07x06 - Palm Beach Florida & Great Barrier Reef

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- [Art] Today on Blue World,

Jonathan swims with huge
schools of jellyfish,

will he get stung?

But first diving the
incredible reefs of Palau.

[gentle music]

[energetic uplifting music]

Meet Jonathan Bird.

[water splashing]

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.

[energetic music]

- [Jonathan] The Republic
of Palau is an unspoiled

and remote island nation,

known as one of the world's
top diving destinations.

Consisting of more than 500
islands surrounded by beautiful,

clear water and healthy reefs,

Palau is definitely a diving paradise.

It's also a bit famous
for this brackish lake

filled with millions of
non-stinging jellyfish.

[gentle celestial music]

The waters consistently very clear,

with visibility generally
more than a hundred feet.

The narrow channels

between the shallow reefs
often have manta rays,

gulping down plankton in the current

and the Green Islands
are a picture postcard

of tropical paradise.

Located 500 miles east of the Philippines,

Palau isn't close to anything.

After two days of flying
camera woman Julia and I

are on our way to the liveaboard dive boat

that will be our home for the week,

the Rock Islands Aggressor.

This large catamaran is
part of the Aggressor fleet,

a worldwide brand of luxury boats.

catering specifically to divers.

For seven days,

we will live on this amazing boat

and have access to dive sites

all around the islands of Palau.

Our diving will be done
from this smaller tender,

which is fast and maneuverable
for plucking divers out

of the water as they surface.

But the coolest part is the boat lift,

where they lift the
tender out of the water

for easy access.

We arrive with a bunch of other guests,

welcomed with a cool drink.

- Thanks, how you doing?

- Wow, this is great.

The crew unloads all of our gear,

while we get our first briefing

on how everything will work on board.

- Again, welcome on board
the rock on Aggressor.

Camera tables of course, hand them cabin

for cabins one through eight.

- [Jonathan] On the lower
deck we find the cabins

where we all sleep.

There's an outdoor seating area,

a salon where we eat and relax,

an upper deck to enjoy the sunsets,

and, of course, the main dive deck

where all the wet stuff stays.

The first night, Cruise
Director Ben Clark,

gives us our first dive briefing

and introduces the crew.

[Divers clapping]

[gentle guitar music]

Early the next morning, we're
all suited up in wetsuits

and ready for our first dive.

Dive Master Star gives us
a briefing on the site.

Palau has a lot of current,

so paying attention is important.

Then we board the tender
for our first adventure.

[crew members talking softly]

We have a few minutes to put
on our gear during the ride out

to the dive site with
Captain Ike driving the boat,

finally we get to the mooring.

For our first dive,

we're doing an easy site with no current.

- [Crew Member] One, two, three.

[water splashing]

- [Jonathan] We are greeted
with crystal clear conditions

and an amazing reef drop off.

On the top of the reef, we find a chimney,

which is basically a
vertical hole in the reef

that we can drop straight down into.

I follow the twinkling light
beams slowly into the depths.

Soon the chimney turns
horizontally forming a sort

of cavern in the side of the wall.

[gentle celestial music]

At just over a hundred feet,
we enter a fantastic world

where only our bubbles seem
to know which way is up.

The light down here is magnificent,

but we only have a couple of minutes

before we need to head
up to shallower water

for the rest of the dive.

Cruising along the edge of the wall,

I soar like an eagle
ray over the precipice,

which drops into the
blue abyss out of sight.

The wall forms a vertical habitat

with huge red Gorgonian corals

reaching into the current
for plankton to eat.

A pair of sweet lips hangs
out in their living room

behind a pink, soft coral, gently swaying.

[gentle music]

[air bubbles percolating]

Drifting with the current,

I come across a hawksbill sea turtle

hunting for sponges to eat.

[gentle playful music]

Once she gets used to my lights,

she goes about her business.

[soft serene music]

[air bubbles gurgling]

Hanging back a ways from the other divers

so all their bubbles
won't scare my subjects,

I come across a spadefish hovering head up

at a cleaning station.

As I move in for a shot,

the fish moves away
revealing a green sea turtle.

At first, I think she's
positioning herself

for a nap in her favorite spot.

[gentle serene music]

But as I continue to observe, I notice

that she's actually using the
coral to scratch her shell.

You might not suspect

that a sea turtle could
feel anything on the outside

of its shell, but the fact

that sea turtles are often
seen scratching an itch

definitely means they do

and sometimes humans offer
a welcome bit of help.

You should never just
swim up to a sea turtle

and try to scratch its shell.

But if I see a sea
turtle desperately trying

to reach an itch, I feel it's
okay to lend a gentle hand.

[serene music continues]

And when that itch has been
scratched off, she goes.

After a relaxing safety stop,
it's time to head to the boat.

Julia and I pop up from the
dive with lots of great memories

and some fun footage for
Blue World fans everywhere.

Then it's back to the
Rock Island Aggressor

for some lunch.

We're met by Repan with some cold drinks.

Oh, how great is this? Oh,
you gotta love it, man.

I can get used to this.

While we all enjoy a nice lunch,

captain Ike is moving the
Aggressor to another area.

I expect to see a big wheel,

but he's driving with a tiny
joystick like a video game.

Captain Ike has been navigating
these waters for many years

and he knows how to get this
huge vessel up the middle

of a narrow channel barely deep enough

for the keel in a strong current.

After lunch,

another dive briefing for another dive.

- Any questions?

All right, let's go diving.

- [Crew Member] Be diving

- [Jonathan] For us, every
dive is new and exciting.

You just have no idea what you might see.

Once again, the tender
is lowered into the water

and off we go.

Soon we're speeding over the
waves towards a current swept

reef known for exceptional marine life.

Palau is known for strong currents

and some of the dive sites
have incredible shark action

that can only be seen

if the divers use reef hooks to hang on.

So for this dive, we
all have our reef hooks

and we're ready for the current.

I've been hooked. I dunno about this.

[boat motor rumbling]

- [Crew Member] One, two, three.

- [Jonathan] We have to roll in together

and swim quickly down to the reef

because you can't always
swim against the current.

But soon we realize that we
have hit perfectly at slack tide

and there's almost no current.

As a result, the fish are relaxing.

Instead of swimming hard in formation

to maintain their positions,
they're acting like a bunch

of kids at recess just
enjoying themselves.

A big Napoleon wrasse
comes over to say hi.

That is one big fish.
I'm glad he's friendly.

This fish is almost
always at this dive site,

but tends to be the most
curious when the current is

not too strong.

As I swim along the reef,
the fish are so chill,

they don't even mind my lights.

A seas snake is hunting
through the reef for shrimp.

[gentle harp music]

Out of the corner of my eye,

I see one school of fish is spawning

and another school of fish
swoops into feast on the eggs.

But some of those eggs will
escape and turn into baby fish.

There are so many fish that
it's hard to figure out what

to film next,

but then I see humphead parrotfish,

some of the oddest looking
characters on the reef.

The humphead is aptly named

and being the largest
herbivorous fish on the reef,

it eats algae that it gnaws from the reef

with some big teeth,

and the bump head is for fighting.

[gentle playful music]

At the top of the reef,

a big school of snapper
poses for my camera.

If they look like they're not up to much,

that's because they mostly chill out

over the reef during the day.

Then head out to hunt over
sandy habitats at night

when their preferred food,

things like shrimp and
other crustaceans comes out.

Nearby a school of gold-spot seabream

with their characteristic
golden-yellow spots.

I love these fish.

They always look like they have sunlight

shining on their butts.

Like the snapper,

they're waiting for darkness to hunt

because let's face it, they
aren't sneaking up on anything

during the day with those golden butts.

After an unexpectedly relaxing dive,

Julia and I head reluctantly
back to the surface.

As the sun gets low in
the sky, we cruise on back

to the Rock Island Aggressor.

We are hungry and ready

to dry out a little.

[wind blowing]

During dinner, we enjoy an
insanely beautiful sunset,

but we won't be dry for long

because Julia and I are
going on the night dive.

One last time for the day,

our tender hits the water

and soon after we hit it too.

[water splashing]

Without strong sunlight
filtered through seawater,

making everything look blue,

the true colors of the reef
pop under our video lights.

Red, yellow, orange, and pink,

these colors are so hard
to see during the day.

A sponge is covered in tiny
worm-like sea cucumbers

surviving in a symbiotic relationship.

A huge nudabrank the size of
a shoe is searching for food.

A drowsy anemonefish is
wondering why some dude

turned on the lights.

A lionfish is on the prowl.

We find some sea turtles
and watch them for a while.

They don't seem to be doing much.

I would expect them to be sleeping,

but they're just pacing back
and forth up and down the reef.

It's possible that these are
females with eggs waiting

for the right moment to head
as shore to lay them in a nest.

[gentle solemn music]

[air bubbles gurgling]

[gentle solemn music continues]

[air whooshing]

Our trip to Palau was quite an adventure.

By the end of the week,
we had explored shipwrecks

and a plane wreck, visited Jellyfish Lake,

dove in ripping currents using reef hooks,

and we even saw a whale shark.

But for those adventures
will have to be patient

because our Palau adventure
is to be continued.

- [Art] Don't go away, Jonathan
is about to meet thousands

of jellyfish.

[gentle music]

- [Jonathan] The Republic of Palau

is an island nation consisting

of more than 500 beautiful
unspoiled islands in the Pacific.

This blue water paradise
is a top destination

for scuba divers from around the world.

Located 500 miles east of the Philippines

in the middle of the Pacific Ocean,

Palau is well off the beaten path,

a remote oasis in the sea.

The Blue World team has been diving here

for a week already, aboard
the Rock Islands Aggressor,

luxury, liveaboard dive yacht.

We have seen massive coral caverns,

sharks, reefs, huge schools of fish,

World w*r II shipwrecks,

and dove in strong
currents with reef hooks.

But we've not yet
visited one of the places

that has made Palau
famous, Jellyfish Lake,

In Palau's Southern Lagoon,

lie the Rock Islands,

a collection of more than

which were pushed up out of
the water 35 million years ago

by volcanic action.

Many of the islands have
lakes in the middle,

although some of the water
in the lakes comes from rain,

sea water slowly seeps through
the porous limestone too.

So the water in the lakes is salty,

but not as salty as the ocean,

hence they're called Marine lakes.

Jellyfish Lake is a marine
lake, but this one is special,

it's full of jellyfish.

Now, technically jellyfish
aren't fish at all.

They don't have a backbone,

so the proper term is jelly.

But Jelly Lake doesn't sound that good,

so Jellyfish Lake, it is.

To reach Jellyfish Lake,

we take a boat ride through
the Rock Islands to Eil Malk

also known as Mecherchar Island.

- [Crew Member] Take it
off, because we can't--

- [Jonathan] After we show our
permits, we have to hike up

and over a big hill to reach the lake

and all the gear has to be
hand carried up the steps.

[soft playful music]

Soon we start suiting up,

but we're only going to use snorkel gear

because scuba gear is not allowed.

I'll explain that later.

Since we have a long
swim to the jellyfish,

our guide Matt is going to take
the cameras over on a kayak.

Julia and I will have to swim.

[water splashing]

The lake doesn't look very big,

but when you have to
swim across, it's big.

As we start to see jellyfish,

I get my camera and start filming.

They're all over here

because the jellyfish
follow the brightest light

on the lake.

When one side is in shade,
they swim to the sunny side,

that's because these
jellyfish are carrying a kind

of algae in their skin
called zooxanthellae.

It's almost the same exact
thing found in the skin

of certain corals.

The algae are plants

and make energy from sunlight,

which they share with the jellyfish.

So basically these
jellyfish are photosynthetic

like plants.

They need the sun to survive

and get almost all their
energy requirements

from the zooxanthellae.

As they swim, they slowly rotate,

giving all the
zooxanthellae an equal share

of direct sunlight.

[soft orchestral music]

The jellyfish have been
here for thousands of years

with generation after
generation of jellyfish living,

secluded in the lake,

having no contact with the ocean,

the jellyfish have slowly changed.

As they became more

and more dependent on solar power

and didn't have much prey to eat,

they eventually lost their stinging cells.

So these jellyfish known

as the golden jellyfish
are totally harmless

and they're found nowhere
else in the world.

They're related to the jellyfish found

in other marine lakes in Palau,

but these are special.

I mentioned before

that there's no scuba
diving allowed in here.

There are two reasons why.

First of all, a diver down
below would make a ton

of scuba bubbles, which would
tear the jellyfish apart.

They're fragile creatures.

But there's something in
this lake that isn't good

for divers either.

The upper 50 feet of water

where the jellyfish live
is about half as salty

as seawater on average

and has fairly normal
distribution of dissolved oxygen.

It's your basic brackish water.

But below 50 feet, there is
almost no dissolved oxygen,

and instead the water is
filled with hydrogen sulfide.

A toxic chemical produced
as a result of decomposition

of organic material

that falls into the lake
from the surrounding jungle.

Because there is so little water flow

in and out of the lake,

there's nothing to flush
out the hydrogen sulfide.

It just sits down there.

A toxic bathtub underneath
the normal water above.

Divers could be poisoned

by absorbing the hydrogen
sulfide through their skin,

so they should never go down there.

Only bacteria can live
down in the anoxic layer.

But in addition to hydrogen sulfide,

the anoxic layer is filled
with nutrients released

by organic decomposition,

things that plants love like
nitrogen and phosphorus.

As a result, the jellyfish
make short trips down

to the very edge of the
deep layer every night

to absorb some of those nutrients.

Their symbiotic zooxanthellae are plants,

and like any plants, they need fertilizer.

The jellyfish have developed an ability

to tolerate a little bit

of hydrogen sulfide
exposure every day in order

to feed nutrients to
their symbiotic partners.

So during the day, they give
the zooxanthellae sunlight,

during the night they give them fertilizer

and the jellyfish enjoy a life

without having to hunt for food.

But that doesn't mean something
doesn't try to hunt them.

Near the lake shore,

The bottom is covered with anemones.

These animals are basically
jellyfish that don't swim,

but the anemones sting.

They wait patiently for food

and their primary food is jellyfish.

This is another reason for the jellyfish

to stay out in the sunny part of the lake,

not in the shade near shore.

In the middle, they're safe,
this guy wasn't so lucky.

After an hour swimming with the jellyfish,

I make my way back towards the dock.

I can feel jellyfish
bouncing off my skin as I go

and I'm grateful that these
little squishy don't sting.

[light airy music]

Jellyfish Lake is on every
diver's must see list,

but you don't even need
to be a scuba diver

to experience it.

It's one of the most spectacular
experiences in the world.

An incredible illustration
of the complexity

and beauty of life on earth,

an amazing wonder of the Blue World.

[gentle music]

[snappy orchestral music]

[soft electronic music]