Original subtitles

I'm Coyote Peterson.

This is Julia, and this is Nia.

And today, we're exploring in their backyard,

looking for sea creatures.

Anything?

Should I put my hand in there?

Oh, what if something bites me?

On this episode of "Coyote's Backyard,"

I will be exploring alongside Julia and her best friend, Nia.

They are two of the Brave Wilderness

channel's biggest fans.

And over the course of the past year,

have sent many stories and pictures of their adventures

together.

Julia and Nia live on Orcas Island,

located within the San Juan Island

chain of Washington State.

This was the perfect place to film

an episode "Coyote's Backyard."

So the stars aligned, and before I knew it,

we were getting ready for an epic tide pool adventure.

All right, girls.

I'm going to get on the boat first,

and then I will help you get down here.

Sound good?

Yeah, you go first.

All right, Julia, you want to come down?

I got your hand there.

Go ahead and step right down on there, OK.

Come on the side.

Sit right up front with me.

Nia, you all set?

There we go.

Got it.

Are you excited to go on the adventure today?

Mhm.

Are you excited to go on the adventure?

Yeah.

Are we going to catch lots of cool creatures?

- Yeah. - All right.

Crew ready? - Ready.

When we get to the beach, we can look for alligator lizards

too.

Are there alligator lizards out there?

- Uh-huh. - What do you think, Nia?

Are we going to find some alligator lizards?

Yeah.

I love them.

All right, lizards and sea creatures.

Here we go,

Bye, Mario.

We'll see you on the island.

Woo.

All right, guys, we have left the shore.

We're on our way to Sea Creature Island.

Julia, are you excited?

Mhm.

Got tucked down there in your life jacket

like a little turtle.

And, Nia, I think you're ready to go, right?

All right, I'm going to hold on to you guys tight.

We're going to head out across these waves

and make it to the other side.

Whoa, an eagle.

Whoa, a bald eagle.

We're going to have a big adventure today.

Julia's dad has been taking her to explore

tide pools since before she could even walk.

And now that she's a little older, all of 5 and 1/2 years,

they often frequent the uninhabited Doe Island.

At low tide, this is the perfect place

to find marine creatures hidden amongst the intertidal pools.

So we slowly ferried over in a small boat

and safely made our way to the shore.

One, two, three.

There you go.

Let me come up there with you guys.

And the fishnet.

All right, let's do this.

Let's get up onto dry ground.

Be real careful.

Careful there, Julia.

There you go, Nia.

Be real careful on that kelp.

Let's get onto the dry ground and wait for the cameras.

OK, so, right now, Julia and Nia are fast at work

searching out the tide pools.

We've got the rest of the crew coming over on a boat.

And it's almost impossible to contain these two.

As soon as they see a tide pool, they're

immediately catching things.

So far, we found kelp crabs and sculpins.

I got to catch up with them.

They're going to be leading this entire expedition.

Wait for my guys.

I found a hermit crab.

Oh.

Oh, guys.

I found something. What is that?

Huge fish.

Julia.

It's a huge fish, Julia.

We got it.

We got it.

So, Julia, what is this?

A clingfish.

That's a clingfish.

Now the reason they're called clingfish fish is,

I'm going to flip it over like this, look at the underside

there, Mark.

It looks like a big bullfrog tadpole,

but it's got that big suction cup on its underside.

Now, they use that to actually hang on to other fish, right?

They can hang on to other fish and catch a free ride.

It almost looks like a bullfrog tadpole.

Have you ever seen a bullfrog tadpole before?

Well, they look just like this, but they

don't have that distinct suction cup on the underside.

All right, should we put this little guy back under his rock?

All right, the journey continues.

All right, we're going to put this rock

right back where it was, and let's

see what else we can find.

Good job running the camera there, Julia.

She's a natural.

OK, that [inaudible].

Here, you hold the net, and I'll get him into the net, OK.

Watch your fingers.

Watch your fingers.

Got it.

There we go.

That's a big one.

It's a rock prickleback fish right there.

Careful.

Let's take that up to your little tide pool, OK.

Well, now we have some prickleback fish.

And what did you find?

Look at that.

Nia's got a tiny seastar.

Well, we have spent our entire morning adventuring around

in these tide pools, and we've come

across a whole bunch of different

cool marine creatures.

But right now, we're going to get three of them

up close for the cameras.

Are you ready for this? - Mhm.

How about you, Nia? Are you ready?

Yes.

OK, now, the first thing we're going to look at

is called a chiton.

I'm going to grab it.

It's right here.

We put it in this pocket of water.

Come here, big guy.

Oh, look at this.

It's really heavy.

It is heavy.

Look at this.

It is like a creature from another planet.

Nia, have you ever seen something like this before?

You think we could put it on your head?

No?

You want to see what happens if it suctions onto my face?

Ahh.

You know what?

Nothing's happening.

It's just kind of like a big suction cup.

And you can see that, see how it's

kind of curling up into a ball?

It's doing that as a defense.

Now touch the back of it.

What's it feel like?

Rock.

Like rock, right?

It's very rough.

It's very rugged.

It almost feels like rhinoceros skin.

You know what?

Pet the back of that.

Does that feel like a rhinoceros?

Yeah.

Have you ever pet a rhinoceros before?

No.

Well, we're going to guess that this

feels like rhinoceros skin.

And on the inside, it has this bog foot,

and that's how it suctions onto rocks.

And it just kind of moves along, eating algae and kelp.

You want to put your finger in there, see if it bites?

No, it doesn't bite, does it?

Julia, you put your finger in there.

Tell me if it bites.

No, it doesn't bite.

Nothing.

Totally safe to handle.

All right, I'm going to put this back into the pocket of water.

You guys want to see what's in that nut over there?

All right, we're going to see what is inside of the net.

I'll hold the big guy.

You want to hold the big guy?

Put your little net down.

Oh boy, come here, Nia.

Check this out.

All right, I'm going to slowly kind of

reveal what's in the net.

Julia, can you get the big one?

This is a rock prickleback fish.

Hold on.

He's stuck in the net there.

Very slippy.

Now it looks like an eel.

You got ahold it?

There you go, two hands.

It looks like an eel, but it's actually a fish.

Did you know that?

And the way you can identify a net such, Mark, if you zoom

in there, you can see all that stripped

patterning on the side of the face, right there by the gills?

That's how you identify it. - Ah, it's trying to bite me.

He's trying to bite you? You want me to hold onto it?

I [inaudible].

Here, let me see it for a second here.

OK, put your hand flat.

There we go.

Nia's going to help me hold it.

Can you zoom in on the side of his face there?

You want to know something pretty cool?

These fish can breathe out of water.

Did you know that?

They do have to go back into the water eventually,

and then they will swim off into the water.

And these can grow to be about three feet in length.

Did you know that?

That's like as long as you are tall, three feet.

How tall are you?

That tall?

Yeah.

This can grow to be about as long as you are tall.

Isn't that crazy?

Pretty wild, huh?

All right, you also have a little sculpin in there, right?

I'm going to put the prickleback down into the water in the net,

and let's hold off this little sculpin.

Can I see?

Put i tin my hand there.

Now this, Julia, this is your favorite fish,

right, this sculpin.

And aren't they cute?

Look at its little face.

And you know what they have on the side of their gills?

Little tiny hooks and you know what they use those for?

That's for defense.

In case a predator tries to eat them, they'll puff those out,

and they're very spiky.

So if something tries to bite it,

it's going to get like a spike right in its mouth.

Have you ever try to eat a sculpin before?

Yuck, that's what I would say.

We don't eat sculpins, right?

No, he's a little, teeny, tiny one.

All right, you want to put the sculpin back down into the net

there?

Julia, are you ready for the spider crab?

Eke, look at that.

Have you ever seen a spider crab before?

Put your little finger on his back there and pet him.

What does he feel like?

He's fuzzy.

Pet that crab.

Fuzzy crab, right?

Like a short-haired cat.

Like a short-haired cat.

That's a great description.

Now, we're not sure exactly what variety of spider crab

this is, so we'll have to look it up.

As it turns out,

this is actually a helmet crab, a species that is often

misidentified as either a kelp or a spider crab

and which can often be found foraging

amongst eelgrass or kelp beds.

That's what we call facts from a field guide.

Now, look at this.

It's not even trying to pinch me.

It has very small pincers up front,

and they use those pincers to pull

apart all the plant material that they

then feed into their mouths.

Look at those claws up front there, Mark.

Zoom in on those.

Pretty crazy looking, isn't it?

You want to put your hand out?

Here, put your hand out, and let's let it walk.

You see that. Look at that look.

Look at how the legs on this side

are longer than the legs on that side.

Why is that?

It could be possible that this crab lost some legs at one

point in time because did you guys know that crabs

can grow their legs back?

Now, Julia, if your leg falls off, is it going to grow back?

Probably not.

Nia, if your leg falls off, is it going to grow back?

No, I don't have that power either,

but all crabs have the ability to drop their legs, which means

they can pop off, and then after a little while, they grow back.

All right, you guys can be super brave, right?

You're brave members of the Coyote Pack, aren't you?

OK, so to test your bravery, we're

going to see if you can hold the spider crab.

Are you ready?

All right, we're going to go with Julia first.

Ready, keep those hands flat.

Oh, I hope it doesn't pinch you.

There you go.

That's you holding a little fuzzy spider crab.

Pretty cool, right?

So brave.

Nia, are you ready?

All right, here we go.

Spider crab, oh, there it is.

She's doing it.

That's no problem, right? Oh, wait.

Julia.

Julia, where are you going?

All right, let's dunk it down to the water

because, you know, they breathe using their gills,

and we have to put it underwater for a little bit.

There you go, little crab. See that?

It just curled up in a ball?

Well, I think Nia gets

to name the crab because she is the last one to hold it.

Would you like to name the spider crab?

I'm going to name him Fuzzy.

Fuzzy.

Fuzzy the spider crab.

Coyote, I think you lost your team.

I did lose my team.

Mario was up there exploring, and he found some alligator

lizards, so the girls left me to release

all of these marine creatures.

But it was one epic day exploring here on Doe Island.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

Animals are present in almost every backyard

around the world.

And to find them, you just have to know where to look.

Exploring alongside Julia and Nia was an absolute blast.

And it's young, adventurous members of the Coyote Pack

like the two of them who truly bring a smile

to my face knowing that they have

a genuine love and admiration for the natural world.

I found another one, Julia.

Found

Our first sea turtle encounter.

Here, high five.

A total turtle experience.

One of the most important aspects of producing episodes

for the Brave Wilderness channel is deciding

what locations to explore.

We choose these epic backdrops not only

based on their visual appearance,

but also on the variety of animals

that we may possibly encounter.

The stunning visual backdrop of the Hawaiian Islands

is one of the most incredible places we have ever filmed.

And while the prehistoric-looking mountains

and dense jungles were picture perfect,

it was actually the ocean wildlife

that we were interested in.

Right now, we are on the coast of Kauai on a remote beach.

And I told you guys, eventually, we were

going to go beyond the tide.

And today is our first day of snorkeling.

So what we're going to do is put on our gear,

get into this crystal clear water,

and see what sort of animals we can get close to

with our underwater cameras.

You guys ready?

Let's do it.

All right, let's gear up and head out to the tides.

Mahalo.

Below the surface of the surrounding

Pacific Ocean lives an incredibly diverse world

of plants and animals, which made

this location an absolute must on this year's

production schedule.

However, before we could scuba dive below the surface,

first, we needed to scout several locations to determine

where the best reefs existed and also what kind of animals

called these underwater refuges home.

For decades, snorkeling has been a popular

recreational activity, particularly

at tropical resort locations.

The appeal is that it gives the opportunity

to observe underwater life in a natural setting.

And for us, it was the perfect preparation

for our upcoming scuba episodes.

Woo.

How you doing, Mario?

That was awesome.

Saw some really cool stuff.

I saw like a four-foot-long pipefish.

Really?

Did you get a shot of it?

Hopefully.

Yeah.

Let's see what we got.

It's really hard to film down there, huh?

Yeah.

It's pretty neat, though.

It's like the jungle of the ocean, you know.

It's full of wildlife.

Yeah, really cool.

Filming underwater is difficult,

so we relied heavily on GoPro cameras to capture images.

Mario, Mark, and myself all began

to explore the crystal clear water, investigating as best we

could with the hopes of spotting animals we might be able to get

close with or even safely catch and bring

to the surface to present in more detail.

Woo.

Wow.

This spot's been pretty epic so far,

lots of biodiversity, huge sea cucumbers, huge sea urchins.

I saw some pufferfish.

That's pretty cool.

I say maybe we move spots, try to find a spot that I heard

about that has sea turtles.

What do you guys think about that?

That sounds awesome.

All right, let's head back into shore and switch

locations.

All right.

The first location was beautiful,

but unfortunately, the biodiversity

was a little sparse.

So we decided to explore a second spot.

All right, guys, we make it to our next spot.

Mario, you look pretty ready.

Yep, let's do it.

I see some deeper pockets of blue out there,

which means deeper water and even better places to explore.

So if you guys are ready, let's gear up and get into the water.

All right, let's head back out, buys.

Let's do it.

Our second snorkel location was immediately

promising, for, within a few moments

of being beneath the surface, we came upon a green sea turtle.

This reptile's diet varies based on age.

As youngsters, they are opportunistic,

feasting on almost anything that comes across their paths.

However, once they reach adult size, like the one seen here,

their diet strictly becomes marine plants,

like seagrass and algae.

For nearly 10 minutes, we respectfully

observed this giant marine turtle

until a few strong strokes of its front flippers

propelled it forward, and we watched as it disappeared

into the haze of the current.

Wow.

That was amazing, our first sea turtle encounter.

I got some epic shots.

How of you? Oh, yeah, man.

I had you in the frame.

That was so cool.

It just-- it didn't mind us being there at all.

I know.

I just stayed a safe distance.

I was extended all the way out with my AquaPod, probably

at least 10 feet back from it, but with this,

I was able to get super close.

That was epic.

Here, high five.

A total turtle experience.

Oh my gosh, that was amazing.

We're pretty far from shore.

Yeah, we are, man.

We [inaudible]. Let's head back that direction.

All right. - We are way out there.

Seeing a green sea turtle was magical,

but strict protections prevented us from making contact

with the animal, and it's certainly

not one that we were allowed to catch and bring to the surface.

So it was time to scout the next location.

I'm pretty confident we might

keep some of the animals we're going

to be filming later this week.

That's the goal of scouting this location is

to determine what lives here and then think about what we can

actually bring up from the depths

and get in front of the cameras.

It isn't easy filming underwater.

Yeah, well, and when you're diving, when you're at depth,

your maneuverability is really limited because, you know,

you're weighted down, you've got the tank,

you've got all the gear.

You've got a really limited amount of time

because there's only so much air.

But when we're snorkeling, we can cruise the surface super

fast, cover a much wider net of area,

you know, really just see where the animals are hanging out

because that's the whole idea of this is

to figure out where to target.

So today, we're going to be taking a lot of mental notes.

And when we get back to the truck,

taking physical notes on where we're going to dive here

in a couple of days.

Mario, are you ready?

All right, guys.

I'm going to get my mask on.

We're heading out there.

They say third time's a charm, and as we held our breath

and disappeared beneath the crashing waves,

the reef below us revealed a world of marine animals.

Fish of all shapes, sizes, and colors

darted in every direction.

Some of them were so brilliantly bright they

almost seemed unreal.

I have to admit, the toughest part about snorkeling

is holding your breath.

And at best, I was able to hold my breath for around a minute

before I needed to return to the surface

for a much-needed gasp of air.

Huge sea urchin.

Oh, my gosh.

Biggest sea urchin I've ever seen.

It's like a basketball.

Ah, man.

That is not the kind of urchin you want to run into,

that's for sure.

I think I got a pretty good shot of it.

It's deep down, at least 25 feet, I'd say.

On my next trek beneath the surface,

I found one completely safe animal

that I decided to bring to the surface,

the red slate pencil urchin.

Wow.

crazy cool looking.

Well, as you can see, all these little appendages

are what allow it to lock into the rocks.

And this one was on a flat surface like this

without these little arms extended out into the crevice.

They are really stuck to those rocks.

They really are like extreme anchor points.

It's interesting because this one doesn't seem to have two

feet like some of the others, but maybe

behind all those little arms sticking off, they do.

Good thing is it's not spiky, so this one doesn't appear

to be venomous or poisonous.

Kind of looks safe, right?

It's not going to hurt you at all.

That's awesome.

So much biodiversity down here.

All right, well, got some clouds rolling in right here.

We're actually getting dragged pretty close to these rocks,

so I think at this point, let's place

this back down beneath the surface

and head in toward shore.

You guys ready?

This species is incredibly plentiful in the coastal waters

of the Hawaiian Islands.

And they get the name pencil urchin

because of their radial spines that resemble red pencils.

For nearly an hour, we explored the reef

and saw more animals than we could have ever imagined.

The biodiversity was incredible, and we

knew this would be the perfect place to set

our scuba diving episodes.

Man, talk about an epic location.

There were so many marine animals out there.

When they said it was biodiverse,

man, they hit the nail on the head.

How about those turtles, first of all.

Dude, the sea turtles were amazing.

I got better shots of sea turtles

today than I've ever got with snapping turtles before.

I think it almost warrants us doing a sea turtle episode.

I think not only do we need to do a sea turtle

episode, I need to get back out there with our tanks

because every time we did one of those deep dives,

the place just opened up with new creatures.

There is sea urchins.

There was all kinds of cool fish.

And we know down there, there are eels and octopus

and got to have a tank to see those creatures.

Yeah, well, stay tuned, guys, because our first scuba diving

adventure is coming up here real soon.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see you on the next location.

Woo.