07x09 - Bahamas & Palau

[bunniefuu]

[dramatic music]

- [Announcer] Today on "Blue World,"

Jonathan discovers a
lobster hotel in a cave.

[dramatic music]

But first, he meets one of the
most colorful and vocal fish

in the Caribbean.

[dramatic music]

Meet Jonathan Berg,

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."

[dramatic music]

- [Jonathan] The island of Cozumel

is a picture perfect example
of a diver's paradise.

Crystal clear water surrounds the coasts,

and just offshore, verdant reefs

filled with healthy populations of fish,

invertebrates and sea turtles.

Within the reefs there
are cracks and holes,

some of which large enough
for divers to explore,

but the ones where divers don't fit

become home to marine life.

Fish hide from predators.

Sharks rest,

and in smaller holes,
a rare reclusive fish,

the splendid toadfish,
one of the most photogenic

and sought after photo
subjects in the Caribbean.

In our search for this little beauty,

Zach of all trades and I fly
on down to Cozumel, Mexico

just off the coast of Cancun.

We head on over to the marina

where we stop in with our
friends at Scuba Life.

These guys cater to small
groups of divers like us.

We fill out some paperwork,

and we're on our way.

While Captain Alex is taking
us out to the dive site,

I chat with JP, an
expert toadfish spotter.

He assures me we will find some toadfish.

There are a lot of great
dive sites around Cozumel,

but we are heading to a place

where JP knows of Toadfish to be seen.

[dramatic music]

I can't wait to get in the water

and do my favorite thing: scuba diving.

Well, let's go find some toadfish.

When we hit the water,

Zach, JP and I don't even have to swim.

Cozumel is famous for its drift diving.

Water flows past the
island like a giant river,

so we just ride the current
and glide above the reef.

[dramatic music]

It's not a very good workout

'cause you just lay back
and let the scenery go by,

no kicking required.

The problem comes when you wanna stop.

I find a hawk's bill sea
turtle chomping on sponges,

so I have to kick to stay
in place and hunker down.

[dramatic music]

You would think that sea
turtles would be experts

at feeding in the current,

but in her pursuit of the tastiest bites,

she gets herself turned around backwards.

Woo hoo!

[dramatic music]

Soon she decides to look
in a different spot,

and I realize just how hard it
is to swim into this current.

Making any headway upstream
is nearly impossible.

Captain Alex dropped
us upstream of the spot

where we'll find the Toadfish,

so we can have a nice drift over the reef.

[dramatic music]

JP leads us over into a
really nice section of coral,

but you have to look fast

because if you go sh**ting past anything,

it's not that easy to get back to it.

[dramatic music]

Some of the fish play in the current,

and some of the fish hide from it.

A grouper hangs out in his living room

and watches the action out the front door.

When I pop in to say hi with my lights,

he decides to take a swim
around the neighborhood

and gets some exercise until I'm gone.

Every little protected area on the reef

has a school of fish
hiding from the current,

and most of them would
rather pose for my camera

than swim away.

They're used to divers floating by.

[dramatic music]

An arrow crab has taken
refuge in a sponge,

a soft bachelor pad to chill.

As we continue downstream, we
finally reach Toadfish city,

and within 30 seconds, JP
points out the first toadfish.

So what is so special
about this little fish?

It has only been found in two
places, the reefs of Cozumel

and the reefs of the nearby
island of Isla Mujeres.

It's a super rare fish

and normally doesn't come out
of its den during the day.

Its chin whiskers called
barbels are chemo sensitive,

helping the fish find food in the sand.

And while you might think
they're called toadfish

because they look a little bit like toads,

they do something else.

[toadfish croaking]

The croaking sound is
made with a swim bladder,

so they don't move their mouth to croak.

And this is thought to be a mating call.

- [Fish voiceover] Hey,
ladies, come check me out.

- [Jonathan] Even though I have

a pretty cooperative toadfish here sitting

still for my camera and bright lights,

I sure would like to see the whole fish.

JP keeps looking.

As the afternoon goes on and
the light levels get lower,

we have a better chance of
finding one out looking for food.

JP finds a lot more
toadfish in their dens.

Maybe some of them are listening

for just the right croak
from a potential partner.

[toadfish croaking]

But then JP calls me
over, and there it is,

something I've never seen before,

a splendid toadfish out of its den.

It was probably looking for food,

and now it's a little unsure what to do

in front of my bright lights.

I know the encounter
isn't going to last long,

and this is what you can't normally see.

The spectacular yellow coloration.

What could it possibly be for?

Probably not camouflage.

Maybe to attract a mate.

[dramatic music]

Tired of my lights,

the fish turns and
disappears into the reef.

Yet amazingly JP, the fish
whisperer, finds another one.

You can see that the
toadfish has a pair of fins

under its body called pelvic fins

used almost like a stubby
little pair of legs.

It can stand up and
even walk on those fins.

[dramatic music]

The sun really is getting
low now, and so is our air.

JP inflates a surface
marker buoy to send up

so that Captain Alex can find us.

Who knows how far we drifted
since we splashed off the boat.

You know, I always wondered
why they called them toadfish,

but now I know it has nothing
to do with how they look.

They croak.

Cozumel is a fantastic dive destination.

The current feeds nutrients to the reef,

and as a result, the life
on the reefs flourishes.

There are so many fish and sea turtles,

every dive is exciting,

and it's nice to know I'm not the only one

who can be clumsy.

The splendid toadfish
is a rare gem of a fish

found in the water around only two islands

in the whole world.

It's a beautiful and,
yes, splendid inhabitant

of the "Blue World."

- [Announcer] Don't go away.

Jonathan and cameraman Zach
explore a cave in The Bahamas.

[dramatic music]

- [Jonathan] In recent
years, I've become fascinated

with cave diving.

I've been diving in caves
in Mexico, caves in Florida,

and caves in Abaco, Bahamas.

They all have one thing in common.

These caves are accessed by land,

but there are also caves
on the bottom of the ocean.

So I'm on my way to the Exumas,

a beautiful chain of Bahamian Islands,

to explore some ocean caves.

The Zachs and I land on Grand Exuma

to begin our grand adventure.

The Exumas are located
in the southern Bahamas,

a quick flight from Miami.

[dramatic music]

They're known

for being some of the most
beautiful islands in the world

with super blue water
and white sand beaches,

but also they're known for
having a lot of ocean caves.

We've brought all of our cave diving gear,

which makes for an
impressive pile of luggage.

[dramatic music]

Soon we're off,

and these are not the best
roads we've ever seen.

[dramatic music]

We head over to Dive Exuma

and meet owners Tamara McGaw
Robinson and Jonathan Robinson.

- Hi, Tamara.

- Hi, Jonathan.

How you doing?

- Good, how are you?

- Good, you ready to go diving?

- Yes.
- Okay, let's go.

- Let's go!

[upbeat music]

- [Jonathan] Jonathan is the boat captain,

and today also the dive master.

Zach and I start setting up our gear

while we wait for the rest
of the divers to show up.

[dramatic music]

Soon everyone else is
here, and Captain Jonathan,

I like the sound of that,

gives us a quick boat briefing.

[dramatic music]

Then it's time to push off.

[dramatic music]

We only have a 10 minute
ride to the dive site,

which is near Stocking
Island, just across the bay.

Stocking Island has a picture perfect bay,

providing safe anchorage
for a bunch of sailboats.

But right in the middle of
this bay is a blue hole,

an underwater cave entrance.

[dramatic music]

Captain Jonathan gives
the group a dive briefing.

Most of the divers on the
boat are not cave divers,

so they're only going to
see the cavern section

where they can see daylight.

Cameraman Zach and I, however,

brought full side mount cave gear

to do a deeper inspection.

It seems weird to be donning
this stuff on a boat.

Once all the open water
divers have hit the water,

we gear up.

I've never done a water entry from a boat

with side mount gear, so here it goes.

Graceful.

It's been really windy recently,

so the visibility's a little murky,

but as we sink down,

we immediately find the huge
yawning mouth of the blue hole.

Zach leads the charge as
we sink into the deep.

Heading down, we pass
one of the other divers.

[dramatic music]

As it gets darker, we start
switching on our video lights.

[dramatic music]

As the opening narrows, we can
feel the strong rush of water

coming out of the cave.

Ocean caves are tidal,

which means sometimes
water is rushing out,

and other times it's rushing in.

You never wanna dive one of these caves

when the water is rushing in

because it might suck you in,

and you won't be able to get back out.

This is about as far as
the other divers can go

with the light of day visible
so they know the way out.

Zach stops to film the cave walls.

Unlike the bare rock
walls of inland caves,

ocean caves are full of
encrusting marine life

on every surface like
hydroids and sponges.

It can be very sharp,
and some of it stings,

so we definitely wear gloves.

[dramatic music]

Some of the sponges are
quite colorful and beautiful.

[dramatic music]

This encrusting life even
grows on the cave line.

We struggle upstream in the current,

it's over 100 feet deep,

and we're exerting ourselves,

so this kind of dive can be dangerous.

[dramatic music]

I can barely hold myself in position

for a shot kneeling on the bottom.

I'm really glad this current

is trying to push me out of the cave,

not the other way around.

Forget about the classic
cave diving frog kick.

I need to kick as hard as I
can to make forward progress.

Fortunately, all the silt I'm kicking up

goes immediately downstream.

We discover why the cave line in this cave

is not just a thin
string, but a thick rope.

Sometimes you need it
to get around a corner.

After fighting our way into
the cave for 20 minutes,

we finally turn around

and enjoy floating out with the current,

so easy and relaxing.

The strong current through these tunnels

coming from somewhere
deep out in the ocean,

brings a constant supply of
nutrients from the open ocean

to feed all of the creatures

growing on the walls, floor and ceiling.

[dramatic music]

It takes barely 90 seconds to
get back to the cavern zone

where I can see light from the sun

and a school of parrot fish.

[dramatic music]

Captain Jonathan is standing
there waiting for us

like Aquaman.

The current shoots us up
and out of the blue hole.

In fact, we have to be careful
not to ascend too fast.

Zach stops to film some fish.

We both have decompression stops to do.

The dive wasn't long, but it was deep.

We slowly make our way
up into the shallows.

There isn't much to see in this small bay.

Finally, we surface at
the stern of the boat.

Woo, man, that was quite a ride.

Is Zach still with me?

Oh, there he is.

We pass our tanks up

having completed our
first ocean cave dive.

But that's not all we're
going to see today.

Captain Jonathan has another
neat cave to show us.

We take another 10 minute
ride across the bay

to a secret spot and suit up again.

[water splashing]

In just 15 feet of water.

There's a small crack in the bottom.

It's tiny, but with side mount
gear, we can sneak in there.

Zach goes first to investigate,

leaving his camera behind.

The flow out of this crack is amazing.

He can barely make headway.

[dramatic music]

A minute later, he comes
back up, and it's my turn.

He passes me my camera,

and I head down light rays
bouncing off the sides.

[dramatic music]

When I get to the bottom, I'm
in a super narrow cavern zone.

[dramatic music]

I can't go very far before
the passage is too small,

but I do find a lobster hotel

full of tons of huge, spiny lobsters.

[dramatic music]

Then I turn and head
back up towards the sun.

I emerge, super excited

just because that was a
really cool experience.

Ocean caves are extremely
different from inland caves,

subject to tidal flows,
which can change direction

and full of marine life
decorating the walls.

They can be a lot of work to explore,

but so satisfying as well.

Fortunately, we have
several more blue holes

to explore on Exuma.

So the fun isn't over
yet in the "Blue World."

[dramatic music]