01x01 - Blue Shark Adventure, Underwater Cavern, Giants of the Depths

[bunniefuu]

Hi, I'm Jonathan Bird and welcome to my world!

The

Blue Shark Adventure

Blue shark. Implicated in attacks on shipwreck victims, and known to possess a mouthful of

razor-sharp teeth.

This vicious-looking fish has a few surprises in store for me as I prepare to leave the

protected shore of Rhode Island and venture into the realm of the Blue shark.

I'm on board Snappa, a shark diving boat in Rhode Island run by veteran shark fisherman

Charlie Donilon. In recent years, Charlie has turned from fishing for sharks to diving

with sharks. We leave the harbor in the early morning because we have a long way to go to

find the sharks.

After heading straight out for 3 hours we can finally stop.

Blue sharks are pelagic, that means they live in the open ocean, so to find them, we have

to travel here forty miles from the coast of Rhode Island and as you can see there is

no land in site.

The first thing we do is drop our shark cage into the water. The cage will protect us from

the sharks when we go diving. Next, we need some sharks.

To attract sharks to the boat, we use something called chum, which is basically ground up

fish parts and it looks like this. This bucket if filled with chum. And we're throwing

it overboard to create scent trail in the water. Basically, the current carries the

chum off and the sharks smell it. And then they follow the smell back to the boat. And

when they get here they find Charlie and he throwing nice little bite size morsels of

fish over the side to keep the sharks interested.

Within only minutes, the incredibly sensitive noses of the sharks have detected our chum,

and convergered on the boat.

JONATHAN: That's a nice...Look at him right here. Come right over back of the boat. Look

at him see him his blue back? Oh yeah! That's a good looking eight footer.

Scientists don't know very much about sharks, but they do know that blue sharks are incredible

swimmers. Often traveling thousands of miles in only a few months. And the reasons they

know this is because of these shark tags. If you put a shark tag on a shark in Rhode

Island and the shark is caught thousands miles away you can tell from the tag where it came

from.

Charlie volunteers to tag sharks for the National Marine Fisheries Service so they can learn

about the migration patterns of Blue sharks.

The tag is a tiny piece of paper with a serial number rolled up inside a water proof capsule

and attached to a barb that goes under a shark's skin to hold it in.

CHARLIE: This is a shark tagger.

Charlie is an expert shark tagger. He's been doing it for 20 years, and today I'm

getting a lesson.

CHARLIE: We are going to attach it to our tag pole here...

JONATHAN: OK...

The tag goes on the end of a pole. I'll use the pole to stick the tag into a shark

from a safe distance.

CHARLIE: And it's going to trail behind the fish...

But you still need to get the sharks within reach of the pole, and to do that, we'll

use some bait. We have a piece of fish on a line with no

hook. What we're going to try to do is get the shark to bite it. And sometimes they bite

it so hard they won't let go and you can pull them right out of the water, but since

no hook it doesn't hurt the shark.

JONATHAN: Oh we got one now!

CHARLIE: It's got it

JONATHAN: WHOAH YEAH!!... Nice one!

Sometimes the bait brings them a little too close!

It's hard to aim with all that thrashing going on, but now is my chance!

JONATHAN: Did I get him? All right, I did get him!

CHARLIE: Now let's see if it's a male or female

JONATHAN: Outstanding. That was pure luck.

I know it looks painful, but thick skin on the shark's back makes the tag barely noticeable

to the shark.

Now we fill out a card that we mail in to the National Marine Fisheries Service. The

card has information about the shark that we tagged, such as the location we tagged

it, the sex, male or female, and approximate length.

Some of the sharks that Charlie has tagged have been caught as far away as Africa, a

distance of over 2,500 miles! Blue sharks can really get around!

Now, I'm too excited to stay on the boat any longer. I need to get into the water with

the sharks!

I put on a thick wetsuit to protect me from the cold 60 degree water, and then take the

plunge.

Immediately, the sharks notice me and come over to investigate.

I head straight for the cage and get in. But from inside, I can't see the sharks very

well unless they come really close. So, forget this cage! I'm going out to swim with the

sharks in the open water!

As soon as I'm out in the open, the sharks closely approach me and seem to have an intense

interest in my camera. They bump their noses into the lens and seem confused by it. Believe

it or not, all living things put out tiny electrical impulses. Sharks have special electrical

senses that can detect the electrical impulses of living things.

They can tell that the camera isn't food, so they don't try to bite. But the camera

does seem to peak their interest.

The sharks are coming so close that I can actually touch them.

They seem so engrossed in the electrical signal from my video camera or by the chum in the

water that they don't seem to mind being gently touched as they swim by.

It's easy to see where the blue shark gets its name. It has a gorgeous deep blue color

on its back that probably helps it blend in to the ocean.

CHARLIE: I don't see him at all.

While I'm having fun underwater with the sharks, Charlie is still trying to tag a few

more.

This shark grabs his bait and takes off with it....right between the bars and into the

cage!

This is a big shark but it still fit through the camera port in the cage. Now it can't

figure out how to get out. I'm afraid the shark will hurt itself, so I have to see if

I can help...without getting bitten.

I open the door and try to lead the shark out, but it is thrashing around so much that

it doesn't realize there is a way out.

I have to be very careful here, because the shark could feel cornered in the cage and

it might interpret me as a threat.

Finally, I have to grab it by the pectoral fin and yank it out!

All I can say is, I'm glad I wasn't in the cage when that happened! It might be safer

on the outside!!

By the end of the day, we manage to tag 5 sharks. Who knows where they might turn up

and when. Swimming with blue sharks showed me that sharks are not evil and dangerous.

They're wild animals and unpredictable, but certainly not mindless K*llers. I can't

help but admire these beautiful and streamlined predators--Blue sharks in a blue world.

This time on Jonathan Bird’s Blue World, Jonathan visits a submerged Mayan burial ground!

Hi, I’m Jonathan Bird and welcome to my world!

66 million years ago, an enormous asteroid tumbled through space.

Impact Crater

Travelling ten times the speed of a r*fle b*llet, this celestial m*ssile was on a direct

collision course with Earth.

It smashed into Earth with such force that it triggered powerful earthquakes and volcanic

eruptions.

The impact threw a cloud of dust into the atmosphere, cooling the planet and k*lling

the dinosaurs.

The impact crater is located just north of the Yucatan peninsula, in what is now Mexico.

Around the outer ring of the crater, cracks formed in the limestone, allowing groundwater

to flow through, eroding into caves.

When a cave ceiling gets too thin and falls in, you get what is known as a cenote.

The word cenote was derived from the Mayan word ts’onot meaning “sacred well”--A

source of water, and an entrance to the caves.

Fast forward to 2,000 years ago, the Maya civilization dominated central America.

They built their cities near the cenotes so they had access to fresh water from what are

essentially super clean underground rivers.

Thanks to that asteroid, there are more cenotes in this area than anyplace else in the world--thousands

of them running along the rim of the ancient crater.

It’s an incredible place for some underwater exploration!

To begin our adventure, Cameraman Todd and I fly down to Merida, Mexico—a city surrounded

Freedom Divers

by thousands of mostly unexplored cenotes.

Our first stop, Freedom Divers, where I meet owner Jeff Shaw, my host for underwater exploration.

Jeff?

Jonathan!

Hey, nice to meet you man!

Nice to meet you!

Welcome to Merida!

Thanks, ready to do some diving?

Let’s go hit some cenotes!

All right, let’s go!

We pile all our gear into Jeff’s pickup truck and drive south.

We stop along the way, to pick up his friend Aaron Diaz, a local cave diving expert, and

a few of his local guides—Elmer, Felipe and Carlos.

We drive out into the bush and the road slowly turns into barely more than a path.

Eventually the guides get out and use machetes to clear the brush for the truck.

At last we reach cenote Sha-An and the guides start setting up.

Cenote Shaon

Looking inside the cenote, I can tell you this, I would not want to fall in there by

accident.

The surface of the water is 50 feet down and the only way out would be climbing a tree

root!

But it’s absolutely breathtaking.

This is going to be an adventure!

Elmer, Felipe and Carlos are rigging some ropes so that we can rappel down to the water.

Meanwhile, the dive team is getting ready.

This is a full cave dive, with all the gear that requires, plus something extra.

This is one of the unique pieces of gear we are using today—something you don’t normally

see scuba diving—a climbing harness.

Ready to go!

With the ropes all set up, it’s time for our team to rappel down into the cenote.

Jeff goes first to demonstrate.

Next it’s my turn.

While I have never started a dive with a rappel, I did learn to rappel in high school.

So I can’t resist the urge to show off a little.

Into the Cave

The trees that we are rappelling down are actually roots.

They don’t go down into the bottom.

Once they reach the water, they stop, with gap underneath that makes them look like anti-gravity

trees!

It takes a while to get everyone and their gear down into the water.

The divers can rappel, but all the tanks and cameras have to be lowered carefully to us.

Elmer, Felipe and Carlos are working hard!

At last with all of our gear, we can follow the beams of sunlight down into the cenote.

In the middle of the cenote is a debris pile, principally made of the rock that fell when

the ceiling collapsed, opening this cave to sunlight.

But towards the edges of the cenote, it gets deeper.

Aaron leads the way to a permanent guideline into the cave.

Soon we have passed into the cave, out of sight of sunlight.

We swim into a massive chamber, larger than a basketball court.

The water is crystal clear.

At the back of the chamber, a passageway leads into the wall.

As I approach, Aaron suggests I go first to get some great shots without anyone kicking

up the silt.

I slowly head inside, not sure what to expect.

This is what I love about cave diving—so much adventure exploring the unknown.

And there is something cool about swimming through a crack in the rock.

I lead the way into a gorgeous passageway that almost looks like a miniature riverbed,

with pebbles paving the floor.

The white limestone walls reflect my video lights, making beautiful illumination.

In

a few minutes, we reach an intersection and I’m not sure which way to go, so I stop

and wait for Jeff and Aaron.

Jeff gives us the “turn around” sign—this is as far as we go today.

Heading back out I hang back a ways to get some shots of Jeff and Todd ahead of me.

Working our way back towards the cavern, Aaron removes a section of line he laid on the way

in.

Then we make our way back up into the sunlit waters of the cavern.

Jeff has found a cow bone in the debris pile.

It’s not hard to image an animal wandering through the woods and accidentally falling

into this deep pit.

Near the bone, the skull, complete with a few remaining teeth.

Finally we surface, and now the hard work is about to begin.

Woo hoo!

Climbing the Cenote

To get us back out of the cenote, the guides lower a rope ladder.

We’re not sure this is going to work, but hopefully it will because we’re not very

good at climbing trees!

It looks like it will be easy to climb, but I assure you, it’s not.

First Jeff heads up while Aaron tries to keep it tensioned so it won’t flip around sideways.

Next it’s my turn.

By halfway up my arms are burning from the effort.

Then it’s Cameraman Todd’s turn.

Having fun yet?

Fifty feet from the surface of the water to the top of this cenote seemed like an eternity

when I was climbing up and my arms were burning, but it was so worth it!

That was the most amazing dive!

Exploring the Cenote

Not all cenotes are small holes with water way down inside.

We take a walk through the woods to a cenote so large that it looks more like a lake.

And in a small town outside Merida we check out the town well—which is just a cenote

with a tiny opening.

I would love to dive in there, but they probably don’t want a scuba diver in their water

supply.

Even today, the cenotes allow access to clean, fresh water.

But to the Mayans, cenotes were not just sources of water.

Cenotes were also believed to be entrances to the underworld--and therefore pathways

to the Gods.

In pre-Columbian times, the Maya people ruled Central America.

They built staggering cities, which included massive step-pyramids as temples to the Maya

gods.

They performed rituals that they believed would keep the gods happy--to insure their

good fortune.

The Mayans would often throw offerings into the cenotes to please Cha’ac, the rain God.

Sometimes those offerings included human sacrifices.

Cenote San Antonio

Would it be possible to dive in a cenote used by the Mayans for human sacrifices?

That’s where we are going.

Don’t go away!

Jonathan’s about to explore a spooky underwater burial ground.

Our team is piling into the truck and driving back out into the bush to visit a very special

cenote used by the Mayans for human sacrifices.

We arrive at Cenote San Antonio.

The opening was enlarged and reinforced at some point to be rectangular.

But this tiny opening was once an important place to the Mayans.

So important that we had to get a special permit to dive here.

Once again our guides set up some pulleys and rope to get us and our gear in and out

of the cenote.

It might be hard to believe, but this dive is even more difficult than the last one.

There is no room for error, we will only get one shot at this.

Our team suits up with only a vague idea of what we are going to see on the other side

of that tiny hole in the ground.

We start with a meeting to discuss our plan.

Because of the way this cenote was formed, it is safer to be lowered into it rather than

rappel.

Aaron goes first.

Once he gets down there, I can see just how far down that is.

I really don’t want to climb a rope ladder out of this.

As they lower me into the opening and through to the other side, I am swinging in free space

as I descend, spinning with the rope!

I’m rock climbing!

Cenote San Antonio Dive

From down on the water, Aaron turns on a light so I can see.

The room in here is massive!

The ceiling is like a dome.

You could never climb out.

This cenote is a deadly trap for anything that falls, or is thrown inside.

Once I’m in the water, I can see bats and stalactites.

Soon, the guides lower the rest of the team, tanks, and cameras--one at a time.

It’s a very slow process.

By the time we start our dive, I have been floating in the water more than half an hour.

I’m curious though, exactly how they are going to get me out of here!

But for the time being, I am ready with a camera, lots of lights and my natural curiosity.

Aaron and Jeff lead us below.

The sides of the cenote are covered in ancient dripstone formations—formed probably during

the last ice age when sea levels were lower and this cenote was at least partially dry.

The walls are made of sedimentary rock formed from an ancient seabed.

All kinds of shells are stuck in it, including this perfectly-formed sea urchin skeleton.

As we drop further, I focus my camera on a jawbone.

It’s the jaw of a horse, which probably fell in here by accident and drowned.

Nothing can escape this watery trap.

Near the jaw, I find my first trace of a human presence—a broken piece of pottery.

I have to get my head around the fact that this is a pre-Columbian artifact more than

a thousand years old.

Moving away from the walls and out into the middle of the cenote, I find a bone.

This is no horse bone—it’s a human tibia, the lower leg bone.

And near it, the femur.

Humans are buried here.

Not far away, a ghostly sight—a human skull resting peacefully next to a perfectly intact

earthen bowl.

At this depth in fact there are human remains almost everywhere I turn.

Aaron directs me to a field of human remains laying out on the sand on the sand in plain

view.

This skull has its jaw sitting nearby.

Of course we don’t touch or disturb anything.

Not only is this a gravesite, it’s part of an ongoing archaeological study.

We can look but we definitely cannot touch.

There are easily dozens of bodies at the bottom of this cenote, and I have to wonder what

was happening here.

Were these people sacrificed to the Gods?

Or were they simply people who died and were buried here?

What amazes me about this place is the preservation of the bones, which are at least 1,000 years

old.

If only these bones could talk, what would they tell us about life in the pre-Columbian

Maya culture?

Jeff and Aaron direct me to a shelf on the wall at 90 feet.

There, resting peacefully, the remains of two people.

Did they know each other?

Is their proximity a coincidence?

How did they get on this shelf?

All questions that will likely never be answered.

Nearby, a jaw with molars that have cavities.

What can be learned of the ancient Mayans from clues like this?

But not everything down here is about death.

This cenote has some of the most prolific cave fauna I have ever seen, including many

blind cavefish and a species of cave isopod I have never seen before.

With the dive coming to an end, we slowly ascend and finally surface into the pitch

darkness of the cenote.

That was the spookiest dive of my life and I’m definitely ready to get back to the

sunlit world above.

Elmer, Felipe and Carlos have to lift each of us, and all of our gear, out with a block

and tackle.

It’s hard work and these guys are stronger than they look!

Hi guys!

Thanks for hoisting me up!

Merida Mexico is not particularly close to the ocean, but the vast network of unexplored

cenotes nearby and the rich Mayan history of the area makes it one of the most fascinating

dive destinations I have ever visited.

Without question, I’ll be back to explore more cenotes.

Who knows what secrets they hold in their deep blue depths.

Well, I’m all geared up and ready to go.

This is so cool, you have got to see this!

As soon as I hit the ocean, I can see Aquarius directly beneath me in the clear water.

It’s almost like a submarine that doesn’t move.

But unlike a submarine, the pressure inside Aquarius is the same as the pressure outside.

So even though there is an open hatch at the bottom of the habitat, water doesn’t go

in.

This allows people to go in and out of Aquarius as much as they like.

Which is totally awesome!

So this is it!

The Aquarius, amazing!

I can come right in through an open hole in the floor, and yet, the water stays out, that’s

cool.

Now, time for a shower.

You have to shower before you go inside the Aquarius because they don’t salt water in

everything.

I mean, we might be underwater, but this is civilized.

So the Aquarius, you can think of it like a big school bus with no seats in it.

It's sort of like a long tube and everything is spread throughout that tube.

At this end, behind this power door, is the front porch, and that's where I came inside.

We like to keep that closed because it's quite humid in there and its air conditioned in

here.

Now the next feature you'll find right inside the front door here is the bathroom.

Here's your bathroom, you have got your privacy curtain…it's a pretty small bathroom but

it gets the job done.

And of course, right across over here, a sink, and some laboratory equipment, just in case

you need to do some biological studies.

And then we come down a little further and we have a computer.

Well… you have got to be able to get on the internet even when you are underwater,

I mean come on!

So here in the middle of the Aquarius we have the kitchen, or what you would call on a boat,

the galley.

So if you come in here we're got the sink, and we've got a place to eat, sort of a kitchen

table if you will.

And, a picture window!

But unlike your picture window at home, this picture window looks out on a coral reef with

fish swimming by.

Where's the fish?

Come here fishies!

And the last part, down here at the far end (this would be sort of like the back of the

school bus) you have six bunks all stacked up together.

You can see there is not a lot of space in here.

In fact, if you're sleeping, you only have about a foot and a half from your head to

the next bunk up.

It's pretty tight, but it's cozy and its dry.

And you can’t beat the view out the window at the foot of the bed!

So now you might be wondering…what do you eat down here?

Well, they eat sort of like astronauts.

It's freeze-dried foods.

If you are a camper you might have used some of this stuff.

You rip the package open, you put water water in it and you can eat it right out of the

package.

They don't really have a lot of facilities for cooking.

They have a microwave and they have hot water and that's about it.

There is no stove and there's no oven.

Some of the food that gets brought down in very tight containers gets compressed with

the pressure down here.

SO this is something that was fully inflated at the surface but once it gets brought down

here to 50 feet, the pressure in here squishes it down, and that's what it ends up looking

like.

You can feel the pressure all around you even if you don't really feel like you are under

pressure.

The air that we are breathing is a little bit more dense because it's compressed and

several things happen.

My voice sounds a little funny to me, but on top of that…

it’s really hard to whistle.

There we go!

Even though the scientists are out scuba diving, there are always two technicians in Aquarius

maintaining the life support, fixing little things that break, monitoring the various

systems and keeping track of the divers.

While technician Mark Hulsbeck is giving me an introduction to the life support systems,

we are being watched by someone on shore.