“It’s very, very heartwarming.” Photo: AMC Networksĭoherty herself spent 500 hours underwater, becoming one of the first humans to ever venture 3,280 feet (about 1,000 meters) beneath the surface off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. “All that really says to me is that we did the job right,” Doherty says. The Blue Planet II footage is leading to 13 scientific papers, Doherty says, about everything from Mobula rays hunting schools of lanternfish, to silky sharks and blacktip sharks rubbing against whale sharks to clean themselves. Over four years, Doherty and the BBC America crew spent over 6,000 hours diving underwater alongside scientists from all over the world. Orla Doherty (left) in the submersible 'Nadir', capable of reaching depths of 3,280 feet (1,000 meters). If you thought fish were boring, wait until you see a tuskfish use tools to open a clam or a female kobudai morph into a male. With its mesmerizing shots of bioluminescent creatures and deep-sea dwellers straight out of a sci-fi comic book, Blue Planet II will change the way you see the ocean.
Ed Yong at The Atlantic called it “the greatest nature series of all time,” and it’s hard to argue with that statement. The sequel to the 2001 The Blue Planet takes viewers into a seven-episode tour of the world’s oceans, from coral reefs to the bottom of the sea.
“That made my heart start beating quite fast,” says Doherty, a producer for BBC America.ĭoherty braved the perilous Antarctic waters for the TV series Planet Earth: Blue Planet II, which premieres in the US on January 20th. That meant it wasn’t drinking water spilled by one of the crew members it was saltwater leaking into the sub - at 1,476 feet (450 meters) below the surface. So she did what she was supposed to - she stuck a finger in the puddle at her feet and licked it. I think this is because they avoid drinking.On her very first dive into the frigid waters of Antarctica, Orla Doherty’s yellow submarine began taking on water. I’ve been on several trips where submersible pilots have had issues with kidney stones. If you need to wee, you do it in a bottle. If you are looking for hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, they are typically 2000 to 5000 metres deep, so it is an 8 to 12-hour dive.
What is it like to be in a tiny submersible for hours? It was an astonishing experience because the landscape is so different down there. But of course, the water pressure was holding it in place. When we reached the bottom, the pilot stood up and undid the hatch. As it was a military unit, they inevitably liked to freak out scientists. It was an expedition with the US Navy’s deep submergence unit in the north-east Pacific 23 years ago. When was your first dive in a submersible? Marine biologist Jon Copley at the University of Southampton, UK, was a scientific adviser on the series and was on board the Antarctic sub for filming.
It featured the first ever dive to 1000 metres in the Antarctic, and ended with a warning about our impact on the oceans – particularly from plastic pollution. THE BBC documentary series Blue Planet II brought the startling and diverse creatures of the deep sea to our screens more intimately than ever before. David Doubilet/National Geographic Creative