Coming up! The Blue World team goes out searching for
an undiscovered ocean cave! It’s an epic adventure! Welcome to Jonathan Bird’s Blue World! The islands of the Bahamas are filled with
formations called Blue Holes. They look like ponds, but they are actually
deep holes in the limestone formed by erosion over thousands of years. In previous episodes of Jonathan Bird’s
Blue World, we have explored some of these mysterious sinkholes, like Cousteau’s Blue
Hole on Andros. Some Blue holes were formed when the sea level
was lower, thousands of years in the past. Now that the oceans are higher, those blue
holes are underwater. These ocean blue holes are filled with sea
water. Because ocean blue holes often lead into cave
systems which connect to other ocean blue holes, water can be pushed through these cave
systems as the tide goes in or out. This strong current in the cave can suck a
cave diver in--to his death. The Exuma Islands of the Bahamas are famous
for ocean blue holes. Recently we explored Angelfish Blue Hole,
a well-known and easily-accessible ocean blue hole of Exuma. But today we are on a mission. We want to find and explore an undiscovered
ocean blue hole. Since the water in the Bahamas is so clear,
and the ocean blue holes usually occur in a shallow spot, they can be seen from the
air. But that also means they can be seen from
a satellite. So we start our search with Google Earth. We’re hunting for a dark spot that could
be a blue hole, and not too far from shore. Cameraman Zach has zeroed in on a possible
candidate. So you think that’s a blue hole? That’s a blue hole! I mean, it’s got the nice shape of the cave,
it’s got that dark blue. The next day we head over to see our friends
Tamara and Jonathan at Dive Exuma to get some scuba tanks for our adventure. Then it’s off to a remote part of the island
in a quest to find our blue hole. On a lonely section of the island we come
to the end of the road and there should be an ocean blue hole just offshore. Wow! Look at that blue! There has got to be a cave down there! I think we should launch the drone and have
a quick look before, yeah. Ok let’s do it. Zach-of-all-Trades launches the drone for
a peek. And from the air it looks promising. It’s definitely a deep depression in the
sea floor. It has all the makings of a great cave dive. But the only way to be sure is to get a look
underwater. So it looks good from the drone, but before
we suit up and take all of our gear and swim way over there, I sent Zach on an exploratory
mission! Better him than me. From the shore it looks pretty close, but
it’s actually a long swim. So Cameraman Zach can scope it out faster
by snorkeling than we could with all of our scuba gear. How was it? What is it? That is a huge blue hole! Really? Huge! So… Okay, is there a lot of flow? Not a lot. I was having trouble getting down, but when
I stood over it, it started pulling me a little towards the hole, so I think its siphoning
a little bit right now. But there’s tons of fish. There’s a big turtle down there. Wow! Let’s go! I think we go. Our dive plan’s gotta be that we should
do a sediment test. So when we get down in there we can drop some
sediment up. If we see it going in, we don’t go very
far. Right. Not very far. But this is exploration! That’s what you do. You Never know! With the knowledge that there probably is
a cave to explore, we start suiting up and preparing for the dive. After a long swim, we finally make it all
the way over to the blue hole and submerge. There’s no sign of that sea turtle, but
there is a big school of grunts. The walls leading down into the depths are
steep, and soon we are entering the cavern zone. There is an old lost fish trap. Zach ties off his reel and we head into the
cave. We can feel that the current is coming out
of the cave, so it’s safe for us to head in. Along the walls of the cave, there are all
kinds of life that you don’t see in diving inland Blue holes. The constant flushing of seawater brings nutrients
and food to creatures in the cave. A lot of the fuzzy looking stuff on the walls
of the cave are hydroids and other invertebrates that sting humans, but crabs are immune. When Zach reaches the end of his primary reel,
he ties on another spool. After progressing another hundred feet into
the cave, something starts to feel different. So I check the current. Now the sand is getting sucked further into
the cave. The tide has turned. It’s time for us to get out of here, and
fast. Back in the cavern zone, we can see daylight
from above. We slowly rise into shallower water to do
our mandatory decompression. In an inland blue hole, this might be kind
of boring. But here in the ocean, there is plenty of
marine life to observe. A school of tangs are nibbling on algae. A lionfish is stalking prey. Lionfish are absolutely beautiful, but they
are an invasive species in these waters. It seems like fish love the entrance to a
cave. But fish aren’t the only residents here. Under a shelf, I find an army of spiny lobsters
all lined up, as if guarding their domain. Spiny lobsters don’t have big claws like
the lobsters in the North Atlantic, but their thick antennae are covered in sharp spines,
making them formidable weapons. Finally our decompression is completed and
we can ascend back to the surface. We make our long swim back to shore where
Zach of all trades is waiting to hear the report. We found a blue hole and discovered it…dove
it first…we think. I mean, there’s no way to really know. Yeah! Mission completed. Ocean blue holes are beautiful and intriguing
formations, only found in a few places on Earth. Exuma is blessed with dozens--maybe even hundreds--of
these mysterious hidden gems. But people only regularly dive a handful of
the easily accessible ones. We set out to find and explore our own blue
hole, and there is a great sense of pride and satisfaction in finding something new
and mysterious. We have no way of knowing if we were the first
ones to dive this blue hole. Maybe not. But its safe to say its unlikely that very
many other people have ever seen the inside of this cave. And since it has no official name, we have
decided to call it the Blue World Blue Hole! Hey everyone, if you love Blue World and would
like to keep this great content coming, please consider making a donation to Oceanic Research
Group’s GoFundMe campaign! We could really use your help, and every donation
makes a difference!
