have to keep up with the
bait ball, which keeps moving.

My legs are getting tired.

Eventually I can't keep
up with the bait ball

and the action drifts too far away.

The boat comes and picks me up.

I'll get a quick rest,

then they'll drop me back
in close to the fish.

A few minutes later,
I'm ready to go again.

Ready?

- [Guide] Go ahead, go go go go go.

- I get my bearings,

and then I'm back into the sailfish.

[bright music]

You can see in this shot

that when a sailfish swims,

it folds its dorsal fin
down to reduce drag.

But then boom, it pops the
dorsal fin up like a sail.

Did you see that?

Watch it again in slow motion.

There.

We can only guess why the sailfish

has such a large sail-like dorsal fin.

But it appears they use the
sail to frighten the sardines

by surprising them

or possibly to look larger
when they're herding the fish.

The sailfish work together

to keep the sardines from escaping below.

And one by one, they pick
off each and every sardine

until the entire bait ball is gone.

[bright music continues]

- Oh man, that is exhausting.

Swim around with all these fish

that are the fastest fish in the ocean.

They have like a lance on their nose.

I thought I was gonna get skewered

and swim right at the camera
and zoom at the last minute.

But man, what an exhilarating experience.

I'm so tired.

It takes a couple hours
to get back to the dock.

And even though we've had
a long, rough day at sea,

the experience was worth it.

Sailfish are magnificent animals

and something I had never seen before.

Being right in the middle
of a school of sailfish

attacking sardines is definitely
nature at its wildest.

[bright music]

[bright music]

- [Announcer] Next on
Jonathan Bird's "Blue World,"

a dive in Maine with Diver Ed

and a close call with a lobster.

But first, a big fish that
wants to be a movie star.

- [Jonathan] You know me, I
love diving with big fish,

and this is one such animal.

It's a potato cod, which can
grow larger than a scuba diver.

It can't be found in a lot of
locations around the world,

but there's one place

that consistently has them,

Cod Hole on the Great Barrier Reef.

I have a discussion with
Divemaster Kieran Jones

about the dive before we leave the dock.

- Cod Hole is one of our best dive sites.

It's not far from Lizard
Island where we are now.

We'll be heading out there shortly.

Fantastic dive site.

It's got some great coral,
lots of lovely fish,

but the main highlight is the
potato cod that live there.

And these potato cod, big, fat,

friendly fish this sort of size.

Over the years, they've
gotten very used to divers.

They will swim right up
to you to check you out.

They'll allow you to
come right up to them.

They'll pose for photos with you.

And an amazing experience
to be in the water

so close to such a large fish.

- So why are they so friendly?

- Well, they've just
gotten very comfortable

around divers over the years.

They get visited by divers I would say

most days of the week.

And in the past,

we've done feeding
routines to lure them in.

We're trying to move away from that.

We'll sometimes take just
a small amount of food down

to lure them in, but we
don't do a big feeding show.

- So my big question though,

why do they call them potato cod?

- Ah, well they're sort of
grayish-brownish in color,

and covered in big black spots.

So they look a little like
a large underwater potato.

- All right, perfect. I can hardly wait.

- It's gonna be great.

- [Jonathan] Cod Hole is a dive site

about 40 miles off the coast
of Queensland, Australia,

on the Great Barrier Reef.

We head out on the
live-aboard boat Spoil Sport

to meet up with some very large fish.

[upbeat music]

We see some of the marvelous

Great Barrier Reef along the way.

Then Kieran gives a dive briefing.

- Now the potato cod,
a big fat friendly fish

this sort of size,

grayish with big black spots on them.

Over the years, they've been
fed by many dive operators.

We no longer feed them,

but they will still
associate divers with food.

- Since this is nature

and we're dealing with wild animals,

you never know what we're going to find.

But with any luck,

we'll meet up with this dive
site's most famous resident.

And that resident is known to
the locals as a potato cod.

Which is kind of a funny name

since it's neither a potato nor a cod.

It's actually a grouper.

Let's go check it out.

I head down on the
lookout for a large fish,

and sure enough, I spot
one pretty quickly.

When it notices me,

it turns around and comes
right over like a puppy.

[lively music]

Usually the fish try to
stay away from divers.

This is a welcome change.

The potato cod is curious
about me and the camera,

and that has been one
of its fish's problems.

Potato cod generally stay in one area

and move slowly,

so they're relatively
easy to find and hunt.

The numbers of potato
cod have been dropping,

and they've becoming scarce.

So now they're on the
endangered species list.

Here at Cod Hole, divers and
fish get along just fine.

There's no fishing allowed.

Soon, the cod that has
been checking me out

moves over to say hi to a
couple of fellow divers.

Maybe it just wants its picture taken

because it goes right for Julia,

our production manager and her camera.

Or maybe it just thinks
Julia's brought some snacks.

I swim on to look for more potato cod.

[bright music]

I spot a beautiful white
and orange nudibranch

cruising along the reef
at breakneck speed,

I mean breakneck for a nudibranch.

I glance up as a large school
of fish passes overhead.

A little further along,
I find a giant clam.

The light-sensitive organs in its mantle

cause it to contract

when the shadow of my hand passes over.

That's a big clam.

A little further along,

I discover a resting whitetip reef shark.

But as I sneak up close
for a shot, it swims away.

Not as friendly as the potato cod.

As I continue exploring, I
finally come across another one

of these massive groupers
hiding in the reef.

This one does not seem
to be interested in me,

but it's staying in one place.

I wonder what's going on.

It's being cleaned.

There are several small fish moving over

and into its body,

picking off parasites
and pieces of dead skin.

I could stay here an hour

watching this fascinating behavior,

but soon, the cleaners are finished,

and the cod swims away.

That's my cue to leave too.

So I head back to the boat.

As I swim back up from a great dive,

I'm glad that these curious, friendly,

and mellow fish are protected.

- You know what?

They should call them couch potato cod

because they just hang around all day.

It's nice to know that there are places

where fish are being protected.

Amazing places like
the Great Barrier Reef.

- [Announcer] Don't go away.

Jonathan's friend Diver Ed

makes the underwater world come alive.

But what will happen to mini-Jonathan?

- Today I'm in beautiful
Bar Harbor, Maine,

where I'm spending the day with my friend

Diver Ed and his amazing
dive-in theater program

aboard the Starfish Enterprise.

[Ed grunting]

- See if it grabs a
hold of your head hair.

Ah, ah!

Man, look at all the hair
pulled out of my head.

- [Jonathan] Diver Ed takes
families out on his boat

up in Bar Harbor every summer

for an underwater adventure

where nobody has to get wet except him.

- I'm Diver Ed.

You've already met my lovely wife,

Captain Evil right over here.

- Ed's wife Edna is known as Captain Evil,

although I don't really know why.

She seemed perfectly nice to me.

She's part of the show,
and so are the family dogs.

- Stick it on over your head.

With your big floppy ears,

you can pull those through like that.

Strap on the side goes around your back.

On the end of the strap is a clip.

You just clip into the ring in the front

and then pull on the
free end to tighten it.

Everyone give him a hand.

Good job, new guy, way to go.

- [Jonathan] And members of
the audience get deputized too.

- What is it?
- Noah.

- Noah?

Noah, you're my head passenger

in charge of the toilet today, Noah,

go on the toilet boy, woo-hoo!

Everybody loves the toilet boy.

- This is mini-Ed number 124.

- [Jonathan] Diver Ed always
takes a dive buddy with him

because it's dangerous to dive alone.

And since I'm joining the dive today,

they get a dive buddy for me too.

- This is mini-Jonathan
and he's got four spins on.

He will be diving today

and he is gonna be filming
the expedition down there.

So he's ready to go.

- We're not in the tropics up in Maine.

The water temperature
today is only 50 degrees.

It's a lot of stuff for cold water.

Diver Ed and I get a little
help jumping into the water.

[Ed yelling indistinctly]

[gentle music]

Once we're underwater,
Diver Ed wastes no time.

He madly swims around collecting creatures

to bring back on board for the passengers

to examine and touch.

I can barely keep up
with his frantic pace.

When he has collected enough specimens,

he heads back to the surface
to get his specially equipped

high definition underwater camera

to take people on a real
time underwater adventure.

The lights bring the ocean
bottom alive for his passengers

back on the boat.

- They found a sea cucumber.

This is a relative of starfish,

and starfish have five
rows of suction cup feet.

- [Jonathan] As Diver Ed and mini-Ed

check out a sea cucumber,

Captain Evil gives the audience a lesson.

- So there's the mouth,

and you can see that it looks
just a lot like the butt.

It's pretty hard to be an animal

where your mouth looks
just like your butt.

But that's the way it
is for sea cucumbers.

- [Jonathan] Diver Ed and his camera

find the most amazing
creatures right under the boat.

- [Edna] He is a very, very cute diver.

Look at, he's got a
little spike on his hair.

He's adorable. So all
that stuff just sticks on.

- [Ed] He's so cute!

- I know, he's looking right at us.

Look at his little grumpy mouth. Oh man.

- [Jonathan] As Diver Ed and
I continue across the bottom,

he shows the audience all kinds

of amazing animals that
live in the cold water

of the North Atlantic while
Edna narrates from above.

- [Edna] This is a baby sea
scallop. Look at those eyes.

All those black dots look
like poppy seeds are eyes.

Scallops have two rows of
eyes rooming each shell.

Nobody really knows why.

So you guys should go to college

and become marine
biologists and tell me why

because I wanna know.

This is a baby.

- [Jonathan] In between
sea stars, sculpins,

and other cool critters,

Diver Ed and I have
some fun goofing around.

- [Edna] Hey, you found
something else down here,

what's this?

This is Jonathan Bird. How cool.

Not quite sure what he's saying.

It's probably good to breathe.

- [Jonathan] Meanwhile,
mini-Ed has found himself

a mysterious looking shell.

That's not just a shell,
it's a hermit crab.

- [Edna] Now you can see a hermit crab has

two different size claws.

They're actually more closely related

to a lobster than a crab.

And there's his eyes.

Boink, here he comes, Diver Ed.

He's peeking out. He just has to know.

Diver Ed, what a nice shot.
What a cute shrimp this is.

- [Jonathan] And then Ed
finds an angry lobster.

- [Edna] He's beautiful, but
he doesn't look friendly.

Oh, yikes.

As I said, I don't know why we have

to keep getting new cameras.

There he goes, Diver Ed.

[Ed yelling]

Something's gone horribly wrong.

- [Ed] Help me please!

- [Edna] Diver Ed, you need
help and you need it now.

His buddy is gonna have to come over.

Oh no, Diver Ed, mini-Ed needs help now,

he's in big trouble.

Oh man, Diver Ed, you gotta do something.

He's being used as a battering ram.

- [Jonathan] After his
escape from the lobster,

poor mini-Ed stumbles into the clutches

of a stinging anemone.

- [Edna] Diver Ed, can you do anything?

I don't think he can move.

Oh, I can't believe he did that.

We tell them not to do this.

- Unfortunately his heart stopped.

He needs CPR right away.

- [Edna] Mini-Ed's heart
stopped, he now needs CPR.

Two rescue breaths,
couple chest compressions.

Fortunately, Eddie is certified in CPR.

This is a really good reason
why you should always go

with a dive buddy in case
you need underwater CPR.

- I brought him back to life.

- [Edna] Diver Ed,
thank goodness for that.

So it worked.
- Woo-hoo!

- [Edna] Good use of the buddy system.

I'm glad you were there for him.

- [Jonathan] Mini-Jonathan
meanwhile is so busy filming,

he's not paying attention.

And whoa buddy, look out from behind!

Fortunately, I come to the rescue,

and mini-Jonathan is going to be okay.

- [Child] Was it cold?

- [Jonathan] The dive is so
exhilarating that Diver Ed

and I are pretty pumped when we surface.

I mean really pumped. I mean pumped up.

[bright music]

- Oh, sorry! Oh, sorry!

[children chatting]

[suit inflating]

[group laughing]

You're gonna be a clam?

I'm gonna be a starfish.

Now unfortunately, unfortunately
for Lindsay the clam,

it's feeding time for
me, Eddie the starfish.

If I wanted to eat Lindsay the clam,

I'd grab a hold of those
two shells in my arms

where the suction cup
feet hold on really tight.

Then I'd spread those shells
as far apart as possible,

eject my stomach out of my mouth, ready?

[Ed retching]

Stick it down between the two shells,

suck all of her guts into my stomach.

Once my stomach's full, I
suck it back into my mouth.

You've got some great
tasting guts, Lindsay.

Everyone give her hand.

Good job, Lindsay. Way to go.

Way to give Eddie your guts.

This is a sea scallop.

A lot of people wanna know what I do

for a living in the
winter time, I dive first.

Ah, I didn't know that
was gonna happen, did you?

Everyone knows what this is.

- [Group] Lobster.
- Lobster.

Lobsters have two types of claws.

The bigger one is used
for crushing things.

What kind of claw is
that? Crushing claw, good.

What about the smaller
one, pinches things.

- Pinches and ripping claw.
- Pincher claw, good.

Let's see if it pinches one.

[Ed humming]

Come here lobster.

See if you can get me.

If it's clear, that's just salt water.

Any idea what it's gonna be doing

if it starts to turn brown?

It's going poopy.

That's the butt end of the sea cucumber.

They really tighten up their muscles

and make themselves hard and round.

Not only that, but they
secrete a wonderful mucus.

Ugh! That makes them really slippery.

Now if anyone ever asked you, Rebecca,

have you learned anything
on this trip today,

what are you gonna say, yes or no?

Did you learn anything?

- Yeah.
- Okay, good.

Yes is the correct answer.

- [Jonathan] After the show,

everyone gets to examine the specimens

and even hold them before Diver Ed

returns them to the ocean unharmed.

[children chatting]

Eventually it's time to head back.

My dive buddy mini-Jonathan and
I will never forget this day

aboard the Starfish Enterprise.

[bright music]

[soft music]