- [Diver] Alright guys, it's time to dive the Sugar Wreck.
(water splashes)
(dramatic music)
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] So far in Blue Wilderness,
we've explored the world of sharks.
Huge sharks and lots of them!
But there is of course, much more
to see in the worlds oceans than just
its top marine predators.
Today, we are going to investigate
the remains of our very first shipwreck.
This dive site near Grand Bahama,
known to locals as the Sugar Wreck
consists of the scattered remains
of an ill-fated molasses steamer,
of which we know very little.
However, wrecks such as these are actually
quite common throughout the Bahamas and the Caribbean.
And what makes this site particularly interesting
isn't its sunken treasure, but is the
abundance of marine life that now calls the ship home.
These wrecks often form microhabitats,
almost like an artificial reef that can become hot spots
for divers to view an incredible diversity of species.
And little did I know, amongst the wreckage,
we would have the most unexpected
wildlife encounter I had ever experienced.
Ready?
- Yep.
- This is always the exciting part,
getting clipped in.
So once you're done, that means
you're ready to get in the water.
Alright.
(water splashes)
Alright guys, it's time to dive the Sugar Wreck.
It's pretty shallow, but we're gonna get
a lot of bottom time.
Diver down.
Upon entering the water, we saw the wreckage right away.
The long metal panels and ribs of the hull
scatter the sea floor.
Not much was recognizable, that is,
until we saw the anchor.
Judging by its size, this was one massive vessel.
And of course, along with the ship,
was an abundance of fish.
The fields of debris were absolutely cloaked
in a cape of marine creatures.
Schools of Snapper and Yellow Grunts
made up the majority of the fish
surrounding the site, but on closer inspection,
we were able to identify angelfish,
filefish, pesky invasive lionfish
and we even found a large conch.
Have you ever seen their eyes before?
Whoa, how crazy is that?
And of course, no dive is complete
without a good shark sighting.
One particular reef shark became very interested in us.
Actually, maybe a little too interested.
Watch out, buddy.
But like every adventure, we were on the look out
for something special.
Any time we have cameras in our hands,
we're always looking for something
that intrigues us, something that truly
stands out from the crowd and almost
makes you point the lens in its direction.
And you never really know when that's
going to happen, but when it does,
filming gets really exciting.
Suddenly, from under the wreck,
I spotted a small porcupinefish.
What a cool creature.
These little guys have so much personality
I had to try for a closer look.
But as soon as I got closer to the spiny fish,
it floated out into the open
and began to slowly head, to another part of the site.
But not too quickly.
Just a slow gentle cruise in another direction.
And for some reason, I felt as if it wanted me
to follow it.
Don't ask me why, but this moment reminded me
of one of my favorite scenes from the Disney movie,
The Sword in the Stone.
The one where young Arthur follows Merlin
around the lake after they both turn to fish.
Yeah, that one.
So I thought, let's see where this goes.
And just as I had hoped, the little fish
was leading me right towards something much bigger.
As we cruised together across the wreckage,
I lost sight of Mario and found myself
on a side of the wreck we had not yet explored.
The debris here was much larger and more cavernous.
The cracks in the wreckage were deep
and its contents were hidden from sight.
Then suddenly, and without warning,
the fish dove into a crevice
and in an instant, it was gone.
To be honest, I felt a little let down,
because I'd hope we'd take a rest
so I could get some better footage.
And so had Mario, who at this point,
had caught up to us and had actually
been following along the entire time.
We both looked back towards the hull fragments
where our new friend had disappeared.
And then, out of the shadows, emerged a truly giant
porcupinefish, it was huge.
I couldn't believe my eyes.
Never before had I seen one so enormous.
But, to my amazement there were actually more of them.
One by one, they popped out of hiding,
to inspect us and say hello.
In fact, before long, I realized
that we were completely surrounded
and absolutely being swarmed by huge porcupinefish.
What luck.
Not only would we be able to get some amazing footage,
but we were also about to witness some unique behaviors.
Porcupinefish, also known as blowfish,
inhabit tropical waters and reefs
all over the world.
Not to be confused with their cousins the pufferfish,
porcupinefish can easily be distinguished
by the visible spines covering their bodies.
They do tend to be primarily found amongst reefs
and in this case, shipwrecks
and feed on a variety of hard shell vertebrates
like urchins, crabs, mollusks and shrimp.
Their beak-like mouths are specifically designed
for these kinds of prey, and of course,
their most famous trait, when agitated,
is the ability to inflate their bodies
and erect their spines outward
to fend off any would-be predators.
But the spines themselves are not venomous
and while impressive, we hopefully
wouldn't be seeing any of these displays today
because our goal was to remain in the presence
of the fish and disturb them as little as possible.
However, I must say, these spot-finned porcupinefish
were by far the largest ones we had ever seen.
And one of them was particularly huge.
And also very dominant.
It was almost the size of a watermelon,
if you could believe it.
My guess is we had stumbled upon
a colony of porcupinefish and were observing
some courtship behaviors, but the fish themselves
did genuinely seem curious about us
and our presence.
Almost like you'd expect a dolphin to behave.
The fish were surprisingly playful.
They would swim up and almost invite contact.
The experience was absolutely surreal.
In general, I would never advise anyone
to make contact with the reef fish.
But this circumstance was clearly special,
and since I was wearing gloves,
to protect both myself and the fish,
I gently reached out my hand, and they got even closer.
In fact, they got so close, they would almost
make (gasp) one actually made contact with me.
I couldn't believe it.
Like a puppy, it seemed to enjoy
brushing its belly and head against my glove.
This was by far, the most unexpected interaction
we could have ever predicted.
And it wasn't just one either.
They all began to join in.
I was literally palling around
with a school of porcupinefish.
After about ten minutes of enjoying each others company,
our air was beginning to run low.
So I gave Mario the signal, we both said our goodbyes
and headed back toward the boat.
(water splashes)
That was sweet!
Phew, let's get dried off.
Alright, well we're back on the boat.
The Sugar Wreck was amazing.
We saw sharks, we saw all kinds of fish.
I certainly didn't expect to get surrounded
by porcupinefish, but on today's adventure,
that's exactly what happened.
I'm Mark Vins, be brave!
Stay wild, we'll see you on the next dive.
If you enjoyed this dive, make sure
to go back and watch the time we got surrounded
by giant tiger sharks, and don't forget to subscribe
and hit the notification bell,
so you can join me and the crew,
on our next aquatic adventure.
(wolf howls)