The island of Roatán -
a spectacular marine park
in the wild-blue waters
of the Caribbean Sea,
north of mainland Honduras.
Bounded by the world's
second-largest barrier reef -
Roatán is a must for divers
and undersea explorers
mingling with dazzling
marine creatures:
graceful predators,
masters of disguise,
and venomous reef invaders.
A night-time journey
of unworldly discovery.
Magnificent underwater vistas.
And ghostly relics,
claimed by the power of the sea.
(♪♪♪)
The island of Roatán.
A haven of unbridled
natural beauty,
forty miles off the north coast
of Honduras.
In the warm-blue waters
of the Caribbean Sea.
The largest
of the bay islands
Roatán is ringed
by the Mesoamerican reef system:
a spectacular and diverse
coral atoll,
second in size only to
Australia's great barrier reef.
Mesoamerica comes
from the Latin,
meaning 'Middle America'.
Vibrant blue waters,
far-reaching visibility,
and stunning undersea caverns
have made Roatán
an underwater mecca
for divers and explorers.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; The main
attraction
for scuba divers in Roatán
is the fact
that we're still diving
very pristine reef conditions.
Many parts of the world,
they're heavily inundated
with scuba divers
and the reef system starts to
take a little bit of a beating.
But because we're fairly
isolated and fairly remote,
our reef system is still
in very, very good condition.
We have caves,
we have crevices,
we have some beautiful,
beautiful sloping walls
and we also have some
very exciting vertical walls.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; Currents colliding
with the reef surge upward,
carrying cold, nutrient-rich
water to the surface.
These nutrients fertilize
the sunlit waters
creating a bloom of plankton:
the microscopic marine plants
and creatures
that support
the entire oceanic food chain.
Roatán's vivid coral forests
gleam with tropical fish
feasting on billions
of plankton.
More than 90 percent
of all species in the Caribbean
can be found here
in the bay islands:
from deep blue tang,
and poisonous puffer fish -
to powerful ocean predators:
like the Caribbean reef shark.
But beyond
the flourishing marine life,
and magnificent drowned cliffs,
one of Roatán's
most mysterious sites
lies beneath
its deep-blue waters.
A ghost ship, 145 feet long,
rests in a sandy Caribbean grave
50 feet below the surface.
The wreck of the Prince Albert.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; Within 10
minutes
of your dive,
you're right next
to a huge wreck
that's only in 65 feet of water.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; Now
people say
in a lot of places,
you know,
wrecks you have to go so deep
but this is one
of the most pristine,
shallowest wrecks
you'll find on the island.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; In the early
1980s,
the Prince Albert arrived
in Roatán from Nicaragua,
carrying war refugees.
The ship was abandoned
and fell into disrepair.
The founder of a local dive shop
saw an opportunity
to attract more dive tourists
to Roatán -
and the ship
was intentionally sunk
as an artificial reef
more than 30 years ago.
The Prince Albert
was the first of many ships
in the bay islands to be used
as a man-made reef.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; A properly
prepared
shipwreck,
or a properly prepared item
that's sunk in the water,
can really become a habitat
for many species.
The wreck of the Prince Albert
is a perfect example,
a beautiful, vibrant,
healthy reef system
growing on a wreck
in shallow waters.
What was once
an island freighter
has been claimed by the sea.
(♪♪♪)
Sprouting with lush sea fans,
the Prince Albert has morphed
into its own ecosystem:
a vibrant habitat
for an abundance of marine life.
(♪♪♪)
An estimated 30 species
of fish inhabit the iron wreck.
A small shoal
of cardinal fish
whip through the belly
of the ship.
Reconditioned by three decades
of corrosion,
currents, and tropical storms,
the Prince Albert
is an undersea garden -
as much a part of the lifeblood
of Roatán
as the natural reef systems
and rock channels
that provide shelter
for a myriad of fish.
(♪♪♪)
Off the bow
of the Prince Albert
lies another ghostly relic:
the empty shell of a sunken
Second World War DC-3 aircraft.
In 1990 the plane was wrecked,
after skidding off the runway
at Roatán airport.
Like the Prince Albert,
the plane
was sunk intentionally,
as an artificial reef.
Willowy sea fans,
anchored to the wreck,
spread out their tentacles
to snare plankton
floating in the current.
Like the Prince Albert,
this pallid
and skeletal aircraft
harbors a wide range
of marine creatures.
Striped sergeant majors
lay their eggs,
as many as 200,000,
inside the wreck,
and forcefully protect them
from potential predators.
(♪♪♪)
A spotted moray eel,
seeking refuge from the dangers
of the open ocean -
pokes out of the fuselage.
The eel's flattened body
is specifically designed
to retreat into tight spaces.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt;Morays are
always
moving their mouth,
always opening
and shutting their mouth.
They do that constantly
because they need to oxygenate
their bodies
and that's how they do it.
If they're not free swimming
then they still need
the saltwater
circulating through their gills
so they can oxygenate
their bodies.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; The
spotted moray
feeds primarily
on small fish and crustaceans.
Like the deadly creature
in the alien films,
morays have two sets of jaws.
The first closes on unwary prey,
snaring them with sharp,
backward-pointing teeth.
A second set of toothy jaws
then drags the kill
down its throat.
With no food in sight,
the spotted moray recedes
inside the aircraft.
The ashen wreckage of the DC-3
is home
to even stranger predators.
A giant plant-like anemone,
its mouth surrounded
by dozens of tentacles,
hunkers down on the debris
in wait of passing fish.
Prey is paralyzed by toxins
in the anemone's tentacles,
then swiftly carried
to the mouth,
where it is swallowed whole.
Farther along the wreck,
another ocean predator
cruises slowly
through the shallow water:
the grouper.
Among the largest fish
in the sea -
Atlantic goliath groupers
can reach weights
of 790 pounds -
the same body mass
as a Kodiak bear.
But this grouper
is not here to eat.
Instead,
it touches down on the wreck
and waits to be cleaned.
A small remora, or suckerfish,
nibbles away at troublesome
parasites on the grouper's skin.
Cleaner fish are essential
to the health of the grouper,
removing, then eating,
not just parasites,
but dead tissue
that has formed on the skin.
(♪♪♪)
Beyond Roatán's
dream-like wrecks,
a powerful predator,
more imposing than the grouper,
lurks in the clear-blue water.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; A lot of
people
mistakenly think
that the bay islands
of Honduras
does not have an active
shark population.
We actually
have a significant number
of sharks around the island.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; Divers are
drawn here
intent on getting close
to one of the ocean's most
intimidating predators:
the Caribbean reef shark.
As the name suggests,
Caribbean reef sharks
are largely found
near the edges of coral reefs,
in coastal waters
no deeper than 100 feet.
Sleek and graceful,
they are the reef's enforcers.
Acute eyesight,
a keen sense of smell,
and specialized organs
that detect electrical currents
created by prey
make the Caribbean reef shark
one of the ocean's
most-potent predators.
These sharks feed mainly
on reef-dwelling bony fish
and larger creatures
such as the eagle ray.
Prey is seized by a quick snap
of the shark's crushing jaw,
then finished off
by sharp, serrated teeth.
Low-frequency sounds,
indicative of struggling fish
attract these reef sharks,
as does the presence
of fishing boats.
Local fishermen know for a fact
that the sharks have been here
forever
because you rarely catch a fish
and get it back on board
because a shark will eat it.
Though dangerous predators,
reef sharks
rarely attack humans.
When threatened or cornered,
the shark dips its pectoral fins
and makes short, sharp turns
in the water -
an archetypal display
of aggression.
Neither threatened,
nor provoked,
these sharks cruise
serenely over the reef -
a thrilling yet potentially
nerve-wracking experience
for divers
who must remain vigilant
when swimming with a shoal
of hungry sharks.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; We've entered
into their environment.
The sharks have always been
in this location.
We're watching 20 very docile,
beautiful big sharks
swim around us,
we have to remember
that these are animals
that are the apex predators
in these waters.
(♪♪♪)
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; But even an apex
predator
is not immune
to the shark sucker, or remora.
Attached to the shark by a
suction cup on top of its head,
the remora appears
to be a parasite -
though it actually picks
parasites from the shark -
and feeds on scraps of food
left behind by the host.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt;What
they're doing
is they're literally saving
their energy by hooking on
and taking a little ride
with the shark.
Any then any little piece
of food
that falls
out of the shark's mouth,
the remora run over there
and they eat it up
as fast as they can
and then they hook back on.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; Ancient creatures
that
predate even the dinosaurs,
sharks evolved about
450 million years ago.
Yet their survival
has become threatened
in just a matter of decades.
An estimated 70 million sharks
are killed each year:
caught accidentally
in fishing lines,
killed illegally to meet
the demand for shark fins,
and hunted senselessly
as trophies.
One-third of shark species
are threatened with extinction.
Towering at the top
of the oceanic food chain,
sharks help to control
the population
of their prey species.
Without sharks,
too many prey would survive:
competing for food and upsetting
the delicate ocean ecosystem.
(♪♪♪)
Here in Roatán
a single, voracious predator
has already disrupted
the fragile balance
of life on the reef.
A venomous lionfish,
its ornate pectoral fins
rippling in the current,
clings to the
coral-encrusted reef.
Lionfish are native to the
Pacific and Indian oceans.
Here, in the tropical Atlantic,
they are an invasive species -
accidentally introduced to these
waters more than 20 years ago.
With few natural predators -
and high reproductive rates -
lionfish populations
have exploded
in the clear waters
off Honduras.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; Lionfish are
everywhere:
we see them in shallow areas,
we see them as deep
as 100, 200 feet of water
and I think
they're here to stay.
They're known
for their voracious appetite.
They don't stop eating.
They're constantly
eating down there.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; Non-selective
eaters -
lionfish have been known
to consume as many
as 50 different species of fish:
ambushing, and cornering prey
with their long pectoral fins.
As their population grows
exponentially,
lionfish threaten the survival
of native species,
like grouper, and snapper,
as well as the small
grazing fish
that prevent algae and seaweed
from overrunning the reef.
(♪♪♪)
Slow-moving, easy to spot,
lionfish fend off would-be
hunters with the venomous sting
of their needle-like
dorsal fins.
Predators, however, are scarce
and the ongoing
lionfish invasion
leaves the ecological health of
the reef hanging in the balance.
It is the largest barrier reef
in the western hemisphere:
the Mesoamerican reef,
stretching nearly 700 miles
from the northern tip
of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula
south,
to the Honduran Bay Islands.
The reef is home
to rippling sea fans
and more than 60 species
of coral,
including large brain corals
that can live
as long as 900 years.
The reef provides shelter for
more than 500 species of fish:
including some
of the Caribbean Sea's
most strange
and surprising creatures:
such as the scrawled filefish.
Feeding mainly
on algae and coral,
the filefish is able
to protect itself from predators
by diving quickly
into a crevice,
then erecting spines
on its head and belly
that lock the fish
into the tight space,
making it difficult
for predators
to pluck it from the reef.
With a whip
of its broom-like tail
the filefish is gone.
An inflatable porcupinefish,
able to more than double
its size
by taking in air and water,
maneuvers over the coral bed.
(♪♪♪)
In the distance,
past a field of branch coral,
an ultramarine cloud
glides over the reef:
blue tang.
In search of algae,
which is ripped from the coral
by sharp teeth,
blue tang are essential
to the health of the reef:
eating algae and preventing it
from overgrowing,
and suffocating the coral.
The tang,
named for their dangerous,
razor-sharp tail spines -
swim in schools as another
defense against predators.
A thick and compact school,
swimming in unison,
will appear
as a single large creature
to a poor-sighted hunter.
The more fish in the school,
the more eyes there are
to scan the reef for algae.
And where there are blue tang,
there are often trumpetfish.
Shrewd hunters,
trumpetfish follow the tang,
seizing on the small fish
startled out of the reef
by the swarming schools of tang.
Hovering among the sea rods,
the trumpetfish swims
vertically, with its head down,
to blend in with coral
on the reef.
Unsuspecting fish
that venture too close
are sucked
into its waiting mouth.
When the powerful mouth
is fully extended,
it resembles the bell
of a trumpet.
Closer to the surface
floats an even craftier master
of disguise:
the Caribbean reef squid.
In a single heartbeat,
reef squid are able
to change color and pattern
to stalk prey, avoid predators,
and warn off competitors.
Thousands of
color-changing cells
just below the surface
of the skin
are controlled by muscles,
that generate distinct colors
to communicate
specific messages:
a male reef squid is able
to turn red on one side,
to attract females,
and blue on the other,
to fend off a rival male.
On the south shore of Roatán,
a pristine sun-mottled reef
stretches near the surface.
This is Tulio's reef,
named for a popular dive master
well known in these parts -
and home to a bounty
of marine creatures:
a tiny cavern offers refuge
to a Caribbean spiny lobster,
its shell lined
with hard, protective spines.
Though it lacks the crushing
pincers of its clawed cousins,
it waves
menacing barbed antennae,
longer than its entire body,
to ward off potential predators.
Predators,
like the green moray eel.
A band of muscle -
thicker than a human arm,
the eel slinks
into the darkened reef.
More than seven feet long,
the moray can stretch
from floor to ceiling.
A long, flapping dorsal fin -
its only mechanism for swimming.
The eel spend its days
hiding between rocks
to seize unsuspecting fish
and crustaceans
in its devilish teeth.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt;Green
morays have
a lot of teeth
and their teeth
are facing inwards
so when they grab something,
it's gonna be very hard
for that prey
to get or to set free
from their mouth.
Once they catch a little fish,
that little fish is done.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; Life on the
reef is a
constant search for food.
A longsnout seahorse,
no larger than a human thumb,
grips a gorgonian
with its monkey-like tail.
The slender body of the seahorse
allows it to wriggle
into small crevices in the reef,
where it survives
on larval shrimp,
and small crustaceans.
But food is not the only key
to survival.
For a species to flourish,
its genes must be passed
onto the next generation.
A puddingwife wrasse releases
her eggs into the current,
and a frantic race ensues.
Males release a cloud of sperm
in an attempt
to fertilize the eggs.
It is a spawning frenzy
that lasts just seconds.
Only the fastest
and strongest fish prevail.
Drifting along
Roatán's warm currents
is an ancient creature
that has prevailed for more
than 500 million years:
even though it has no brain,
no bones, and no heart.
The moon jellyfish.
Contracting
its umbrella-like body
to move up and down
the water column,
the moon jelly,
like all jellyfish,
has long, thin tentacles
capable of firing thousands of
stinging cells to paralyze prey.
The tentacles carry
the stunned prey,
mainly small fish and shrimp,
to the moon jelly's mouth
located inside the smooth,
bag-like body.
Though deadly
to small marine creatures,
the sting of the moon jelly
has little effect on humans.
Gently pulsing, casting a faint
luminescent glow,
the moon jelly floats serenely
with the currents,
as its ancestors have since
before the age of the dinosaurs.
The Mesoamerican reef
off the south shore of Honduras
teems with life.
But there is more to the reef
than the hundreds
of marine creatures
that have made it their home.
Over thousands of years,
cycles of glaciation,
and the rising and falling
of sea levels,
have forged a stunning
underwater world
of caves, tunnels, and crevices:
natural cathedrals,
knitted with coral,
near the bottom of the ocean.
At Roatán, a spectacular
geological formation
has become a must
for advanced divers
seeking to explore the remnants
of an ancient world:
Calvin's Crack.
Divers must enter vertically,
head down -
through a crevice
no wider than a car door,
and into an underwater chamber
100 feet deep.
The crack is just 10 feet wide -
and those that dive here
must have good buoyancy control
to avoid bumping into,
and damaging the fragile reef.
(♪♪♪)
Divers kick through
the shadowy undersea channel.
Over thousands of years,
the coral structure
has continued to grow
over the opening,
creating an overhang
of soft corals.
(♪♪♪)
Over time, the coral
will grow over the top
sealing in the crevice system.
(♪♪♪)
For now light from the surface
penetrates the chasm,
a perfect harmony
of sea and sky.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; I just
love the
play of light.
I love seeing new divers
doing their first crevice
or crack dive
because their eyes
are bugged out,
they're all excited about this.
They've done it,
they've succeeded
in diving Calvin's Crack.
(♪♪♪)
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; Fissures in
the reef,
caused by erosion from rainwater
thousands of years ago,
when these limestone cliffs
were above sea level
harbor a number
of undersea creatures.
Here, in the labyrinthine
chambers of Mary's Spot,
100 feet below the surface,
a channel clinging crab fastens
to a technicolor maze
of coral,
(♪♪♪)
Bristle-like hairs on the shell
catch bits of algae, sponge
and coral
allowing the crab to blend in
almost seamlessly with the reef.
(♪♪♪)
During the day,
the channel clinging crab
hides out in tiny caves,
and under ledges.
But soon it will be night,
and the crab will emerge
to forage for food.
(♪♪♪)
At the exit of Mary's Spot,
divers return
to a pure blue ocean.
But as the sun descends
on Roatán,
a profound transformation
unfolds
in these crystal-clear waters.
Night-time on the reef
is a different world.
In the darkened depths,
new and unusual
creatures appear.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; As we go
deeper
and deeper and deeper,
we start seeing other
residents of the night.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; A striped
burrfish,
its rounded body covered
in short, sharp spines,
uses its large, bulbous eyes
to keep watch
over the grassy seabed.
Hard, sandpaper-like teeth
allow it to crush the shells
of one of its favorite foods:
the hermit crab.
Sea flies - illuminated
by the light of the camera -
flit through the water.
Hermit crabs
are nocturnal creatures
that emerge from their daytime
hideout to forage on the seabed.
Unlike other crabs,
which produce their own
calcium-carbonate shells -
the hermit protects its soft
and vulnerable abdomen
by squeezing into the empty
shell of a marine snail.
As the hermit crab grows,
it will abandon its home
for a better fit,
passing the discarded shell down
to smaller crabs.
The hermit crab
is an omnivorous scavenger:
using its pincers to sift
through sand,
as it searches for food.
Longer antennae
are used for feeling,
the shorter pair
for smelling and tasting.
Hermits are known
to form symbiotic relationships
with sea anemones.
The anemone will sit atop
the crab
warding off predator fish
with it toxic tentacles.
In turn,
the anemone gets a free ride
and scraps of food
left behind by the crab.
A banded coral shrimp
waves its long white antennae,
an invitation to passing fish
looking to be cleaned
of parasites
by its three sets of claws.
(♪♪♪)
At the wreck
of the Prince Albert,
lies one of the ocean's
most unusual creatures:
the tiger-tail sea cucumber.
Stretching more than six feet -
the tiger-tail
is the largest sea cucumber
in the western Atlantic.
All sea cucumbers live
in the ocean,
and are related to both
sea stars and sea urchins.
With no brain, and no eyes,
the tiger-tail relies
on a ring of neural tissue
around its mouth
to detect threats.
Like all members of the species,
this furry sea cucumber
breathes
by drawing oxygenated water
in through the anus
and then expelling it.
Sea cucumbers feed
on algae, plankton
and decaying matter
found in the sea,
often sifting through sediment
on the seabed for food.
The furry sea cucumber
is more mobile than most,
and can move swiftly
by crawling,
or simply rolling
across the ocean floor.
Barely visible
on the ocean floor,
a camouflaged hunter
lies in wait:
the common octopus,
one of the few creatures
on earth
able to alter its appearance
in a flash.
Thousands of organs,
controlled by nerves,
form patterns, colors
and shapes on the skin
that match the surrounding
rocks and coral.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; They can change their
color,
their pattern
with lightning speed,
so fast that sometimes
you can't believe it,
I'm sure
there's been 1,000 octopus
that I have swam
right over on the reef
but I just simply
didn't see them.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; During
the day
the octopus hides out in coral
overhangs on the reef.
At night, it comes out to hunt,
using an inventive technique
called 'tenting'.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; They form a
tent
with their eight legs
and the skin
that is between those legs.
They actually form a big tarp
over a coral head
and the fish are startled
and they swim up into this net
that the octopus has created.
And then he can pull
his prey in and eat it.
And they're usually eating it
on the move.
They're voracious feeders, and
so while they're eating one,
they've got seven
other tentacles
that they're out there
hunting with.
(♪♪♪)
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; When catching
prey,
such as crabs and molluscs,
the octopus grips them
with powerful arms
studded with suckers,
then paralyzes them with nerve
poison secreted in its saliva.
Perfectly adapted
to its surroundings,
the octopus has three hearts:
two pump blood to the gills,
the third keeps circulation
flowing to the organs.
When the octopus swims
the third heart stops beating.
By crawling across the coral,
the octopus conserves
precious energy.
In the dark of night,
the octopus squeezes,
somewhat miraculously,
into a tight crevice
in the coral -
finding a hiding place
in the depths
of Roatán's magnificent
barrier reef,
as its ancestors have
for millions of years.
(♪♪♪)
From ghostly sunken relics,
and stunning underwater vistas,
to powerful predators,
and kaleidoscopes
of tropical fish,
Roatán is a portal to another
world among the reefs -
and one of the many wonders
of the great blue wild.
&amp;gt;&amp;gt; You want to go
diving
at 2:00 in the morning?
You want to go diving
at 10:00 at night?
You want to do a night dive?
All you have to do
is walk off the shore,
swim about 100 yards
and you're on two of the most
pristine reefs in the Caribbean.
(♪♪♪)
If you're talking about diving
in the bay islands of Honduras,
you're talking about the sort
of variety
that you might not find
anywhere else in the Caribbean.
(♪♪♪)
It's one of those pristine,
lovely places
that just almost feel
mysteriously mythical.
I mean you're in a little slice
of heaven.
(♪♪♪)
(♪♪♪)
