SHARK DIVE - ANDY BRANDY CASAGRANDE IV - ABC4EXPLORE

[Music] for some reason I never remember the dreams I have at night for me the closest thing to a real dream is being underwater it's almost silent you see shadows in the distance don't really know what's beyond you time slips by completely lost and it's the greatest escape imaginable and it's why I live to die [Music] I was born in New York City but I knew I wouldn't stay I didn't want to live my life and it's concrete and chaos I knew my home was somewhere else turns out it's in the ocean I've been filming wildlife for over 15 years in that time I've traveled the world with my camera meeting all sorts of creatures that most people will never see in person [Music] still my favorite gig and the majority of my work happens underwater I spend so much time submerged I sometimes forget I'm in the underworld [Music] by now I feel safer underwater swimming with sharks than I do on city streets I feel at peace when I'm hanging out with sharks the majestic and timeless creatures it's kind of like swimming in an underwater world of dinosaurs actually sharks outlive dinosaurs they were here nearly 200 million years before t-rex they're one of the only species on the planet that has survived the mass extinctions these days humans are clearly the planets top predator but once you enter the water with sharks you are intensely in the food chain on menu not maliciously but ecologically you are no longer the alpha [Music] jumping in is usually a little unsettling as soon as I splash into the water millions of micro bubbles cloud my vision all I can see at first is a white effervescent fizz and I know when it clears I could be surrounded by dozens and dozens of sharks or in the company of just one great white [Music] when I'm filming I've got my camera electronics on and my breathing is making noise even the sound of my heartbeat is emitting an energy detectable by sharks so basically I'm tantalizing all the shark senses oh and there's one more thing often I'm jumping into a liquid space where I've just been thrilling bait [Music] sharks generally mind their own business I really don't want anything to do with keys because they seem to understand that we are dangerous to them so even though I love sharks I can't assume they feel the same way about me but I trust them so much so that I bring my wife Emma down with she doubles as a photographer and my safety diver [Music] I haven't always trusted sharks first nervous entering their world with all those preconceived notions and jaws legends running through my mind to jump in with them you really do have to override your natural-born instinct and ignore what you've been told your whole life the Sharks are out to get you and that they will eat you sharks do sneak up on you from behind and prefer ambush tactics it's evolutionary design but I've learned it's not a malicious ambush it's biological it's simply survival so I try not to take it personally or let it frighten me they've been hunters in these waters for millions of years they've learned to investigate whatever's around them often bumping into things with their snouts to test if they're edible their methods show a higher intelligence they won't just rush out and bite whatever they see they are cautious and calculating now that I know them better I realize they're on their own Marine mission to survive and I'm just along for the ride [Music] there are more than 40 species of sharks in the Bahamas which makes it one of my favorite diving spots on the planet of all the Starks to explore here I've learned that Caribbean reef sharks are the best to swim with they're beautiful they're graceful they're extremely friendly Emma and I can be surrounded by dozens of them without having a care in the world [Music] it's almost as if they're excited that we're here or perhaps just waiting to find out if we brought them anything good to eat [Music] there's one particular reef shark we see almost every time we go down here he's been hanging around this wreck for at least 10 years we call him Joker he has this crooked smile probably from a fishing hook a narrow escape from man he's a really cool shark because with a broken jaw he could have easily perished not being able to hunt properly but lucky for him he's a reef shark reef sharks often display a pack mentality not usual for most shark species his comrades hunt successfully and he's able to live on their scraps rather than having to make it on his own his pack buddies probably helped him survive but not all sharks are this nurturing there are times when we have to wait for the Sharks to come to us from the looks of the animals around us something big is on its way it's not that fish to follow their own predator out of a scene we still remember the first great white I ever saw it appeared out of nowhere emerging from the depths completely silent and as if it were levitating it swam right up to me flashing its white razor teeth and it's inquisitive eye only a few inches from my face it's a shock even when you're waiting hoping for that encounter great whites are the most dangerous sharks on the planet they're perfect killers designed to blend in with the ocean a shark may go unnoticed by prey swimming overhead it's great top half is camouflaged in dark water below [Music] and from beneath the sharks white underbelly matches the sunlit surface behind me they don't give themselves away easily with dark silhouettes like their own frame [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] people wonder why white sharks seem to be constantly moving with their mouths open an avalanche of razor blades hurtling toward you ready to strike they look so sinister but they just can't help [Music] most sharks have their mouths open for another reason it's the only way they can breathe to get oxygen across into their bloodstream water has to pass through their mouths and out of their gill slits constantly so white sharks can't sit still they have to keep swimming and swimming and swimming [Music] [Music] I'm not a surfer I'd rather be down below any day [Music] it's amazing to me that there are so many surfers out there who never see sharks I would guarantee they're all being washed [Music] [Music] it's rare for a shark to attack a surfer I'm sure that possibility is at the back of every surfers mind because the reality is when you're up on a surfboard with very little visibility of what's underneath when I'm underwater my visibility is limited to if there are sharks in the area I always assume that they will see me first we filmed these Galapagos sharks directly offshore from the surfing mecca of the world they're versatile sharks they like the shallows but they also like to hang out in deep water sometimes over a thousand feet [Music] it's a really cool dive out here you look down and you just see this fathomless blue you never really know what's lurking down there deep water has that sort of mystery you see nothing but blue but if you stick around long enough eventually something will come up to have a look at you most of the open ocean looks like this infinite empty blue it's a virtual desert for stretches of hundreds of thousands of miles there's no life or food critical to the ocean survival on those other places abundant with life [Music] in nearly every ocean basin in the world not just this one there are underwater islands known as sea mounts typically extinct volcanoes these rock formations are biological hotspots for all kinds of sea creatures [Music] they're steep sides rise up from the ocean floor thousands of feet below creating currents that pull nutrients from the colder water up to the sunlit surface [Music] there's so much life clinging to these rocks [Music] I'm almost a hundred feet deep where there is barely any light but there are still massive amounts of fish down here when I'm working around a wreath I like to capture the overall picture and structure of the wreath not just the schools of life that live within it I look at the ledges the fish used to hide themselves hanging out underneath they avoid their predators [Music] the fish like to bunch up together and operate as one big biomass so it's hard to get to know the individuals what's really fun is filming the larger megafauna like these sea lions you can kind of get into their heads and learn their personalities [Music] this is one of my favorite places to dive with sea lions it's in an area where there definitely could be sharks for some reason these sea lions seem to be so placid so relaxed [Music] the visibility here is so good that even I relaxed along with them [Music] it's rare for me to feel totally calm when I'm filming one of the great white sharks favorite prey [Music] I'm the slowest seal out here the least vigilant the least capable of escaping great white but here for some reason I don't really have any fear that a shark is going to come hunt me down so it's a cool chance for me to get to play with the sea lions to get to know them a little better to check out their acrobatics often when I'm filming sea lions they just play amongst themselves they know I'm there but they just kind of go about their business this guy must see his reflection in the glass of my lens it comes to check it out [Music] it's quite different filming sea lions than sharks unlike sharks sea lions aren't limited to just moving forward left or right they can move in any direction anytime they want they go backwards do loop-de-loops go upside down and forwards they've evolved to be agile to avoid being eaten and of course they use this agility for their own hunting prowess or just for fun in a game of catch the starfish [Music] I love diving in as many different strange places as I can get to sometimes they're in my own backyard as you move in from the Florida coastline saltwater gives way to fresh water mangrove tunnels leads straight to the water salt free source [Music] [Music] beneath these roots Springs bubble up from the groundwater hundreds of feet below the sand this is just part of an underground river centuries ago its roof collapsed creating a cave that lets divers inside to explore the rivers dark path [Music] the water here is like glass filtered by the caves limestone walls [Music] light comes in through the cracks spreading into eerie shafts down here a diver looks almost like an apparition it gets a little unnerving as I go deeper into the cave and start losing the light [Music] at first I don't want to stray too far from the Sun but after a while I start to appreciate the darkness and kind of hide away in my mind but I don't go too far [Music] I have to keep track of the entrance so I know where to go when I need to get out a lot of people get lost in caves and if I run out of air and can't find the entrance I'm not going to make it out alive [Music] tight spaces can lead to dead ends trapping you and a lethal maze when I'm in total darkness blind to what's around me only a compass can get me out diving here is nerve-racking without the freedom of open water but I rarely pass up the opportunity to explore something new [Music] [Music] the deep warm waters off the coast of Cat Island are the best place in the world to dive with oceanic whitetips [Music] they're open ocean Rovers rarely venturing into shallow water if they do come near land they like the places where it drops straight down into the sea [Music] Oshin whitetip sharks are the tricksters of the ocean they're known for their incredibly long paddle like fins which help them glide vast distances through the water but don't let their serene and slow-moving nature fool you they're still intensely impressive hunters how can they be a combination of the tubes well there are many different theories one is that the advantage lies in their white tips they look painted like someone took an airbrush to them other fish might mistake the white markings on their fin tips for a small school of baitfish the booms move together as little fish dude while the dark body is hidden in the background of the ocean this potentially tricks larger fish to come in close for what looks like a meal and instead they end up in the jaws of a shark for some reason oceanic whitetips travel with black and white pilot fish more than other shark students these Tagalongs note that if they stick with this predator they'll get both his scraps and his protection [Music] this guy has a hook embedded in this pectoral fin it's a telltale sign sharks and humans do coexist and not always easily they compete with each other for food sources it's most likely this hook was attached to a game fish like a mahi-mahi or a Marlin the shark may have stolen a meal from a fisherman's line and in turn got a hook lodged in its fin oceanic whitetips are dangerous sharks but they can also be just really relaxed when you're swimming with them just three years ago this was a very different scene we only saw two white tips that season both very skittish now things have changed people are more interested in coming to see sharks and it also works the other way around [Music] on some level humans seem to be conditioning certain species of sharks to adjust their behavior and show up more regularly at popular shark dive sites [Music] sharks are not stupid for thousands of years they've shown up at the same seal colonies and same reefs where they know they can get a meal now they've learned they can go to a certain location at certain times of the year and get fish handed to them essentially for free without having to hunt for it [Music] it's an extraordinary relationship that's developed and one that's still evolving [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] each kind of shark hunts and survives in its own unique way so different species can live in the same ecosystem without being a threat to each other [Music] probably no sharks is as weirdly and mysteriously customized as the great hammerhead [Music] [Music] they're incredibly agile sharks almost like a serpent in the way they can turn so quickly a huge dorsal fin had stretched out head helps them fine-tune their balance and movement [Music] to see a hammerhead swimming by is to realize just how crazy evolution can be no one really knows why hammerheads evolved into such an extreme shape [Music] even filming them can be more difficult because of their behavior and weird biology when it swims right at you a 12-foot hammerhead is likely going to bump into your camera regardless of which way it turns [Music] their eyeballs have good peripheral and binocular vision which helps with hunting but just how well can hammerheads see right in front of their faces that's unclear [Music] not that they need to see anyway they know you're there like all sharks hammerheads have special pores on their heads that can detect my new electrical fields coming from any living object they know when prey is close to their mouths even when they can't see it and hammerheads have a lot more sensory neurons than most sharks the Sharks even use their hammer-shaped for heads like metal detectors to uncover prey from under the sand also like hammers pin down their prey and consume it a hammerheads leftovers are a nice complement to a nurse sharks menu they have very small blunt teeth which pretty much puts them at the bottom of the shark totem pole [Music] but nurse sharks do have their own secret weapon they work like vacuum cleaners sucking up food scraps into their mouths [Music] it seems like this greedy hammerhead isn't quite sure she's had enough [Music] but really I think she comes in sometimes just to assert her dominance when it comes to survival there are no guarantees [Music] as hostile as the ocean can be it is every bit as serene [Music] [Music] the most surprising thing about being underwater in the ocean is the quiet is the all-encompassing peace and silence that you encounter while diving you do hear the sound of the water movement the power of the ocean but it's not a violent sound it's soothing kind of like a lullaby it puts you in the strange transcendental state here more of your own thoughts your own heartbeat your own breathing it feels like everything underwater slows down and you're able to appreciate all the beauty that's around you and all just moves lives and breathes in slow motion [Music] time is different in this world the oceans timelessness for me can also be experienced through its captives the shipwrecks scattered across sea floors the world over once this was a bustling seagoing vessel and now it's a post-apocalyptic city for sea creatures [Music] humans built this ship it's sunk and now it's being repurposed by the ocean it's a clear reminder that people aren't made to last in this environment [Music] no matter how much I enjoy being down here I'm not meant to stay for long [Music] [Music] Florida has one of the largest concentrations of freshwater springs on earth [Music] making it the perfect aquarium for many different species of fish some interesting reptiles and favorite home of the manatee every winter hundreds of manatees leave the cooler temps of the Gulf of Mexico behind to enjoy the constant 72 degrees of these springfed waters [Music] the 30 natural springs in Crystal River alone had an average of 300 million gallons of water to the river every day some biologists consider this area the most important refuge for manatees in the United States and it's one of the only places humans are allowed to interact with them so naturally this is my go-to spot for spending time with manatees manatees are known as the sea cow for good reason the massive mammal moves at a relaxed pace and at times barely at all making them easy to film [Music] despite their size their such graceful swimmers [Music] what amazes me is that there can be an animal this big this slow this docile that can survive in this harsh world but I'm glad that it does they probably won't be here for long at winters end they'll revisit the home they share peacefully with sharks [Music] [Music] tiger sharks are pretty calm Placid beautiful sharks until they're not when they're hungry things can get a bit scary tiger sharks have a ferocious appetite after great whites they're known as the world's most dangerous sharks they're responsible for the second most attacks on humans but the number of people they've bitten is far outweighed by everything else they eat fish turtles sea snakes other sharks even plastics and sometimes garbage there's almost nothing a tiger shark won't try [Music] contrary to what most people think sharks rarely come around humans unless you attract them with food so to bring tiger sharks to us we're making use of a pig carcass we found washed out to sea as predicted these guys aren't too picky once the Sharks have had their fill I feel more comfortable moving into film but you can never be too careful when I see a shark and size it up not all sharks are the same in fact they're all very very different they each have their own unique personalities some are bold and some are shy some are a bit unpredictable just like people my trust level with each shark varies based on my own one-on-one experiences with it and their moods can change very quickly so it's important to be ready for anything if I could pick generally I want to dive with female sharks I found them to be less aggressive more relaxed but they're also typically bigger than the males and can boss the guys around if need be one special female is a shark called curly like all Tigers she has the dark stripes on her side that gives them their name and she's taught me a lot about how to film her species if I stand my ground and remain calm Curley respects that sometimes she seems confused why am i swimming toward her when everything else in the ocean swims away it's almost a mind game if I'm not fleeing I must not be something she'd normally eat from what I've learned if a shark keeps coming back around in a relaxed state they like what's going on I've even seen them swim straight past the bait more interested in tactile human interaction than food sharks never cease to surprise me I discover something new from each one I swim with [Music] [Music] this is one of the great white sharks favorite meals the elephant seal [Music] a northern elephant seal weighs in at more than 3000 pounds for a shark just one successful attack brings a huge reward [Music] they killed dozens of them each year just off the coast of Guadalupe Island so it's easy to understand why these seals can be pretty shot [Music] the only way to film an elephant seal is to spend some time approaching slowly until you earn its trust [Music] and then I just let things play out [Music] I was able to connect with this guy and he became as curious in me because I was in him [Music] elephant seal eyes are so human-like they sort of pull you in and put you at ease it makes you forget this animal could easily crush you if it wanted to [Music] you'd never guess it from the looks of one but on the sand an elephant seal can outrun a human the only place in the ocean I've been able to film elephant seals successfully is in the shallows when they go to sea they dive to amazing depths up to 5000 feet and can hold their breaths for over an hour elephant seals have to exhale before each dive and they seem to spend a lot of time practicing [Music] this seal and I spent almost an hour hanging out together I was a bit sad to leave him behind knowing well that a great white could be on the way [Music] nothing about diving in South Africa it's easy the water is freezing and generally super murky and on top of that I'm usually here to film the oceans quintessential creditor the great white shark [Music] in a matter of seconds it can rip a 50-pound chunk of flesh from a live animal generally removing either the head or the tail cognition or propulsion either one will work all of its senses are coordinated to attack usually before prey even knows it's there great whites are specialized surface hunters they can raise their heads above the water to see what's going on around them watching from the boat feels like a safe enough perspective ferocious way of great white ghosts for bait still sends chills up my spine sometimes curious individual comes in a little too close for comfort [Music] [Music] you try to keep the shark in its world so you can stay in yours most divers wouldn't think of going in the water with a great white especially without a cage but the bars limit my shots [Music] so I take the risk [Music] I have to remind myself not to panic it will alter a shark's behavior if you act like prey you're more likely to become prey so I quickly focus on framing the shot and the technical side of filming to keep calm [Music] some of these great whites are so curious and comes straight in completely fearless [Music] the last second I realized that this thing is right on the other side of the lens [Music] one time while filming from the boat a particular sharks started swimming straight toward me I was completely in a trance trying to frame my shot the shark lunged at the camera and opened its mouth I could only hold the camera up for so long and as it splashed back into the water it revealed the shark's fin half bitten off by another shark this shot is all we have to tell the story we'll never really know what happened here we're two sharks fighting over prey was the other shark trying to make this shark prey in all this water there's so many mysteries left to answer so I keep coming back hoping that I can capture shots as bits of evidence to help us piece together the way the ocean works [Music] [Music] a familiar scene when I dive one that would frighten most is a diver on the ocean floor surrounded by dozens of reef sharks if they wanted a pack of sharks could easily devour a human but the harmony in this moment symbolizes what the ocean can be [Music] when I look up and see the boat it's like a portal to the other world but I'm in the underworld with the sharks it's where they belong and it's where I feel I belong but it's good to know that the boat is right there it's a humbling thing knowing that if you run out of air here you will die I realize all my dives are temporary [Music] I don't want to go [Music] I won one more shot one more moment but I know I can't stay down here forever [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Andy Brandy Casagrande IV

Views: 907,230

Rating: 4.5512781 out of 5

Keywords: ABC4EXPLORE, ANDY, BRANDY, CASAGRANDE, IV, SHARKS, UNDERWATER, CINEMATOGRAPHY, CREATE, INSPIRE, EMPOWER, SHARKDIVE

Id: sWFdBdWm5iM

Length: 59min 19sec (3559 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 08 2018