All language subtitles for B.W.S09E02.Surviving.Underwater.for.24.Hours.How.to.Become.a.Mermaid.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

I will attempt

to survive for 24
hours underwater

to gain my official
aquanaut certification.

What I am interested in figuring
out is does a sting at depth

react any differently?

Oh, yeah.

Definitely feeling
some stings now.

What's going on, everybody?

I'm Mark Vins.

And welcome to perhaps one of
the most ambitious expeditions

where I will attempt
to survive for 24 hours

underwater to gain my official
aquanaut certification.

In order to get
certified, not only do

I need to stay
underwater for 24 hours

but I also need to perform
a series of missions.

But before I get more
into what those are,

let's get underneath the
surface and start the clock.

Time to become an aquanaut.

While the
word astronaut is world famous,

this is probably your first
time hearing the term aquanaut.

And like their space
traveling counterparts,

aquanauts have been studying
extreme environments

for decades.

Only their frontier
is the unknowns

of the ocean, which is still
very much a mystery to this day.

By definition, an
aquanaut is a scuba diver

who lives and
operates both inside

and outside an
underwater shelter

for extended periods of time.

Original aquanauts
risked their lives

to conduct tests and experiments
in the face of unknown outcomes.

And their sacrifices
have led to most

of what we know today
about scuba diving

and deep sea exploration.

As I approached the
aquanaut habitat,

the realization it would be
my home beneath the waves

took hold.

And from here, on
my life would be

in the hands of my fellow divers
and the topside mission control

to both maintain
our oxygen levels

and keep the habitat
from flooding.

Woo.

Oh, man.

Welcome to the habitat, one
of only two aquanaut habitats

in the entire world.

It will also be our home for
the next 24 hours where we eat,

sleep, and yes, work.

Officially aboard.

I would say it has pretty
much all the creature

comforts you need to stay down
here for not only one day,

but many days.

Oh, look who we have here.

Hunter, what are you doing?

Mark, I'm doing science.

You're doing science.

This laboratory has become
our gear room for this video.

And oh, look at this.

We have a world record for
the longest time spent living

in underwater fixed habitat.

I don't know, Hunter.

Maybe sometime, we can
actually go for the record.

Why not?
What do you think?

Yeah, make it 100 days.

Make it 100 days?

Living
underwater in the habitat,

unlike a submarine, means being
surrounded by a completely

different atmospheric pressure
than the surface, which

has some surprising effects on
some, otherwise, normal things.

All right, so here
we are in the moon pool room.

This is the entrance and
the exit to the habitat.

You can see, by looking at these
normal bags of potato chips,

they don't look so normal.

They look crushed.

When they were brought down
here into the habitat at depth,

the positive pressure
from this environment

squished the potato chip bags.

It also changes how
things like soda react.

If we were at the surface and
I were to take this delicious

can of cola and do this and
shake it up really hard,

and hand it to Kellen
and have him open it,

would that be a nice
thing to do to somebody?

What would happen?

You have a messy cola
explosion on your hands.

However, you can
actually shake a soda can

as hard and as long as
you want and no fizz

will come out when you open it.

Do you believe it?

Do you believe it?

I'm kind of skeptical, so we're
going to put this to the test.

This is not amateur stuff.

This is a pro deal.

Everybody shake it.

Will it explode or will it not?

1.

2.

3.

Oh.

Nobody's fizzed.

Nothing.

Ah, well, not a soda
explosion but certainly

a refreshing way to end our
first test down here at depth.

We're about to go out
on our first mission.

Let's gear up.

As
the sun was setting above,

we geared up with
our dive lights

to explore outside the
confines of the habitat.

On this mission, we would
need to collect a sample

from the ocean floor to
bring back for observation

under a microscope.

Since Dr. Hunter Hines
is a PhD in macroecology,

understanding this
aquatic micro-universe

was the perfect task
for our certification.

We're in the lab now after, I
would call that a twilight dive.

It got a little dark
there at the end.

But we were out there collecting
samples for Hunter's microscope.

Yeah, it's
basically our lawn out there.

You know, we don't have grass.

We have microbial mats.

Oh, very cool.

It looks a lot more interesting
under the microscope,

I must say.
- Yeah.

Once you look a
little closer, you see

all these different species.

So we have a bunch of
filamentous bacteria.

We have some cyanobacteria.

We also have some eukaryotic
single cells, some ciliates,

some other diatoms--

a whole mix of
creatures living just

in that very small top layer.

Oh, yeah.

I can see that
one moving around.

Oh, it's swimming
around check that out.

All right, it's time to head out
for our final mission of the day

into the darkness of
night to feature an animal

that we've never seen before.

This one is going
to sting a little.

Let's get out there.

Night dives

are always the most
exciting way to find

bizarre creatures in the ocean.

Not only do the most
alien looking creatures

tend to appear at
night, but our lights

seem to help break up their
camouflage for the cameras.

Tonight, we are looking
for something to complete

our first underwater sting.

And just after a short swim,
we found the very creature

we were after.

There it is.

Got one.

About to take a sting from
another jellyfish in Florida.

Now, that's the top side that
you're looking at right now.

That's the dome
of the jellyfish.

If you flip it around to
reveal those tentacles,

that's where it has a bunch
of stinging cells called

nematocysts that fire out
little harpoon daggers

laced with venom.

I actually brought
a blacklight with us

because jellyfish in
particular tend to fluoresce

underneath UV lights.

Whoa.

So cool.

What I am interested in figuring
out is, does a sting at depth

react any differently?

There's only one way to find
out, and that's to take a sting.

I'm about to take my very
first underwater sting.

All right, here goes nothing.

1.

2.

3.

Oh, yeah.

Something's going on.

Oh, yeah.

Definitely, I'm feeling a little
electrical impulses for sure.

Yeah.

Definitely feeling
some stings now,

little pinpricks like
...

I'll take the jelly and
put it back in the water.

You can definitely see that
I, for sure, took some stings

nowhere near the
intensity of, say,

like the Portuguese
man-o-war that left me

like wriggling around in pain.

Taking a sting by
a new creature,

the upside down jellyfish.

It's time to let this little
jelly off into the moon pool

and get on with the rest
of the aquanaut adventure.

The best moment of every
aquanaut's expedition

for their certification is this.

Did somebody order a pizza?

We got pizza.

So just like the
rest of our gear,

it has to be brought
in in dry boxes.

You can order a
piping hot pizza.

Talk about service.

Mmm.

Nothing beats pizza
after a long dive.

That's awesome.

Thank you so much.

All right.

Appreciate it, Thane.

After we devoured our pizza,

it was finally time for
some much needed sleep.

We were absolutely exhausted
from a full night of diving.

But luckily, we had Thane and
Matt topside keeping an eye

on our pressure and the oxygen.

Just waking up.

Got a good night's sleep.

Feeling better.

We only have four--

about four hours to go.

All that's left to do now
is have a little breakfast,

start shuttling gear
back to the dock.

All right.

There it is.

That's time.

That is 24 hours
living underwater.

All geared up ready to
ascend back to the surface.

As I departed the habitat

for the final time,
I felt a sense

of immediate accomplishment.

Completing a 24-hour
scuba dive was not

something I'd ever thought
I'd have the chance to do.

And it was certainly a lot
different than I expected.

Woo, officially an aquanaut.

That is so awesome.

Yes, we did it.

Congratulations, Mark.

On behalf of Jules
Undersea Lodge,

we'd like to welcome you
to the aquanaut fraternity.

Here's your certificate.

Display it with pride.

You've joined a
unique fraternity.

There's only a few
thousand of us in the world

that are aquanauts.
Welcome.

I'm so honored, Thane.

Thank you so much
for everything.

This was amazing.

Ever
since I was a kid,

the mythology of mermaids
has fascinated me.

And today, I'm getting
my shot at becoming one.

So a mermaid is
a mythical half human, half--

typically, half woman, half fish
or half sea creature type being.

All of our historical
accounts of mermaids

are definitely pretty
dark and sinister.

Whereas today, you can be
a mermaid as a full time

job living in the Florida Keys.

However
terrifying mermaids

might have been in
early human history,

mermaids swimming in
today's seaside shores

have one fin in fantasy and
the other in free diving.

My training starts

with Anna Capps,
a PADI-certified

mermaid instructor here
in the Florida Keys.

Her course will not only
teach me the techniques

to swim as a mermaid,
but also the tactics

needed to revive an unresponsive
diver from oxygen deprivation

or potentially drowning
while underwater.

Wait a minute.

Why do I need to
know how to revive

a diver from possibly drowning?

Because today, in order to
become a certified mermaid,

I will need to save an
unresponsive diver at depths

of up to 20 feet while
swimming with my legs

bound in a monofin suit.

Don't be fooled by the
colorful mermaid tail.

This is going to be one
of the scariest challenges

I've ever undertaken where
anything could go wrong.

OK, let's do this.

- Cool.
- All right.

- So the three recovery breaths.
- Yes.

OK.

Again, those are the
most important breaths

that you're going to take during
any portion of your dive, OK?

That's going to allow you to
off gas that buildup of CO2

while rapidly intaking
fresh new oxygen

and keeping your blood
pressure stable so

that you're not at
risk of blacking

out if you're slightly hypoxic.

I really-- I don't
want to black out today.

Yeah, no.

That's not a good
look for a mermaid.

Nope,
not a good look.

No.

Whenever you're ready,
take your full final inhale.

For this exercise,

I've been asked to hold
my breath as long as I can

while listening
to Anna's guidance

in order to build up my
tolerance for retaining

oxygen while underwater.

Let the water
and the float support you.

Listening to Anna's calm

instructions as I retain my
breath helps me keep my mind

relaxed and heart rate down.

Fortunately for me, I
don't have thalassophobia,

which is the fear of
deep bodies of water.

But I sure hope she'll
be equally helpful to me

once out at sea for
battling the wind

and the currents will surely
make my heart race faster.

Get
your feet below you

before you lift that airway up.

And I'll coach you through
those three recovery breaths.

Are you OK?

OK, yeah.

Great.

Could you take a guess
how long that was?

30?

30 seconds?

A minute and 44 seconds.

Are you serious?

I'm 100% serious.

Oh, my gosh.

You owe me 10 tacos.

Oh, my god.

All right, I'll
buy you 10 tacos.

OK, great.

Woo.

I feel like I could actually
be a professional mermaid now.

This is-- this is so much.

Maybe by the end of the day.

OK, OK.

She's like don't get ahead
of yourself, Christina.

Let's see how
you feel in open water first.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, this is just
a pool, Christina.

Open water is a
whole other story.

All right, this is my first
time trying out my mermaid tail

so here we go.

Mermaids
are a part of mythology

all across the globe.

Whether you're talking about
Mami Wata in Central Africa

or sirens off the
coast of Ireland,

there's a sense of
beauty and danger

that's sort of wrapped
up in the mermaid myth.

And I think that is
an interesting comment

on human culture.

All right, how did I do?

I think
you did a really

great job here in the pool.

So I think you're ready to go
into an open water environment

and apply all the
skills that you've

learned here out on the reef.

Are you ready to do it?

Ooh, I'm ready.

All right, my wild friends.

We are out in the open ocean.

We are going to be diving
down to a depth of 20 feet.

I have never done that before
so I'm a little nervous.

But I'm really hoping she
can sign off my papers

and becoming a
real life mermaid.

I think the toughest part
about becoming a mermaid

is actually putting the tail on.

It's a process.

These waves are making me
feel a little sick here.

I need to get into the water.

I need to feel better, get
back to my home in the water.

Anna spotted a reef for us

to dive down to in
my first attempt

at swimming as a
mermaid in the ocean.

Right away, I can
feel the difference

in strength needed
swimming in a monofin

against the ocean current
compared to the training pool.

But there's no going back now.

Time to put this mermaid
trainee to the first test.

Surprisingly, to me,
I had no concerns

for holding my
breath while taking

in these vibrant surroundings.

As we dove down, I even
spotted a beautiful nurse shark

and wondered how
many mermaids has she

encountered off these shores.

All
right, lean back.

Ah, that
was actually not too bad.

But that was with my mask on.

And I'm about to do
this without my mask.

And it's kind of freaking
me out right now.

But Anna's great.

She's been there with
me the entire time.

And I trust in her
and have faith in her

that she's going to
be right next to me

when I'm blind in the
ocean in a mermaid tail.

As I dive down and open my eyes,

I quickly realize
everything around me,

even Anna swimming just
feet from me, is blurry.

Not knowing how far I
am from the sea floor

is unsettling, to say the least.

Breathe.

Well, how did it go?

Well, it went well.

A lot better than I
expected it was going to go.

It was definitely very scary
without my mask on, though.

That was the scary part.

Once I did that,
though, not too bad.

Feeling pretty good, actually.

CHRISTINA WILSON
Diving

as a mermaid was liberating.

But now, it's time for
my final certified test--

reviving an unresponsive
diver from drowning.

The fun, mystique, and lure
just vanished with the danger

of this next maneuver.

As she dives down, I look
for her to release bubbles--

my cue she's in
need of rescuing.

My heart pounds as I take
in one last deep breath.

With every muscle in my body,
I pushed against the sea

and plunged down.

And without hesitation,
I started positioning her

to breach the surface.

As I held her head
above the water,

I began the blow, tap, and
talk recovery maneuver.

Killed it.

That was textbook rescue.

And with that dive,

Anna told me the good news as
I swam back toward the raft.

I'm a
real life mermaid.

Woohoo.

Surely, when
we think about the ocean

and we think about the reef,
the parrotfish, the colors

and the vibrancy
in that environment

are naturally just what it is.

So I imagine a mermaid, if she
is suited to her environment,

she is also colorful
and beautiful

like you would see on a reef.

All
right, my wild friends.

Now, that I am officially
a certified mermaid,

the Brave Crew has,
well, challenged

me to dive down at 20 feet.

So we've dropped this
line with an anchor on it,

and I'm about to give this a go.

Here we go.

In all honesty, when I signed up

for this course, I had no
idea what it truly took

to become a real life mermaid.

From the lifelike
costume designs

to the sheer physical
strength and above all,

the trust within
your fellow mermaid

to come to your
aid, this course,

was far beyond my
wildest expectations.

Good job.

All right, Brave
Wilderness Crew.

I accepted your
challenge, and I beat it.

How was it?

That was wild, man.

I didn't think I would
be able to save somebody,

and I just did that.

So she said I did a really
great job, textbook save.

And it's a really good feeling.

I'm not going to lie,
a really good feeling.

Are
you a mermaid now?

I'm a real life mermaid, man.

Dude.
- Dude.

You did it.
- Yeah.

I'm real.

It's real.

It's certified.

Beyond the mystique and lure

of a fictitious
female sea creature,

mermaids today dive
for conservation

and provide underwater cleanups
such as Dive Against Debris.

Our oceans need protection.

And mermaids are
leading the charge

to preserve the wildlife that
need these reefs to endure.

All
right, my wild friends.

I have finally achieved
one of my childhood dreams

of becoming a real life mermaid.

I hope this inspires you
to live out your dreams,

however big or small.

I'm Christina
Wilson, and I'll see

you on my next wild adventure.