07x08 - Jonathan Bird's Blue World

[bunniefuu]

[upbeat music]

- [Announcer] Today on "Blue World,"

the team discovers and explores
a blue hole in The Bahamas.

But first, high current diving in Palau.

[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."

[camera lens thuds]

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

consisting of more than 500
beautiful unspoiled islands

in the Pacific.

Camerawoman Julia and I have traveled

halfway around the world

to visit this tropical paradise,

exploring both above and below the water.

Our diving this week will be

aboard the Rock Islands Aggressor,

a luxury live-aboard dive yacht.

Palau is located 500 miles
east of the Philippines

in the middle of the Pacific Ocean,

pristine waters for
world-class scuba diving.

We've already done some incredible dives

and experienced some

of Palau's spectacular underwater wonders.

We have visited coral caverns,

found lots of sea turtles,

met a curious Napoleon wrasse,

and swam through walls and walls
of fish over healthy reefs.

But one thing we haven't
seen much of, sharks.

Yet Palau is known for its shark action.

One of the only places we've seen sharks

so far is off the stern of the boat.

Black tip reef sharks
often approach large boats

looking for some free food.

Fishermen often throw
their scraps to the sharks.

[gentle music]

So where are all the rest of the sharks?

Well, it turns out they like to hang out

in some places where the
diving is not so easy.

After a few days

of getting used to the
underwater conditions,

now our group is ready to
take on a legendary dive site.

We awake in a small protected
bay off the island of Peleliu

in the southern part of Palau.

Peleliu 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 island in a battle
that took over two months.


Remnants of the battle are everywhere.

During the battle, American
troops stormed Peleliu Beach,

now a peaceful lagoon.

Just off the beach is Peleliu Corner,

a reef that juts out into the
ocean with a steep drop off.

Extreme currents rip up
and across this reef,

and this is where we're diving.

If the current is strong,
we're not gonna hook in.

We're just going to drift.

- [Jonathan] And the morning
begins with a dive briefing,

and we all need to pay close attention

because this dive site can be dangerous.

- We can go to the corner,

but we usually just stay in shallow depths

rather than just right on the reef.

- [Jonathan] But we're ready.

- Let's go, let's go!

You should make 'em dive for 23:00.

[machine humming]

[water sloshing]

- [Jonathan] We drop into the water

and quickly descend to the reef,

which is bathed in clear oceanic water.

The dive masters have dropped
us upstream from the dive site

so we can drift with the current

down to the perfect spot
on the corner of the wall.

This part is easy.

Once we reach the spot, we
have to fight the current

to stay in position and
maneuver to our desired places.

Once we get there,

we do something quite
uncommon in scuba diving.

We actually anchor into the reef

with a short line that has a hook on it.

Then we flap in the current like flags.

This actually does less damage to the reef

than having a bunch of people hanging on

and kicking the coral.

We float above the reef
without any effort.

And soon we have gray reef
sharks around checking us out.

So why are they here?

The strong currents bring
nutrients and plankton,

which attracts large numbers of fish.

They don't mind the current,
and that attracts sharks.

[gentle music]

Unfortunately, because the
sharks are here for fish,

they have little interest in us,

so they don't come very close.

[gentle music]

But every few minutes,

a curious shark makes a
pass to have a look at us.

[gentle music]

Without the reef hooks,

this dive would be almost impossible,

especially with a camera.

[gentle music]

The safest way to conduct this dive is

to keep the group together.

So after a while, we all
unhook at the same time

and drift down the reef to
be picked up by the boat.

[gentle music]

We pass a large school of jacks.

And a white tip reef shark.

And then a huge school of fish comes by.

These are sail fin snapper,

also known as blue-lined sea bream.

Astonishingly, these are
normally solitary fish.

The only time they get together

in schools like this is to spawn.

And this school of fish
seems to go on forever,

like a river.

But the shark action, as it
turns out, isn't quite over.

Just as we're getting ready

to ascend to the boat waiting above,

a huge shadow emerges from the blue.

It's a whale shark!

She's not the biggest
whale shark I've ever seen,

but whale sharks are
extremely rare in Palau,

for some reason, and
this is the first time,

most of the dive masters have
ever seen one in their lives.

As she heads off into the blue,

everyone's a little disappointed,

but I've been around whale sharks a lot,

so I keep my camera ready.

They often circle back for
a look, and here she comes.

I believe whale sharks
are pretty intelligent

and truly curious.

[gentle music]

[gentle music continues]

Of course, when you see a whale shark,

you have to do a celebratory dance.

[playful music]

Whale sharks are so rare

that when we tell the crew
back on the Aggressor,

they don't believe us.

- Are you serious?
- Yeah!

- [Crew Member] They
actually saw a whale shark?

- Are you serious?
- Yeah.

[crew members chatting indistinctly]

- Are you serious?

- Yeah, yeah.

- [Crew Member] Whale shark!

- Whale shark [laughs]!

[crew members chatting indistinctly]

What did you see on the dive?

- Nothing.

Whale shark.

- Whale shark.

Whale shark.

It was totally a whale shark.

- [Jonathan] As we celebrate over lunch,

Captain Ike drives the
boat out to open water

on our way to the next dive site.

Our next dive will be
in the German Channel

where we will experience
what could be described

as an underwater river dive.

- So we'll be down for a
while, wait a little bit.

[engine humming]

- [Jonathan] Soon, we're on our way

to another adventure
involving strong current.

[engine revving]

- [Crew Member] 1, 2, 3!

- [Jonathan] We begin the dive
at the mouth of the channel

where the tide is pushing
water up into the channel.

With reef hooks in place, we
wait for some shark action.

[gentle music]

A few sharks pass by, but
there isn't too much going on.

[gentle music]

So we unhook and do a drift dive

with the incoming current up the channel.

[gentle music]

The coral flies by, and we
don't even have to kick!

Scuba Steve is impersonating a manta ray.

[gentle music]

When we pass a couple of giant clams,

I tuck out of the current
to get a few shots.

Even though giant clams are protected,

it takes a long time for
them to get this big.

Although they feed on plankton

by filtering it from the
water with their siphons,

they also collect solar power

with the photosynthetic
symbiotic algae in their skin.

Soon, I continue on my
extremely strenuous dive,

making my way back to the boat.

Zooming at high speed back
towards the Aggressor,

Captain Ike spots something in the water

off the port side of the tender.

A huge pod of dolphins is
converging on us quickly!

[bright music]

Dolphins love to play in
the bow wave of boats.

It's their version of surfing.

Zach runs to the bow to catch
the action with a GoPro.

[bright music]

I can't believe he even
got an underwater shot!

[bright music]

Soon we get too far from
their stomping grounds,

and the dolphins turn back,

and we return to our floating palace.

The currents of Palau can be challenging,

but the rewards are worth the effort.

You never know what you might see.

But not all the amazing things

in Palau require diving in heavy current.

The Battle of Peleliu created
quite a few shipwrecks

that we will explore in the next episode

of our Palau adventure.

Stay tuned.

[epic music]

- [Announcer] Don't go away.

The "Blue World" team is
about to explore a blue hole

in The Bahamas.

- [Jonathan] The islands
of The Bahamas are filled

with formations called blue holes.

They look like ponds, but
they're actually deep holes

in the limestone formed by
erosion over thousands of years.

In previous episodes of
Jonathan Bird's "Blue World,"

we have explored some of
these mysterious sink holes,

like Cousteau's Blue Hole on Andros.

Some blue holes were formed
when the sea level was lower,

thousands of years in the past.

Now that the oceans are higher,

those blue holes are underwater.

These ocean blue holes
are filled with sea water.

Because ocean blue holes
often lead into cave systems,

which connect to other ocean blue holes,

water can be pushed
through these cave systems

as the tide goes in or out.

This strong current in the cave

[diver screams]

can suck a cave diver in to his death.

The Exuma islands of
The Bahamas are famous

for ocean blue holes.

Recently, we explored
Angel Fish Blue Hole,

a well known and easily accessible
ocean blue hole of Exuma.

But today, we're on a mission.

We want to find and explore an
undiscovered ocean blue hole.

Since the water in The Bahamas is so clear

and the ocean blue holes
usually occur in a shallow spot,

they can be seen from the air,

but that also means they can
be seen from a satellite.

So we start our search with Google Earth.

We're hunting for a dark spot
that could be a blue hole

and not too far from shore.

Cameraman Zach has zeroed
in on a possible candidate.

So you think that's a blue hole?

- That's a blue hole.

- The next day we head
over to see our friends,

Tamara and Jonathan at Dive Exuma

to get some scuba tanks for our adventure.

Then it's off to a
remote part of the island

in a quest to find our blue hole.

On a lonely section of the island,

we come to the end of the road,

and there should be an ocean
blue hole just off shore.

Wow, there has got to
be a cave down there.

I think we should launch the drone

and have a quick look before.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

Alright, let's do it.

Zach-of-all-trades launches
the drone for a peak,

and from the air, it looks promising.

It's definitely a deep
depression in the sea floor.

It has all the makings
of a great cave dive,

but the only way to be sure
is to get a look under water.

From the shore, it looks pretty close,

but it's actually a long swim.

So cameraman Zach can scope
it out faster by snorkeling

than we could with all of our scuba gear.

With the knowledge that there
probably is a cave to explore,

we start suiting up and
preparing for the dive.

[bright music]

After a long swim, we finally make it

all the way over to the
blue hole and submerge.

[gentle music]

There's no sign of that sea turtle,

but there is a big school of grunts.

[gentle music]

The walls leading down
into the depths are steep,

and soon we're entering the cavern zone.

[calm music]

There's an old lost fish trap.

Zach ties off is real,
and we head into the cave.

We can feel that the current
is coming out of the cave,

so it's safe for us to head in.

Along the walls of the cave,
there are all kinds of life

that you don't see
diving inland blue holes.

The constant flushing of
sea water brings nutrients

and food to creatures in the cave.

A lot of the fuzzy looking stuff

on the walls of the cave are hydroids

and other invertebrates that sting humans,

but crabs are immune.

When Zach reaches the
end of his primary reel,

he ties on another spool.

[calm music]

After progressing another a
hundred feet into the cave,

something starts to feel different.

So I check the current.

Now the sand is getting
sucked further into the cave.

The tide has turned.

It's time for us to get
out of here and fast.

[tense music]

[tense music continues]

Back in the cavern zone, we
can see daylight from above.

We slowly rise into shallower water

to do our mandatory decompression.

In an inland blue hole, this
might be kind of boring,

but here in the ocean,

there's plenty of marine life to observe.

A school of tangs are nibbling on algae.

[gentle music]

A lionfish is stalking prey.

Lionfish are absolutely beautiful,

but they're an invasive
species in these waters.

It seems like fish love
the entrance to a cave,

but fish aren't the only residents here.

Under a shelf, I find an army
of spiny lobsters all lined up

as if guarding their domain.

Spiny lobsters don't have big claws

like the lobsters in the North Atlantic,

but their thick antennae
are covered in sharp spines,

making them formidable weapons.

[playful music]

Finally, our decompression is completed,

and we can ascend back to the surface.

Whoo!

We make our long swim back to shore,

where Zack-of-all-trades is
waiting to hear the report.

Mission completed.

Ocean blue holes are beautiful
and intriguing formations

only found in a few places on earth.

Exuma is blessed with dozens,

maybe even hundreds of these
mysterious hidden gems.

But people only regularly dive a handful

of the easily accessible ones.

We set out to find and
explore our own blue hole.

And there's a great sense
of pride and satisfaction

in finding something new and mysterious.

We have no way of knowing

if we were the first ones
to dive this blue hole.

Maybe not, but it's safe
to say it's unlikely

that very many other people
have ever seen the inside

of this cave.

And since it has no official name,

we've decided to call it
the "Blue World Blue Hole."

[upbeat music]

[bright music]