OceanXplorers (2024) s01e02 Episode Script

[James Cameron] The Ocean.
the last frontier on earth.
So much is unexplored
and unexplained.
To change that
a kickass team of insanely
talented specialists is
setting out to push the
frontiers of what we know
about our oceans.
[Zoleka Filander] Oh my gosh.
[James Cameron] Zoleka Filander,
deep sea scientist.
[Zoleka Filander] Being a
deep sea researcher means
having front row tickets to
the best movie that everybody
wants to watch.
[James Cameron]
Melissa Márquez
[Melissa Márquez]
Straight ahead, 12:00.
[James Cameron]
Shark biologist.
[Melissa Márquez] We just saw
what no one has seen before.
[James Cameron]
Eric Stackpole
[Eric Stackpole] Scan now!
[James Cameron]
Ocean tech innovator.
[Eric Stackpole] I love
building tools that allow us
to see things in ways
we've never seen before.
[gasps]
[James Cameron] And Aldo Kane
[Aldo Kane] This is insane.
[James Cameron] Former
Royal Marine; special ops.
[Aldo Kane] It doesn't
get any more cutting-edge
exploration than this.
[James Cameron]
Their secret weapon
the OceanXplorer.
The most technologically
advanced research vessel
ever built.
There's never been a more
urgent need to understand
our ocean and the
animals that call it home
Because their lives
and ours depend on it.
[Eric Stackpole] Okay
here we go. 2:00, 2:00.
[James Cameron] This time
the team track sperm whales,
down into an alien world.
[Edith Widder] What is that?
[James Cameron] Full
of fantastical creatures.
[Melissa Márquez] No, ho, oh!
[theme music plays].
[James Cameron] The OceanXplorer
is heading for deep water.
Just off the Azores.
A chain of tiny volcanic islands
in the middle of the Atlantic.
And a rich oasis for an
abundance of marine life.
[squawking]
Every summer nearly
1,000 sperm whales gather here.
They're easily identified by
their distinctive
sideways spout.
These whales spend most of their
lives deep below the surface.
But using the full scope
of the OceanXplorer's tech,
the team hopes to shine a
light on their lives down
in these black depths.
[Eric Stackpole] Standby 9:00.
[James Cameron] Sperm whales
were hunted here as recently as
1987 and they
live up to 70 years,
so some of them may
still remember that.
They're understandably
nervous around boats.
So Aldo and Melissa
approach cautiously.
[Melissa Márquez] You
got your eyes on them?
They're sneaky I tell 'ya.
[gasps]
Oh my God, they're
right underneath us.
They're right underneath us.
[Aldo Kane] Wow, look at that.
It's a whole family pod.
[Melissa Márquez]
That's gorgeous.
[Aldo Kane] That
is a first for me.
[Melissa Márquez] Yeah!
[James Cameron] Sperm whales
are the largest toothed predator
on the planet.
To study these giants
up close and personal
Aldo and Melissa join
them beneath the waves.
[Melissa Márquez]
Getting under the water and
just seeing this giant animal,
you can feel it looking at you,
trying to figure out
what the heck you are.
[James Cameron] But
they won't have long.
Sperm whales spend just 20%
of their lives at the surface.
[Aldo Kane] When
they dive, it's phenomenal.
One swoosh of their
tail and they are gone.
[James Cameron] These whales
are diving a mile deep for up
to an hour at a time.
The buoyancy of their huge
lungs and the thick blubber
should make that
almost impossible,
but not only do they manage it
they make it look effortless.
[clicking]
But exactly how they dive
so deep has never been filmed.
[clicking]
If the team can get
a camera on a whale it
could further
their understanding.
They recruit the
help of Rui Prieto.
A world leading whale biologist,
he's been studying them in
the Azores for over 20 years.
[Rui Prieto] We want to see what
they are actually doing, uh,
while they are underwater.
[James Cameron] Eric sets
to work helping Rui build
a camera tag that can
withstand the immense pressure
of a sperm whale dive.
[Eric Stackpole] Okay, so this
is the power system and then,
we've just got
the little camera.
You know, the whole thing
looks pretty simple but I mean
the thing that keeps going
through my mind is, you know,
we're gonna have, you know,
maybe one window and one chance
of putting this
together the right way.
[Rui Prieto] So do you think
that's something we can do?
[Eric Stackpole]
Fingers crossed, right?
I guess we'll find out.
[James Cameron] If
they can pull this off,
they'll get the
first ever footage
of a deep sperm whale
dive in the Azores.
- Can you swing it?
- Yeah.
[Rui Prieto] Let's turn
a whale into a cameraman.
[Crew] You have a green light.
[Pilot] Copy green light.
Green deck we're off.
[Rui Prieto] We need to
start looking for blows, okay?
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
[Eric Stackpole] Oh looks
like there could be
something over there.
Four, five, six,
seven, eight, nine, ten.
I count 11 whales here.
All in a tight cluster.
Okay, here we go.
2:00, 2:00, you should
have a pretty good eye.
300-400 meters.
[Rui Prieto] Breaching.
[Melissa Márquez] No, ho, oh!
We think breaching
might be a form of
communication between
a sperm whale family,
however sometimes it might just
be the teenagers fooling around
and you know,
blowing off some steam.
[Rui Prieto] Let's
go there very slowly.
Slow and steady wins the race.
[Aldo Kane] Is that speed okay?
[Rui Prieto] Need to gain
a little bit on them because
they are almost diving.
[Aldo Kane] When you're piloting
a boat this close to whales,
there's absolutely
no room for error!
You're dealing
with a live animal.
So the whole thing
has to be 110% perfect
or it's an aborted mission.
That's it.
- Well done.
- Well done dude. Tag on.
[Aldo Kane] OceanXplorer
this is Eagle Ray over.
[Crew] Eagle Ray, OceanXplorer.
Go ahead.
[Aldo Kane] Tag deployed and we
will mark location on the GPS.
[Crew] Copy that. Nice work!
[James Cameron] The tag
is designed to release after
eight hours, and send a signal
to help the team locate it,
somewhere in the
middle of the Atlantic.
[Eric Stackpole] It is
an intense feeling to spend
all this time on something
and then watch it just go into
the abyss on the
back of a whale.
[beeping]
Oh what's this
directly in front of us?
[Aldo Kane] Confirm you
have visual on the tag?
[Eric Stackpole] Affirmative
we're looking at something
orange in the water,
it could be the tag.
[Aldo Kane] Roger that
We are making our way to
your location now, over.
[Melissa Márquez] Oh I see it!
[Aldo Kane] We have
visual on the tag.
[Melissa Márquez]
Little bit more Aldo.
Yeah, there you go. Right there.
- You got it? Heavy.
- Yep got it.
[Eric Stackpole] I'm dying to
know. How does the tag look?
[Aldo Kane] The tag does
look in good condition and
the camera looks
like it is still dry.
[Eric Stackpole] Yes!
All right, great job guys.
[Eric Stackpole]
Should I cut this?
[Rui Prieto] Yes, please.
Now, it could be some water
inside so we need to be careful.
Very slowly. Very carefully.
[Eric Stackpole] I'm like,
excited and nervous
at the same time, you know,
like did everything
work properly?
Did the batteries last?
[Rui Prieto] Yes. Yes.
- Got it?
- Take it off.
[Rui Prieto] It's dry. Okay.
[Eric Stackpole] And
then there's our SD card.
- You got it?
- I, I got it.
[Rui Prieto] This is it.
This is what we've been
working all this time for.
Let's plug this to
the computer and see.
- Okay, yeah.
- Okay.
[Rui Prieto] Anything that
comes off this thing is new.
[gasps]
[Eric Stackpole] Oh my God!
[laughs]
[Rui Prieto] That's the, the
blowhole and it's going down
because it's,
it's getting darker.
[James Cameron] As
they dive, sperm whales
undergo an
incredible transformation.
The pressure of the water
compresses their lungs and
with less volume inside,
they become less buoyant,
allowing them to dive
faster with minimum effort.
As she dives faster, the
force of the water pushes
the camera sideways.
At 450 feet it flips.
- It's pointing backward?
- Yes, it's pointing backwards.
[Rui Prieto] We can
actually see the flukes beating.
[James Cameron] Eric and Rui
are the first people ever to see
a sperm whale use its
body and tail flukes to dive
into the deep.
[Rui Prieto] I'm learning a
lot about how they actually
flex their, their flukes.
It's very slow. It's very calm.
[James Cameron] Then at 900 feet
the whale's behavior changes.
[Eric Stackpole] Look,
the tail's stopped moving.
[Rui Prieto] Yeah it's,
it, it's called gliding.
They use the, the, the
momentum that they have
to glide and keep energy.
- I see.
- And I've, I've never seen it.
[Rui Prieto] So it,
it, it's just amazing.
[James Cameron] Its tail
may have stopped moving but
this whale is still diving.
With gravity doing the work,
it can save energy and
preserve precious oxygen.
[clicking]
[Rui Prieto] Listen.
[clicking]
[Eric Stackpole] It's hunting.
This is the hunting sound.
[Rui Prieto] Yeah.
[James Cameron] Sperm whales
use sound to hunt in the dark.
[clicking]
When their sonar clicks
hit an object and bounce back,
the whale can locate a
target over a mile away.
[clicking]
[Eric Stackpole] It's getting
lighter in the background
you notice that?
[Rui Prieto] Yeah. Yeah. The,
the water is becoming clearer.
[James Cameron]
No luck this time,
so the whale begins its
journey back to the surface.
[rapid clicking]
[Eric Stackpole]
I hear a different,
a slightly higher
pitched clicking.
[Rui Prieto] Yes. It was a coda.
[rapid clicking]
[Eric Stackpole] It's
communicating with its family
just like morse code for whales!
[rapid clicking]
[Rui Prieto] Another one.
Someone is answering.
[James Cameron] Each family
unit has a unique, "Coda,"
that can be heard
from up to two miles away.
[clicking]
- Wow, two, two! Two.
- Two! Another one!
[James Cameron] This is how
a surfacing whale reconnects
with its family.
[clicking]
[Rui Prieto] So
you hear the coda's,
and then the other one comes in.
[Eric Stackpole] Yeah. Yeah.
Do we know that they do this?
[Rui Prieto] We know that they
talk to each other using codas,
but I've never seen
them come together.
[clicking]
[Eric Stackpole] Oh! I
can't believe we got this all.
[clicking]
[Rui Prieto] They are
completely interacting.
Nothing like that
has ever been filmed.
It's just amazing.
[Eric Stackpole] We're
seeing something that has
never been seen before.
These huge whales, going to a
part of the world that we know
almost nothing about and
we get a first person view.
I'm right next to Rui and he's
spent his entire life trying to
understand these animals
and this is something
he's never seen before.
[whimsical music plays]
[James Cameron] Once back at
the surface some sperm whales
spend their time socializing.
Re-establishing family bonds.
Others grab a quick power nap.
But their time
together is brief.
After just 15 minutes,
they'll dive again,
in their
never-ending pursuit of prey.
Sperm whales eat up
to a ton of squid a day.
And with nearly
1,000 sperm whales here,
that's a lot of squid.
So what kind of squid are
hiding down there in the depths
that could satisfy
such voracious appetites?
To find out, the team need
to get down there themselves.
[James Cameron] The
mission will be led by Zoleka,
the OceanXplorers'
deep sea researcher.
[Zoleka Filander]
For this mission,
I'm partnering with Edie Widder,
one of the world's most
experienced deep sea biologists.
- You ready to dive?
- Yes!
[Pilot] SO Neptune, we
are ready to shut hatches.
[Crew] SO Bridge.
You are clear to roll sub out.
[James Cameron] Edie's
been pushing the envelope in
ocean exploration
for over 40 years.
[Pilot] That's
Neptune in the water.
Venting now.
Depth 2.0 meters.
Vents secure, descending over.
[Zoleka Filander] Every
time we dive into the deep,
we are heading into the unknown.
[Edith Widder] We are explorers
and this is our spaceship.
[James Cameron] 600 feet down
the team enters
the twilight zone.
A world dominated by darkness,
and alien creatures.
[Edith Widder] Oh look at that.
Look at that.
[Zoleka Filander]
What are you seeing?
[James Cameron]
It's a glass squid.
A rare sighting.
[Edith Widder] Being transparent
that's a defense mechanism.
It's such an amazing adaptation.
You see it a lot in the ocean,
but you don't
see it much on land.
[James Cameron] At 1500 feet,
they find even
more signs of life.
- What is that?
- Where? Where?
[Edith Widder] Look, turn to
the right, turn to the right.
[Zoleka Filander]
It's ink. But it's so much.
[Edith Widder] Oh my God!
[Pilot] Oh yeah. That's
a massive plume of ink.
[Zoleka Filander]
Where is the squid though?
- Oh squid.
- Squid!
[James Cameron] A bird squid.
- Hello.
- Hello.
[James Cameron] And
this one has attitude!
- Oh my gosh.
- Beautiful. Oh look at it.
[laughter]
[Pilot] I think he's
trying to eat Zoleka.
[Zoleka Filander]
Yeah. I'm squid food.
[James Cameron] As the
sub dives to 2500 feet,
Zoleka spots
something extraordinary.
[Zoleka Filander] Oh my word.
Is that a whiplash squid?
Look how exquisite it is.
[James Cameron] All squid
can change color by expanding
or contracting cells in their
skin called chromatophores.
[Zoleka Filander] Do
you think, do you think
it's signaling to other squid?
Yoo!
Is this an alarm signal?
How does one even decode
what we're really seeing here?
I'd like to think I'm a
level-headed scientist but wow.
When you come across
an encounter like this,
it's absolutely
stunning, absolutely stunning.
This is why we do it Edie.
[James Cameron] Sperm whales
do prey on whiplash squid but
they're so small, they'd need
to eat thousands every day.
At 3300 feet, they approach the
boundary of the midnight zone.
[Zoleka Filander] The
midnight zone is pitch black
and it's freezing.
But as hostile as this place is,
this is where the
sperm whale finds its food.
So it's important that we
go take a look down there.
[James Cameron] But the sub
reaches its maximum dive depth.
It can't go any further.
[Pilot] Control,
control, Neptune
passing five zero meters,
clear to surface.
[James Cameron] If they want
to search the midnight zone for
larger sperm whale prey
the team will have to
mobilize the ship's ROV.
A remotely operated vehicle.
[Eric Stackpole] The ROV is
capable of going to depths of
20,000 feet.
So getting to 5,000 feet where
the sperm whales are going,
should be no problem at all.
[James Cameron]
Melissa baits the ROV with
deep-water squid's
favorite meal,
other squid.
[Melissa Márquez] And that
is a squid ready to be lifelike
in the water column.
[James Cameron] Through
its tether to the ship,
the ROV sends
back a live picture.
[Eric Stackpole] Exploring
the deep you often see something
that you have never seen before,
but you hope that you're gonna
see something
no-one has seen before.
[Pilot] Lights off.
[Eric Stackpole] Oh,
incoming, incoming, here we go.
- Keep, whoa.
- Whoa!
[Edith Widder] What is that?
[Zoleka Filander]
Bingo. Kitefin shark.
[James Cameron] The squid
lure has drawn in more than
the team bargained for.
[Zoleka Filander] He
looks like a good size.
These guys can get up to
like 30 pounds on average.
Sperm whales, yeah they do
eat them but actually have
a preference for squid.
[James Cameron] After hours in
the deep and just one encounter
with the kitefin, the
team wonders if the noise from
the ROV could be
scaring off the squid.
Time to try a
different approach.
[James Cameron] Marine biologist
Nathan Robinson has the perfect
camera rig for this mission.
[Nathan Robinson] The
angler is a stealth camera,
makes no noise.
It's also very
light sensitive so this
actually really is perfect for
seeing animals in the deep sea.
Going down.
Okay, keep letting it go.
[Aldo Kane] Lowering the
angler on a fishing line may
look low tech, but
this is our secret weapon.
It can dive to 6,500 feet and
then just sit there completely
silent and still, so as not
to scare away any wildlife.
[James Cameron] The angler
is armed with an E-Jelly.
An LED array that mimics
the defense mechanism of
the Atolla jellyfish, which
lights up when threatened to try
and attract an
even larger predator in
the hope that it will
scare off the attacker.
After hours in the deep, the
rig is ready to be retrieved.
Only once back aboard,
will the team discover if
their covert mission
has been a success.
[Nathan Robinson] Right, you
ready to bring it to the lab?
[Eric Stackpole] Yeah.
Okay. So now we're
going down to the bottom.
Oh my God, what a catch.
[James Cameron] These
flying squid are known
sperm whale prey.
[Nathan Robinson] We've
been seeing a ton of squid,
conducting these hit
and run attacks on the bait
and the E-Jelly.
They are large, very
nutritious food items for
something like a sperm whale.
[James Cameron]
Hours into the footage,
Nathan and Eric spot
something even larger,
and they gather
the rest of the team.
[Nathan Robinson]
Just watch this.
[Eric Stackpole] What the heck!
[Edith Widder] That
is a really big squid.
[Nathan Robinson] So this
species is the third largest
in the oceans.
[Edith Widder] Dana octopus
squid is the, the common name.
It's got light organs
on the ends of its arms,
that are like
the size of lemons.
Look at them!
They're glowing so bright.
[Eric Stackpole] Why would you
have such bright lights there?
- To blind you.
- Oh!
[Nathan Robinson] It's like
a deer in the headlights
[Edith Widder] Yeah.
[Nathan Robinson] So
you've got your little critter,
your crustacean
that you want to eat,
you shine these big kinda
lemon size lights right at it,
it can't see what's
coming from what direction
and then bam you take it down.
[James Cameron] Weighing as
much as a full-grown gorilla,
a sperm whale only needs to
hunt five of these giants a day.
[Nathan Robinson] This is
actually the most common, uh,
species that sperm whales
eat in terms of weight.
[Eric Stackpole] This is
actually, this is staple food.
- This is, exactly.
- This is number one.
[Nathan Robinson] This is
what they're eating, yeah.
[Edith Widder] But
they've hardly ever been seen.
[Nathan Robinson] I'm
actually pretty sure this is
the first footage we
have of dana octopus squid,
in the Atlantic.
[Edith Widder] This is amazing.
[James Cameron] Thanks
to the deep-water team,
we've seen squid down
there large enough to feed this
huge population of sperm whales.
But what's fueling
this rich ecosystem?
It's all down to the
tiniest organisms in the ocean.
When deep ocean currents hit
the island's underwater slopes,
nutrient rich water is
forced up toward the surface.
These nutrients feed
microorganisms that form
the base of the food web,
and the more there are,
the more life this
ecosystem can support.
To find out just how rich
these waters are Edie and Zoleka
once again take a
dive into the deep.
The density of this
microscopic life is difficult
to judge in these dark waters
but Edie has a
magic trick to reveal it.
[Zoleka Filander] 600 meters.
[Edith Widder] Oh
I hope this works.
[Pilot] Okay, you ready?
[Crew] We're ready.
[Pilot] Three, two, one.
Lights coming on.
[Edith Widder] Nothing.
Let's drop down.
[Pilot] Control, Neptune.
We are descending.
[Edith Widder] Okay
let's try it again.
[Pilot] Okay three,
two, one, lights coming on.
[gasps]
[cheering]
[Zoleka Filander] It worked!
[laughs]
Wow!
Bioluminescence in action.
It's like I'm wrapped
in a blanket of stars.
This is the base
of the food chain.
The fish eat the plankton
and the squid eat the fish and
then the sperm whales
are feeding on the squid.
This is where it all begins.
Smallest to the biggest.
[Edith Widder] That's fantastic.
[James Cameron] Edie's witnessed
this bioluminescent phenomenon
her entire career, but has
never had the technology to
share it with the world
Until now.
[Zoleka Filander] Wow.
Thanks Edie, we got it.
[Edith Widder] It's
like having seen UFOs and
now suddenly there's evidence.
Okay. Can we do that again?
[Pilot] Absolutely.
[James Cameron] Without this
abundance of tiny life,
the squid and the sperm whales
couldn't survive here.
[Zoleka Filander] It's very,
very humbling to think that
no matter how tiny you are
you can do gigantic things.
[Pilot] Control, control.
Neptune's ascending over.
[Crew] Clear to surface.
Clear to surface.
[Crew 2] Welcome back Neptune.
Blow your tanks.
[Pilot] Well did
you enjoy that dive?
[Edith Widder]
Oh. Are you kidding!
That was actually
on my bucket list.
You know, as I get older,
every expedition I go on,
I figure this might be the last
and if this is the
last it's the best.
It's just been
absolutely amazing.
[James Cameron] In their
time here in the Azores,
the team has captured
the first ever images of
a sperm whale diving
into these deep waters.
[Eric Stackpole] This is the
culmination of a huge amount of
effort and many
sleepless nights,
but at the end of the day
we got those few minutes of
incredibly priceless footage
that made the
whole thing worth it.
It was awesome!
[James Cameron] They've
added to the image catalogue of
the squid that
feed the sperm whales.
[Melissa Márquez]
Thanks to the OceanXplorer,
we've been able to dive deep
into the world of sperm whales
here and discovered this
interaction between them and
massive squid that's
never really been observed
here before, which
is pretty mind blowing.
[James Cameron] And
they've documented the normally
invisible riches that
fuel this entire ecosystem.
[Edith Widder] It's fabulous!
[Zoleka Filander] I am one
of the few people to witness
a bioluminescence light show
and I'm so excited to share
this with the world.
That is mind blowing.
[Aldo Kane] We've still got so
much to learn about these whales
but seeing them live in
harmony they could definitely
teach us a thing or two.
[Melissa Márquez] No, ho, oh!
[James Cameron]
From the largest,
to the tiniest creatures.
The team has made significant
discoveries here in the Azores.
[clicking]
[Rui Prieto] Nothing like
that has ever been filmed.
[James Cameron] A rich hotspot
for life in the Atlantic,
and a blueprint for
healthy oceans everywhere.