Down to Earth with Zac Efron (2020) s02e03 Episode Script

1
Water.
We're made mostly of water.
Around 70%.
And what a bizarre coincidence,
or no coincidence at all,
is that our planet's surface is covered
by water at that same percentage.
That's how important water is to us.
So as we work hard
to protect the air and the land,
it's just as crucial, if not more,
that we protect the sea.
Here in Australia, there is a system
of 3,000 individual coral reefs
spanning 1,400 miles.
They are living structures that provide
a habitat to an ecosystem so vast
they're considered
the tropical rain forests of the sea.
But after a long, healthy life
around 25 million years,
the coral reef in this area is dying,
about half of it, since 1995. Gone.
Dead. And soon with it, all of
those organisms that depend on them.
Including us.
We're all running out of time.
- There's Dory.
- Yep, there's Dory. And there's Nemo.
- Hey!
- Hi, buddy!
We're on the northeastern coast
of Australia
to see how cutting-edge researchers
and scientists
We've got to explore ideas.
- Really?
- Yeah!
No getting around the fact
that they're absolutely threatened.
are all working to save
a very crucial part of the ocean
It's seagrass. It's mangroves.
It's that whole coastal interface.
that has been on my bucket list
for the last 15 years.
- You got some harvesting to do.
- Yeah. Cool. Never done this before.
- And along the way
- Hey!
we'll squeeze in
as much fun as we can.
Coral reefs make up
around 2% of the ocean's floor.
But they are home
to about 25% of all sea life.
They provide revenue for us
through food and tourism.
They protect our shorelines
from storms and erosion.
And on this adventure,
we're gonna meet some of the people
who have dedicated their entire lives
to saving and protecting
the largest coral reef system
on the entire planet,
the Great Barrier Reef.
Running along the north coast
of Australia,
the Great Barrier Reef makes up 10%
of the Earth's coral reef systems.
And while all of the coral reef systems
on this planet are in danger,
because Australia is completely
surrounded by water,
the health and sea
of the Great Barrier Reef
seem especially important to this country.
With the world's largest
coral reef system right here,
it's the perfect case study
for scientists and researchers
to figure out what's causing
the decline of the world's coral reefs.
And more importantly,
how they can be saved.
First stop on this aquatic adventure
is on the shores of Queensland,
on a little section of coast
jutting out into the Coral Sea.
This is the National Sea Simulator,
run by the Australian Institute
of Marine Science, or AIMS for short.
Here, a group of world-class
innovative scientists have created
the world's most technologically advanced
research aquarium on Earth.
This is a haven
where dedicated researchers
from all over the world can study
the underwater environment
and the impact
that human activity has on it,
all of them working together
to improve the health and sustainability
of the planet's oceans.
The scale of the Great
Barrier Reef is just massive,
and so we're really working
on intervention strategies
that would allow us to scale up
the tools that we have in our tool kit
to really have a meaningful impact
on helping the Great Barrier Reef.
We've got to explore ideas
'cause we're stuck at a place
where reefs are severely threatened.
There's only a small amount
of the seafloor
that actually is coral reef,
yet 500 million people get their sort of
food and livelihoods from coral reefs.
Five to six billion dollars each year
from tourists coming
to the beautiful reef.
So this is a really
It's an employment issue,
an economic issue.
Just imagine
if it disappears on our watch.
Yeah. "Just imagine" is right.
The entire world, one way or another,
sort of depends on the health
of these coastal waters.
So let's see what they're doing about it.
Let's go look at corals.
- Yeah, please.
- Yeah. Beautiful.
- If I can open the door.
- Oh my gosh.
I feel like this is
Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.
And now, ladies and gentlemen,
boys and girls, behold,
the Sea Sim Room.
It is like walking through
the Chocolate Factory.
Okay, it actually looks like
the world's coolest fish store
or a Pixar movie come to life.
- There's Dory.
- Yep, there's Dory.
And down here, there's Nemo.
- Hey!
- Hi!
Right?
And this is Nemo's home, right?
Just like in the movie.
- Beautiful. The sea anemone.
- So, yeah.
No joke, it is breathtaking in here.
It doesn't look real at first,
but then you see some tanks that look
not good.
So, if you look at coral reefs worldwide,
they're providing these services
for humans.
But as they
As human populations have increased
along coastlines, we've started to see
the loss of reefs due to physical damage.
They've started to deforest the coastline
that used to hold the sediment
from flowing onto the reefs.
Over the last, you know, few years,
we've seen sort of bleaching events,
which is where coral gets too hot.
We've started to see sort of changes
to the ecosystem as a result of that.
You lose the corals,
you start to lose the fish,
and you start to lose
the benefits to people.
Yeah.
It's estimated that since 1950,
the Earth has already
lost half of its coral reefs.
And another two-thirds
of what remains are damaged and at risk.
What they're studying here
is how coral reefs change
in various temperatures
and pollution levels,
and searching for methods
to possibly restore them.
Every one of these tanks represents
a few different states.
Yeah, exactly. So this is the way it was
for thousands and thousands of years.
Right? It's an explosion
of biodiversity, fish.
There's productivity.
There are reef services.
It's a healthy system.
Coral reefs have sort of built up
an enormous amount of mutualism.
I mean, it even goes down to the fish.
When they go and hide at nighttime
among the branches of coral,
they pee really important nutrients
into the water column
that feed the coral,
and the coral then provides protection.
So the fish needs protection,
but the coral reef needs nutrients.
So the fish is like, "You're in luck."
So there's this sort of feedback loop
between, you know, fish, corals, pee,
and, you know, the reef.
It's like the ocean's perfect
bipartisan entity.
Yeah. Absolutely.
That's a really good way of putting it.
But here's what happens
if you sort of heat above two degrees
above the summer temperatures on the reef.
You get something that transpires as this.
There's still some fish there.
- Is this just temperature you increased?
- This is just two degrees higher.
It's a delicate symbiotic balance here.
With the water temperature
up just a few degrees,
the coral becomes stressed
and can no longer feed the algae.
The algae dies, leaving behind
a barren exoskeleton of bleached coral.
Eventually, the organisms and fish
that relied on the algae are also gone,
and soon the entire ecosystem is dead.
This is sort of what would happen
if you had a lot of nutrients coming in
on a reef system.
Because you've been pushing
nitrogen into the system,
the whole thing's sort of
undergone a change.
But more and more,
we see things like algae coming in.
And that can also be affected
by grazing fishes.
A whole bunch of fishes like to eat algae,
and they're essentially the gardeners.
They go in there, and they collect
the seaweeds and eat them,
and that allows corals to sort of
grow back up into the systems.
One of these reefs here is
from the inshore Great Barrier Reef,
and this is really
where we've lost a lot of corals.
- This one has got very big fleshy polyps.
- Simulating a completely different space.
Absolutely. So, allowing us
to dial up different futures
and look at what happens.
'Cause if we can dial up that future
and understand it, then I think we have
We can find solutions.
Seeing the impact
of temperature change on the coral reef
all laid out so clearly is pretty scary.
But if our oceans have gone from vibrant
to decaying because of humans,
perhaps there's hope that humans
can also bring about some healing.
I wonder what the coral has
to say about all of this.
The harm from the rise
in water temperatures and pollution
can be seen here
in the Great Barrier Reef.
Take Coral over here.
Ugh, dude, it's so true.
Since 1950, Earth has lost
about 50% of its coral reefs.
The rapid human-caused increase
in sea temperatures,
combined with large increases in CO2,
have changed the chemistry of the oceans.
Hassle.
- Whoa! What happened?
- It's coral bleaching, man.
Everything in the reef is stripped
of all its nutrients and life,
essentially dying slowly,
affecting the entire ocean's ecosystem.
Well, what can be done?
I mean, is it too late?
It's not, but wide-scale changes
need to be made and fast.
There are two basic types of help,
protective and restorative.
Restorative includes
all the methods to replant
and repopulate more resilient coral,
and help heal areas
that can be brought back to health.
Oof. Sounds complicated.
A little.
And luckily, top ecologists
are working on it every day.
- But you know what's simple?
- What?
The protective things you can do
to prevent further damage,
like not polluting, being aware
of where your seafood is coming from,
and, of course,
reducing your CO2 footprint.
That I can do.
Oh, hey, Coral,
I gotta head back up. Thanks.
No problemo. Later, dude!
Our first example of restorative
healing to the Great Barrier Reef
is right here at AIMS.
As Dr. Carly steps up to show us
a new method called coral seeding.
We're super excited
to see what you're doing
to create some strength in the reef.
We're really focused on
trying to come up with a tool kit
to help the reef recover into the future.
So this is just one of those.
It's a part of something
we're calling coral seeding.
Essentially, what we're trying to do
is develop a way that we can sow corals
onto reefs the same way that you would sow
seeds into a forest that needs recovering.
And then we can apply that to these,
what we're calling settlement plugs,
and then we seed them on the reefs.
Every one of these plugs has about
ten to 15 coral babies growing on it.
Have you had any success
with any of these different types?
Last year we achieved a 25% survival rate,
which we were quite pleased with.
Amazing.
You guys wanna get your hands wet and
help me put some corals in some devices?
- Oh yeah. Absolutely.
- Yeah? Awesome.
There's some stools underneath.
Feel free to pop those out.
- A little booster.
- Whoa.
Yeah, this is great. Thank you.
So, what I can do
is hand you guys some device components,
and I'll hand you some plugs.
And then you can put them together.
Hold it by the base or the sides.
- Zac? Yeah, so just
- Sliding it into the triangle side.
What Darin doesn't know is that he
and I are in a race to put these together.
The last person to properly assemble
their seeding device will be eliminated.
Let me repeat the instructions.
The last person to properly assemble
their seeding device will be eliminated.
- Hey, wanna hand me
- Mine fit perfect and was effortless.
- Yours is just taking a long time to
- I'm just I'm being kind to you.
The idea is
to breed strains of coral
that can survive in warmer temperatures,
and then plant seeds of this new coral
in damaged parts of the reef.
- There you go.
- I think I'm finished.
- Yeah?
- Good job.
The seeding devices can provide
a space for the young corals to grow.
Once planted, the devices
help anchor them firmly to the reef
and protect the corals from predators.
The work you're doing here
is such to be celebrated
because this supports the ecosystem
literally from the bottom of the ocean,
all the way up.
The thing that people at home can do
if they're going on holiday
somewhere there's a reef,
there are many citizen science projects
where people can make observations
and report things they see
while they're snorkeling.
So it's a small thing
an individual can do,
but it actually provides
the researchers so much information.
Like Dr. Carly said,
a quick search online will show there are
citizen-based coral reef
monitoring programs all over the world
for those who wanna help.
For me, it's an exciting time.
Down the road, I think we'll be, you know,
hopefully celebrating winning the fight.
Fascinating. Thank you so much.
- It's a pleasure.
- It's fantastic.
The coral seeding that takes place
at AIMS is just the start
of one restorative process.
But there's another step to restoring
the reefs that's been going on for years.
We're in Cairns,
a tourist hot spot, major port,
and getaway to the Barrier Reef.
We're taking a catamaran
about 17 miles out to sea.
And then we hop on a small tender boat to
actually board the Marine World pontoon.
This is the last stop,
the Marine World pontoon,
where all the magic happens.
This is a joint venture
of private companies, universities,
and concerned citizens,
all working together
to help save the Great Barrier Reef.
And we're meeting the rock stars
that are here to repair it.
Or rather the reef stars.
Welcome to Marine World.
What we're going to be doing today
is working on something called reef stars.
This is a type
of reef restoration technique
developed by Mars,
the chocolate bar company.
- Developed about ten years ago.
- Really?
- Yeah!
- Cool.
Pretty interesting, huh?
And it's literally just
using pieces of steel bar
that have been coated in sand
or limestone like we have here.
- And we attach coral pieces to it.
- Sweet.
We put these down in the water,
and we help restore these areas
of coral rubble which have been broken
as a result of maybe storms,
it could be from blast fishing,
and even from climate change as well.
So the area that we're going to
go out to today was an area that was hurt
as a result of Cyclone Yasi
about ten years ago.
And so when you have corals
and coral reefs, they naturally recover.
But there's some areas
where you have heaps of storm damage,
and it just becomes a big rubble bed.
You've got these little coral fragments
that are moving around in the water.
They pretty much don't survive unless
they've got something to be attached to.
So then today, what are you
You and Zac are gonna take off
We're gonna go out
and collect those coral fragments.
What we're going to look for
is corals of opportunity.
Looking for something the same size
as between your thumb and forefinger,
these sorts of fragments.
We've got some here
that I can show you as well.
Something that's no longer attached
to the actual coral.
- Wow. So you've got some harvesting to do.
- Sounds like fun.
Yeah. Cool. Never done this before.
Darin and I are splitting up.
I've been diving for years.
And we're gonna save Darin's first time
in scuba gear for later.
Besides, he has to stay on the boat
and see how they prep the reef stars.
Okay. This is it.
Ready to dive.
Ah.
It is so good to be back in the ocean.
Look at the coral.
Look at the fish.
Look at the sharks.
Those are gray reef sharks,
and they're the most
common sharks in this area.
They usually only attack people
if they feel threatened.
So I'm just gonna head this way
and try to seem nonthreatening.
After all, we're here to save the reef.
That is, like,
the opposite of threatening.
Seriously though, do you see
the size of those things?
Okay. Back to work.
Remember, we're searching
for broken coral pieces
about the size of my hand to bring up
and attach to the reef star frames.
Wonder how Darin's doing.
You know, the Great Barrier Reef
is not just coral or fish.
It's seagrass. It's mangroves.
It's that whole coastal interface
that is critical to the fish life
that we see out here.
They start their lives back on the coast.
In terms of the runoff and the filtering
that happens through mangroves
and seagrass systems,
that's all part of what we know
as the Great Barrier Reef.
Thirty percent of the ocean animals
will have spent some time
on a reef in its lifestyle.
So it's incredibly important
that they're vibrant and alive.
The reef's been through
some pretty tough times recently.
The sequential bleachings
in 2016 and 2017.
And, in fact, I think much of the world
thinks the reef is gone, which it isn't.
But, obviously, as the world hopefully
starts to deal with climate change,
we still have to build as much
resilience into the reef as is possible.
I think there's two parallel tracks.
Deal with climate change.
Global issue. Everyone has to do it.
And what can we do
on the reef to help better manage it,
to build resilience into the reef system.
This is one of the world's largest
coral reef restoration programs.
Installations yield
a rapid growth in coral,
increasing the coverage
by 12 times in a few months.
And the fish population nearly triples.
Over the past decade,
diver teams have installed
around 20,000 reef stars worldwide,
using almost 300,000 coral fragments.
Like this one.
Here's a small loose piece.
This is exactly what we're looking for.
Shout-out to Owen Wilson. Wow.
Or flip it, and shout-out to Mom.
Here's an example of a sea star
that's been planted.
Look how well it's starting to grow
as it creates a new shelter
and home for the other organism,
and eventually adds
more biodiversity to the entire area.
We'll bring these coral pieces
up to the boat,
and Darin can take it from there.
What we're gonna do is take
our little fragments that we have here,
and we're going to pop them
straight onto the star.
- So if you wanna take this one here.
- Yeah.
What we can do
is we can lay it across the top here.
And then each fragment gets
two cable ties to attach it to
- That's as simple
- Easy as it is.
So one at the bottom, one at the top.
And then we just tighten them on there.
We're doing this,
and it's by hand.
My brain goes,
"How the hell can we scale this?"
Yeah.
And we're dealing with
something that's so massive.
We might not be able to repair
and keep these kind
of technologies going on all 3,000 reefs,
but if you can focus these efforts
where they're needed most,
you're gonna help sustain those reefs
and make sure they're resilient
through those tough and lean times.
- Can you grab it from the top?
- Yeah.
- Lift it up.
- Lift the star?
Yeah, it's the safest way.
You can lift it over, and then
I'll show you
where we put them.
Once enough coral
is attached to the frame,
they're lowered on this platform
till they're ready to be planted
on a section
of the seafloor that's in need.
It's beautiful down here.
Diving underwater feels like
I'm visiting another planet.
I'm weightless
isolated from people
and surrounded by strange creatures.
I'm reminded of why
it's so important to protect the oceans.
And it feels so good to be a part
of the repair and protection of it.
But this is only a stopgap,
and there's still a long way to go.
Man, I can't wait for Darin
to get a chance to dive before we leave.
Oh, I'm running out of air. Time to go up.
Between the ocean and the land
is a unique biome
that protects corals and their reefs.
They're called mangroves,
shrub and tree species that live and grow
on the edge of the coast
where the water meets the land.
Ecosystems like the Great Barrier Reef
rely on mangrove forests
to function properly.
And unfortunately,
the mangroves are also threatened.
We're visiting a public and protected park
to meet a local
Indigenous climate activist
and caretaker of the mangroves
for a better look
at this beautiful and lush habitat.
So, you liking it up here?
- Yeah. We got a good day.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
- Loving it.
- We're in mangrove country.
- In the mangrove today, yes.
Up here in Cairns.
And it's still raining. Don't worry.
Cameras love that. Right, guys?
What does it mean to your mob,
your people, the mangroves, and the reef?
In Aboriginal culture,
in Indigenous culture here in Australia,
we see the cultural connection that
they both have between each other.
- Yeah.
- Okay?
So one might be, say, the little brother
might be the mangroves.
And the big brother might be the reef.
So, what is working and what isn't working
in terms of the environmental impact
in mangroves' health right now?
What we have is, like,
the man-made effects that happen.
So your destruction
of habitats like this here.
An example is taking out these mangroves
just to put a car park in, all right?
Take out these mangroves,
and you got the effect of barren land,
which then means more sediment runoff.
Okay, that then directly flows
into the water system,
then the water system
takes it out to the reef.
So more and more man-made pollution
as a result going directly into the ocean.
Directly to the reef. Yeah.
So mangroves, they need fresh water,
and they need salt water as well.
It's not just dependent on salt water.
They actually need that oxygen as well.
They're really
an environmental tree.
They're keeping kind of a safety boundary
between the land world and the ocean.
It might be a coincidence
that the airport was like,
"We'll build here with the mangroves."
Because then the mangroves are actually
offsetting their actual carbon emissions.
- Oh, interesting.
- Yeah.
So they're taking out more
of the CO2 just by being here in itself.
So, how much CO2
do the mangroves, like, eat versus
It'd be more 20% more
than what your normal trees.
What we do here affects someone else
on the other side of the world
or on the other side of Australia.
Vice versa. What they do on that side
of the country affects what happens here.
My generation and the younger generation,
really sick of sitting around now.
So we're not gonna
let you destroy it on us.
We're actually gonna get up
and start doing what we can.
Because I wanna leave
something beautiful for my daughters.
I want them to actually be able
to go out to the reef and know that,
"My father did his part
by looking after the mangroves,
that I get to go out and see the reef."
"I get to see the beautiful fish out here,
see the beautiful coral
that's out here as well."
And I think if we all think about
what Indigenous people have is
We're leaving it to the next generation.
- We can start now.
- We can start now.
It's a good time to start now.
And with that,
we'll start our tour show.
All right. Let's check out this boardwalk.
So all this before
you came down here was just dry.
And now 'cause of
that rainfall that we just had,
all the water's starting
to catch in here now.
That's the other importance about
having the mangrove systems and roots
that's around here is they hold
all that water here in the soil,
and then it's actually
benefiting all these plants.
- 'Cause it all would go out to sea.
- It'd go straight out to sea.
So if you noticed when we were walking
through just before how dense it was,
it was a different kind
of species of mangrove.
So now we're going through these ones,
and you'll see these trees here
are more clustered together,
more of your straight kind of trees now.
And how many different types
of species of mangroves are there?
So, altogether,
there's 42 types of species.
Insert Dagobah system joke here.
"Away, put your weapon."
See some of these ones here?
These are different species again.
You see some of those little
sharp little stems that's pointing up?
- Yeah.
- So they're just breathers.
Oh, cool.
The purpose
of the breather is what?
To breathe in oxygen.
That acts like their snorkel.
Just like we need the mask
and snorkel out on the reef,
they have their own
little snorkel here now.
- We're just mimicking the mangroves.
- Yeah!
These ones here, you'll have
This is the leaf. Okay?
You might not see it now,
but that's the actual leaf
that we have on these trees here.
So what will happen is when there's mud,
you'll drop it,
and see how it stands up just like that?
- Hey!
- They're actually planted now.
- We planted.
- You planted.
I've officially planted some mangroves.
Look how gnarly they look, man.
This looks like Mordor.
- Good luck walking through there.
- Yeah.
- Takes a lot of practice.
- It looks crazy in here.
- This is different than where we started.
- A bit more muddy now, you know?
Kinda that more mangroves smell
that you're smelling.
This is so beau
I love that it's raining.
I bet they don't.
- It's lovely, isn't it?
- It's so beautiful.
- It's keeping
- Sweet.
Keeping the mozzies at bay.
I think now walking around
out on country here for a little bit
and seeing some of my country,
and you're getting
the full tropical effect here.
- That's right.
- You get the rain. You get the mangroves.
You'll go to the reef
and enjoy it even more.
Beautiful, brother. Thank you.
This'll mean a lot to us.
- We'll come full circle at the reef.
- Yeah, that's right.
From sequestering CO2
to protecting both land
and the Barrier Reef,
mangroves play an important part
in maintaining the balance
of life on Earth.
And Jiritju's message
plays an important part
in protecting the mangroves.
After all this talk
about the Great Barrier Reef,
it's time to experience it for ourselves.
We're on the northeast coast
of Queensland at Airlie Beach
to ride 39 nautical miles out to sea.
Yes, the goal is to go diving in the reef.
But this is definitely one of those
"journey, not the destination" scenarios,
because we'll be taking this
to get out there.
Cue the yacht rock!
This is pretty epic.
- Like we entered the zone, dude.
- Danger zone.
Yeah, dude. I'm stoked. I've been diving
for, man, almost 15 years now.
This is the one place,
without fail, every single person
I've been on a dive with always says,
"You have to go
to the Great Barrier Reef."
It's just It's another world down there.
I'm really excited
to see what's down there.
Yes.
- Hey, man.
- Morning, gentlemen.
Peter is our diving instructor.
Darin has never done this before. Ever.
- Good to see you too.
- Well, here we are.
Just about to, uh, arrive
at the Great Barrier Reef.
- Man.
- Let's take you back a bit.
About 10,000 years ago, you could've
walked all the way here. It was all land.
About 10,000 years ago,
the last ice age ended.
When the ice age ended,
the sea level rose.
And about 6,000 years ago,
it reached its present level.
Previous to that,
this was a mountain over here,
and this was a mountain over here.
And we're in what was a big river.
As the sea level rose,
it covered up these mountains,
and coral started to grow on top of them.
So we've got this coral that is growing on
the top of a very old submerged mountain.
- Very cool.
- What?
And it's sort of
reached this present level.
So we're in what would have been
a river about 10,000 years ago.
The coral on
the Great Barrier Reef is fantastic.
I've heard, in the last
few years particularly,
more and more people coming to the reef
having heard that it's in terrible shape,
and now they see perfectly
healthy brown coral,
but because it's brown, they look at it
and go, "It must be dead. It's brown."
People are quite used to seeing coral,
either in a video or in a postcard
- That's rainbow-colored.
- it's brightly colored.
Because people won't buy a postcard
if it's got a picture
of poo-brown coral on it.
However, I'm not saying we're not doing
any bad things to our oceans.
You know, we're overfishing.
We put too much plastic.
But I don't think it's all doom and gloom.
Everywhere you look,
you're gonna see something new.
You'll see different species.
There's a lot big fish here,
and you'll enjoy that for sure.
Our new home away from home
for the next few days will be here.
What is that? Waterworld?
Kevin Costner is over there right now?
It does look just like Waterworld.
Look at that.
This is Reefworld,
a floating three-story pontoon
located in Hardy Reef.
Wow.
Hey!
This next part is the big reward,
the icing on the cake in this episode.
Darin and I will have a chance
to stay overnight in the reef.
Not on the reef. In the reef.
Underwater. You'll see.
Sure, you can sleep on the deck,
but down below,
a hotel experience four meters underwater,
guaranteed to be
the best room with a view ever.
Welcome to Reefworld.
It's quite steep down here.
- So just hold on to the handrails.
- Yeah.
Oh, sweet.
- Whoa.
- Wow.
Like we're in a spaceship.
Oh!
What?
This reminds me
of Troy McClure's house.
Oh, hey, buddy.
Tonight, I'll be sleeping with the fishes,
but not in the Mafia way.
A blue light in the bottom,
that's what attracts them at nighttime.
The one thing about these windows
is they're not soundproof,
so you'll definitely hear the fish,
but that's the best thing about it
is hearing nature during the night.
I don't mind that.
And these windows are two-way,
so we can see the fish, they can see us,
but all the scope in between that as well.
They've probably seen
some pretty crazy things.
They've told me a few things.
Oh jeez.
We're up with the sun
and getting fueled for the dive.
And picking up a few souvenirs.
Hello, gentlemen.
How are we doing?
- We're good.
- Pretty good.
- Good. We're going to, uh
- Get in the water?
get you to slip into
some black rubber here before we get in.
- Cool.
- There's the suit.
- There's a little one for you.
- For you.
Party on, Wayne.
This is a little snug.
We look like
The Life Aquatic crew.
Will you zip me, baby?
Absolutely, honey.
You look great, sweetheart.
Jeez, Darin, you're too too ripped, man.
You're pumped up.
- You're busting out of the suit.
- Excuse my size.
Whoa. Okay.
- Comfortable?
- Not really.
Did you see me just squeeze him in there?
Let's go bring you down
this end, gentlemen.
We start with the scenic cruise
through an area called the Whitsundays
to get our dive spot on the Hardy Reef.
As the salty wind blows
against my face and through my hair,
the anticipation of
the experience is racing inside me.
I always have a little
nervous energy before a dive.
It's not fear,
more like a healthy respect
for the fact that, just like flying,
breathing underwater
isn't a natural human experience.
My conscience dances between caution
and relaxing enough
to enjoy every wondrous moment.
Darin says he's ready, but he really
has no idea what he's in for.
And I guess neither do I, for that matter.
Here we go!
It's beautiful,
to the point
that it doesn't even seem real.
I've seen countless pictures and videos.
They don't do the experience justice.
That's why this is
the ultimate dive location.
The reef is teeming with life.
Huge schools of fish
in countless varieties,
shapes, and colors.
I don't know what this thing is,
but look how awesome it is!
I'm gonna touch it, just lightly.
Touch. Touch.
It's true. The corals are a little brown
in some areas, but they're not dead.
And they will hopefully
come back even stronger.
And for that, I give a big thanks
to everyone we met along the way,
all those who have worked so tirelessly
to save the Great Barrier Reef
and who continue to work.
And Darin has no idea how lucky he is.
For this reef to be his first dive,
I know he's lovin' it.
I will relive this moment
in my head forever and ever.
It's truly one of
the coolest experiences of my life.
Yeah!
That was amazing.
- How was that for your first dive, buddy?
- Dude! Come on.
- Good job.
- That was amazing.
We smashed that.
Oh man.
Some of those fish that just
came right up to us like a little dog.
- Yeah.
- It was like
- A little dog? It was a massive dog!
- A massive fish.
Outweighs any dog I've ever seen.
That was, like, a 300-pound dog.
being able to touch 'em,
and, they're just, like, chill.
Yeah. You actually touched it?
- Oh yeah.
- You should probably get that looked at.
Oh. Cool, man. Dude, I seriously
I can't believe that you got to
see that on your first dive.
- Yeah.
- Was it good?
Oh yeah.
Uh! Unreal, bro. I Like, that was
I've never seen coral
that alive and thriving
and just so so many different colors and
- That was really cool. Good job, D.
- Yeah.
I can't believe you checked that off
the list first, lucky son of a gun.
Diving in the Great Barrier Reef
has been a dream come true for me.
And it's good to see
how much is being done to save it.
But at the same time,
like all of the Earth's oceans,
it remains under constant threat
of climate change, pollution,
and overfishing.
The future of our coral reefs
and all the sea life within
remains to be seen.
There's a chance for healing.
We have the ability
to repair the reef little by little,
to possibly even reverse
what now seems inevitable.
But the question remains,
can we also reduce the very actions
that have done damage in the first place?
Only time will tell. And speaking of time,
I don't know the next time
I'll get a chance to do this again,
so I think I'll take it all in
just once more.
Later.