Deep Ocean: A Silent Journey with Marine Giants Extra Long Documentary Pt. 1
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Sharks. It only takes one look to understand who reigns over the underwater world of the ocean. Whether it's the open sea or coral reefs, sharks have found an answer for every challenge. In this underwater realm, they are the undisputed kings. Most humans only dare venture into their world with the protection of technology. But what happens if you can only approach them closely by rejecting this protection? Adventure Ocean Quest.
An encounter with the world under the waves. With divers who become underwater beings themselves. They work together with scientists on all the world's oceans. Deep under the surface of the water. without a sound and without a breath. Adventure in the depths of the sea, the likes of which has never been seen before. The South Pacific: a world of open sea dotted with small islands.
This is the starting point for an extraordinary expedition into the world of one of the most bizarre and mysterious shark species: the great hammerhead. Their aim is to get closer than ever before to this mighty ocean predator, without the help of any technology. It is a journey into a different world. The hunt for scientific insights takes courage, skill and self-control and a deep fascination with nature.
In Polynesia, the great hammerhead, it's the king of the sharks. I think they were right. The old Polynesian have seen these creatures for probably 3,000 or 4,000 years. There is something about its presence in the water. So, yes, for me it's probably the king of the sharks as well. Moorea, an island in the South Pacific that captures the essence of a tropical idyll. Green volcanic peaks provide an unrivalled view of the surrounding ocean.
French underwater cameraman Christian Pétron and two of the best free divers in the world are about to embark on their mission. The Belgian diver Frederic Buyle holds several free-diving world records. And the Canadian world-class free diver William Winram will work closely with Fred as his safety diver. Every island in French Polynesia offers a unique world.
But they all have one thing in common: Turquoise bays conceal colourful coral reefs and the sea forms a major part of life for local people. Moorea is the base of the French Oceanographic Institute CRIOBE, where the shark specialist Johann Mourier conducts his research. Hi, Fred, welcome to CRIOBE. Yeah, thanks. Good. We go. We go. Johann Mourier specialises on Lemon Sharks and uses some interesting techniques that can also be used to study other types of shark.
You also have planned to work with other species, somewhere else? What's the next step for you? We will go to Rangiroa and try to tag some hammerhead, and. this is a species that is, uh. usually found in Rangiroa, but it's very difficult worldwide to find these shark. And nobody knows what they do during the year when they're not in Rangiroa. They might be travelling, or maybe spending time in open water like oceanic whitetips or something?
Yeah, we only know that we can see some individuals coming to Rangiroa, but we don't know where they are going. So there is two kinds of techniques we can use there, because we don't know what they do. We can put some acoustic tags with a receiver. For the resident sharks. .to see if it's a resident shark. And we can also put some satellite tags.
And if they emigrate, we will be able to know where they are going. This shark, the great hammerhead, is quite a shy species. So that's why we need your help to tag it because you don't do bubbles and you will be able to go closer to the shark and it will be easier for us to tag it. I'm quite happy to be here again and I'll try to do that.
Rangiroa lies 250 kilometres to the northeast of Tahiti, and with its 80 kilometres length and up to 32 kilometres wide, it is one of the four biggest atolls on Earth. Its name translates as "endless sky," a reflection of its big skies and open spaces. About 2,000 people live on the biggest of this coral island chain, which is dissected by hundreds of small channels.
This is where the ebb and flow of the tides supplies a multitude of food and most of the underwater life congregates. This will be the divers' starting point. Now we will attract some big sharks with a bait and we'll see what happens, but we hope to see maybe hammerheads and maybe tigers. So, we never know what we attract, but we hope to see big sharks. The weather isn't on the side of the divers.
Wind creates waves and difficult currents. Clouds darken the otherwise bright underwater world. But still, the sheer diversity of the underwater world at Rangiroa is impressive. A massive shoal of humpback red snappers is having a rest after the exertions of their nighttime hunting. They are predators, but during the day, they congregate in large shoals to seek protection from bigger hunters. The reef is teeming with wildlife. But there is no sign of great hammerhead sharks.
In the wide expanse of the South Pacific, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. Again and again, the free divers go down to look for them. They have to remain vigilant. Other sharks are ready and waiting: grey reef sharks. They often congregate in the channels between the islands. Grey reef sharks are generally curious, but not aggressive towards people. And in contrast to many types of shark, they are still relatively common.
They make a nice photo opportunity for Will. Growing to a length of about 2.5 metres, they can dive to an impressive depth of around 300 metres in pursuit of prey. For the team, they're a good sign. These sharks are not just hunters, they're also prey, and their predators include the great hammerhead. Perhaps their presence means that the team have a good chance of finding their shy targets after all.
This shark has already been a target of humans and has lost his dorsal fin. Although Fred and Will are surrounded by sharks, they remain calm. Their controlled movements and noiseless presence means the sharks are relaxed and allow them to stay nearby. But bad weather means it's too dangerous to stay in the water. A storm is brewing, and the expedition abruptly has to abandon their search.
Today, not a lot of light, very rainy, but you see it's really messy. That's the lagoon of Rangiroa, and you see the lagoon is like a rough sea, which is not common. And, uh. it's bad weather. The boats have to be secured. Although this is the rainy season, the constant bad weather is very unusual. One low pressure system follows the next. Bad underwater visibility makes the search for the hammerheads even more difficult.
And the rough waves would make it impossible for the divers to return to the boat. But there is a glimmer of hope. The weather forecast for the next few days sounds reassuring. Perhaps they're in luck. The weather clears up. The team is up early to get ready for their outing. Carefully, they load the expensive camera and scientific equipment.
Their destination is the outer wall of the reef, where a channel opens from the islands into the open sea. It's the beginning of a long day. The marine biologists usually have to contend with a serious disadvantage during their efforts to observe the animals underwater. Their diving equipment is noisy and can be heard from far away. It is disruptive and frightening for the animals. Free divers, on the other hand, glide noiselessly through the water.
Years of training allow them to stay even at greater depths for minutes at a time. It makes them perfect underwater naturalists. Without any technical aids, they search for the shy hammerheads and manage to get close to them. They're not perceived as a threat. And here he is, the king of the Polynesian sharks. It emerges as if from nowhere. and quickly disappears again.
But at least the divers now know that this is a good spot to place their receivers. These will serve to register signals emitted by the transmitters that they hope to attach to the sharks. They install a concrete base at a depth of 25 metres to anchor the receiver. An eagle ray approaches. They are one of the main prey species for the hammerheads. Perhaps this, too, is a good sign. Fred also finds a hawksbill turtle nearby.
They are now critically endangered and a very rare find. Marine turtles are still hunted for their meat and shells and threatened with extinction. They are usually very shy, but this one doesn't seem to feel threatened by Fred's presence. It's busily looking for food, mainly sponges that live amongst the corals. While the scientists install the receivers at different locations around the reef, Fred continues his search for the hammerheads.
But since his brief encounter, he's not seen any sign of the predators. But there are other types of shark everywhere. The divers have to stay alert at all times. The receiver is installed very carefully. Hopefully, it'll record valuable data for the next four years. Silvertip sharks emerge from the depths of the ocean. It's certainly a lot easier to observe these sharks, since they are very curious and approach the divers.
They want to find out if it might be worth launching an attack, and they invest a lot of time to weigh up the situation. Fred and Will don't take the situation lightly and stay very alert. They make sure never to turn their backs to the predators. As long as they can maintain eye contact and don't give the sharks a chance to launch a surprise attack, they're safe.
The sharks will not take the risks of attacking an unknown adversary without the element of surprise. While the grey reef sharks always stay near the coral atoll, these bigger silvertip sharks often venture further into the open sea. The outer reef area is their preferred habitat. They're not known to be aggressive towards humans, but down here, nothing can be taken for granted. The sharks do keep a very wary eye on Fred and Will.
Then the divers receive other visitors. Mammals, just like themselves. Curious and playful in the weightlessness of the ocean, they come to investigate the divers. Dolphins are essentially perfectly adapted free divers. They can hold their breath for up to 15 minutes and reach incredible depths of up to 300 metres. The dolphins of Rangiroa have been used to people for a very long time. They're inquisitive and keep only a very small safety distance to the divers.
Humans have always been fascinated with the dolphins' playful group behaviour and curious nature. And while many shark species also prey on their own kind, dolphins are very sociable animals. These highly developed and successful predators don't spend all day in pursuit of prey. Dolphins have time to play and to enjoy life. For many people they represent an ideal lifestyle: free and full of a love for life. They decide how long they want to spend with people.
Then they vanish again in the wide expanses of their underwater home. It's been a gripping dive, but the mission to meet great hammerhead sharks face-to-face was disappointing. At present there is lots of, uh. eagle ray in the pass. That is one of the favourite prey of the great hammerhead. And maybe these sharks were not prey-excited because they already have eaten many preys and are not hungry yet at the moment. So we'll see to.
To try again and maybe get back and tag sharks. All the boats find tiger sharks and hammerheads, and we find silvertips, which for me is my first time with the silvertips, and they're cool, I like them. But they are. That one was just like a Galapagos.coming behind and you turn around and he's like. "Not me, not me." Yeah. So. Still there's a lot of life here. Oh, yeah, beautiful. Huge amounts of fish. Huge, huge, huge.
So. that was a nice, nice experience. It's good to be in the water. It's just sad that. we don t find what we need. Yep. Time for a well-earned rest while waiting for better weather conditions. The South Pacific continues to present itself from a side that isn't exactly the way it's portrayed in travel catalogues. The divers use their free time to look at a receiver that Johann has recovered from the seabed.
So now we have these two sharks' data. Uh. There is an interesting pattern, so that would be really interesting to tag more sharks to see what happens, and to see if they all have this behaviour, because we, at this point, we have only two sharks. So they seem to stay in this area until February, and to tag both with acoustic and satellite tags, we could gain more information about their behaviour.
Ideally, two tags on each shark would be good. Yeah. This is a satellite tag, so, on this tag we have a different sensor that will store information about the temperature, the depth of the shark and also the light. And with the light, you can, with algorithms. Determine the position of the shark. Yeah, determine the position of the shark. And so we can, usually, we put this for different months. Like. usually it's better to, uh.
To put like five or six months of data, and after you get this information when the tag is detached. The hammerhead is a big pelagic shark that navigates a lot, and when you find him, or I would say more when he finds you, you have like 30 seconds to react. Because it's a very shy animal, and. he is just doing one or two turns, check you out, and then he leaves and disappears in the blue.
And sometimes you wait for 2½ hours to have 20 or 30 seconds of possible encounter. So within these 30 seconds you have to do your dive, approach him without scaring him, and find the right spot for the tag. So it's not easy, and here we struggle a lot. We do a lot of dives, a lot of days in the water in the same place waiting for him. And.
So we are really curious to see where that shark went, because they are very strong swimmers so they might do thousands of kilometres, we have no idea. So it would be really cool to have the data from the tag and see where the animal went. But Johann has to return to his base on Moorea on the next available flight.
The search for the great hammerhead sharks has to be put on hold, because his ongoing lemon shark research cannot wait any longer. Fred and Will will join him again on Moorea, but first they plan a visit to a very special place on Rangiroa: the Blue Lagoon. It is a protected area and plans to build hotels and tourist resorts were thankfully never put into action.
The palm trees on the beaches are home to a rich variety of bird species. It includes a number of terns like blue and black noddies. Even the violet lorikeet, which has vanished from the majority of South Pacific islands, still survives here. The Blue Lagoon is also a nursery for blacktip sharks. In this sheltered bay, they have little to fear and grow up in relative safety.
Although some adults have been measured at 2 metres, blacktip sharks generally only grow to about 1½ metres and weigh about 18 kilos. There are only a few places left on Earth where animals are left in peace from tourists and protected from hunters. The Blue Lagoon of Rangiroa is one of them. Fred and Will return to Moorea to join Johann in his work with lemon sharks.
Just like the Blue Lagoon of Rangiroa, there are special places on Moorea where young lemon sharks grow up in peace. Great. OK, let's go. Let's go. Johann puts out nets to examine the young sharks in more detail. How long will they stay in here, before they're big enough to go out to the outside of the reef? Uh. we. We don't really know, but I'm sure they'll still stay for maybe one year.
I have a sample of an individual, for two years on the same site. So we sample the same individual. But I think when they are growing, they're expanding their home range, and the home range is growing, and they will go further and further in the lagoon. But they still come here to protect. I think they are still coming in this area to hunt or things like this.
And after the first lemon sharks we saw outside the reef is about 2 metres, so I think they are using the lagoon to grow until 2 metres and after they can start to go on the. Outside of the reef. Outside of the reef. The researchers capture some of the young animals to study their development in detail. The sharks' yellow or olive colouration now becomes obvious.
It is a kind of camouflage against the reefs and sandy sea bottom of their home range. So here we have a female. So I will just need help to carry the shark. We have here, look, we have the umbilical scar, so it's a new individual, just born like a month ago. Okay. Will? Can you grab it? Be careful with your hand. We do a genetic sample. Okay. Beautiful little creatures, huh?
So, you wanna measure the tail. Yeah, the whole body. Yeah. At birth, these sharks are about 60 centimetres long, but by the time they reach adulthood, they'll have grown to around 3.5 metres. Adult lemon sharks may look threatening, but lethal attacks on humans are unheard of. So it's 69 centimetres. Now, I will take a genetic sample. You taking it from here, from the tail. Big mouth. Yeah. Relative to their little body, yeah. Okay.
Let me, uh. Oh, it's okay, don't worry. I put the sample in alcohol for future genetic analysis, so we extract the DNA so we can take it for a long time. Okay, so I can let him go. We can let him go, yeah. On y va, mon ami. It's beautiful. It's like the big one but in small. Yeah. Beautiful little creatures. Their eyes are amazing. Adult lemon sharks are only found outside the bays of Moorea.
The crew gets the necessary equipment ready for their dives the next day. Free divers don't need much equipment, but their special carbon-fibre flippers allow them maximum manoeuvrability with minimum effort. In order to tag the sharks, the free divers use modified harpoons. Johann will have to use conventional diving equipment, complete with air tanks. Uh. For tagging I always use a modified spear gun.
Uh, it's just a special shaft modified to insert the dart of the tag in the shark, but otherwise this spear gun is a regular spear gun. It's just the shaft that is modified. The team is aiming for the outside of the reef surrounding the island. The scientists want to pass through a channel in the reef and target a spot where they've repeatedly come across lemon sharks in the past.
Uh, here we really have to be careful, to tag the shark after he passes you, Okay, so like from the side, the backside of the shark. So when you tag it, when he will stop because he feels the shaft and the tag inside him, he will run away. And if you tag it when he's facing you, he might run away and feel trapped and maybe try to bite you.
So always have the shark passing you and then tag it, so he can just run away in open water. That's very important. Christian Pétron will follow the free divers at a distance. They can't afford to have any disturbance to their work. It is simply too difficult and too dangerous. It's much easier to tag sharks without any bubbles from the tanks, the diving tanks, and.
So that they can't disturb the sharks and going closer to the sharks and tag it in a good way. And so I will show Fred which shark to tag and he will try to tag it. We try to tag a resident shark today. It's a resident female we are looking for. And so we hope there is a resident female underwater. Lemon sharks are impressive animals. They're among the biggest sharks in the ocean.
The divers' work starts with trying to get the animals used to their presence. Lemon sharks have very few natural enemies. The only threat comes from a select few other shark species or, chillingly, their own kind. Other kinds of shark are also inquisitive and approach the divers. They are grey reef sharks and blacktip sharks.
Lemon sharks tend to hunt all sorts of fish, including smaller sharks and even juveniles of their own kind, but stingrays, crustaceans, octopus and squid are also on their menu. But although the free divers can get close to the animals, the real test is to get the right angle for a successful shot near the backfin. Johann stays at a distance and takes photographs of the animals for his database. Fred is a very experienced fish tagger.
His calm patience ensures that the animals aren't nervous. Only a calmly swimming shark can be harpooned with precision. Frightened animals will quickly disappear, or worse, aggressive animals could launch an attack. Since sharkskin is unusually tough, the harpoon has to be fired from point-blank range to penetrate it. It is quite a tall order. Again and again, the free divers select a target but decide not to shoot at the last minute to avoid accidentally injuring the animals.
Johann checks the receiver. Four years underwater is a long time. Fred finally decides to shoot. The transmitter is well-placed. Johann documents the tag. Fred has reloaded the harpoon and is ready for another attempt. He's in luck. A big female makes for an ideal target. This transmitter is also secure and well-placed.
In the next few years, the researchers will find out where the lemon sharks spend their time around Moorea, if they have a preference for certain locations, or if they spend their time spread right around the atoll. Johann passes the next transmitter to Fred. The mission is complete. It's been an all-around success. For Fred and Will, this was not a difficult operation. But that will be quite a different matter when it comes to the great hammerheads.
Even just tracking these sharks is a serious challenge. They return to base. Once again, the divers have witnessed the distinctive sets of behaviour that different types of shark have developed. And each individual shark has its own personality. It doesn't do them justice just to distinguish between more or less aggressive animals. Here, during that trip, I can say I met the grumpy lemon shark because these guys are really grumpy. They're like old men. Uh.
Always a bit frustrated and trying to get a bite, and you never know exactly what they think. But at the end you see they are just like other sharks and, beautiful creatures and fragile that we have to, uh. try to, to protect. But they are very grumpy. The team returns to Rangiroa one last time. Divers there have come across some great hammerheads and contacted Johann.
They're spotted more often at this atoll than anywhere else, probably because their main prey, the grey reef sharks and rays, is available in large numbers. Johann spends the remains of the day to prepare the satellite tags. Without this revolutionary technology, scientists would have practically no chance to track the movements of underwater creatures. Amongst other details, Johann programmes the tags with the positioning data at the beginning of the expedition.
He also pre-determines the amount of time the tag should remain in place before it is released. But he remains sceptical. So, everything is ready and we will see to get a shark to tag. The hope to finally get an insight into the secret lives of the great hammerheads depends on the small satellite transmitter. But it can only serve its purpose if the free divers actually manage to tag a shark. Everyone is apprehensive.
We just have to be at the right place at the right time. I think it would be difficult for them to tag it, but. I hope they will have the chance to do it. We do our best. The job isn't any easier for the cameramen. They're not allowed to interrupt the work of the researchers, yet they are out to get the most sensational pictures of these rare animals. It is almost an impossible task.
And to have any chance at all of succeeding in their mission, the free divers need help. The shy great hammerhead sharks have an exceptionally well-developed sense of smell. So Johann has resorted to using a baitfish, a dead reef shark. Its scent will be carried on the ocean currents over many kilometres. The divers try to remain as inconspicuous as possible and wait. Then, in the distance, they spot the contours of a great hammerhead shark.
Fred remains motionless to see if the animal is going to come any closer. But the scent has also attracted a tiger shark, one of the most dangerous sharks for a human being in the water. And this one is not at all shy. Some of the biggest sharks in the world now gather in the immediate vicinity of the free divers. Great hammerheads tend to stay close to shore along the tropical and sub-tropical coastlines of the world.
A fully-grown hammerhead can reach between 3 and 6 metres and weighs up to 500 kilos. They're amongst the most impressive creatures in the ocean. But science still has no concrete answer to the question of why these sharks have such a bizarre head shape. The researchers want to find out what advantages the hammerhead sharks get from this strange adaptation. Some scientists think it provides aerodynamic advantages.
The shape could provide greater stability during lightning-fast manoeuvres in the water. Hammerheads have also been observed using their heads to pin rays to the ground before eating them. The extreme width of their heads could make it easier to receive the electromagnetic signals of their prey. Or perhaps the hammerheads are able to build up three-dimensional impressions of their surroundings through their sense of smell. But all of these theories have yet to be confirmed.
Gradually, the hammerhead shark approaches the bait. But the tiger shark is also still nearby. Slowly, the circles of the hammerhead around the bait are getting tighter, bringing the shark closer to the divers. The free divers finally have the chance to take some photographs for Johann's catalogue. Now they're ready for action. Fred collects the tagging harpoon. A second hammerhead shows up. It's a great sign. Perhaps the divers will finally be in luck.
The animals seem to be gaining in confidence around the divers. But to be successful in their tagging mission, everything has to be just right. This will be far more difficult than tagging the lemon sharks. The best time to approach is when the shark is busy tucking into the bait. Fred approaches directly above the shark. But the tip of the harpoon bounces off the tough skin of the shark. Will tries a different strategy.
He stays on the seabed until he spots a chance to shoot. He lies in wait like a hunter. And the chance arrives. The shark passes him at close range. But still, Will decides against a shot. He could easily injure the animal from this angle. They have to get the timing exactly right. And they need a double dose of luck. Eventually success! The transmitter is secure. A hard day's work for the free divers.
The hammerhead has very tough skin. The first shot, Fred was, for any other shark, perfect, perfect position, close enough, but it bounced off. So, then the rush was on to retrieve the tag, reload the gun, replace the tag and then wait for the animal to return, but. the second shot was perfect. A very difficult animal to work with. They don't come from the direction you expect.
But the thing is, he's not arriving upstream like other sharks. He's always, the first time, every time he was on the side, he comes downstream. Yeah, they don't come from the direction the current is flowing, they come from with the current. Usually, every sea creature is coming up-current, and these things are going down-current, so maybe they saw us, feel it before, and do a big turn and come back to get.
I think they scent it and go around. Yeah. Usually, they just go to the source. The dive team has completed their work, but this is only the beginning for the scientists. They now have to hope that the transmitter can collect as much data as possible. When it eventually returns from the depths of the ocean, it will cast some light on the secret life of the king of the sharks.
Every time you work with a new species, uh. you have to adapt, because the shark won't adapt to you, of course. So basically the techniques are the same. I use the sinking technique we use in spear fishing or waiting technique at the bottom, but you always have to trim it, because every animal reacts differently. The great hammerhead is very fast, won't stay long on site turning around. He just satisfies his curiosity and then leaves.
Other sharks will stay there for half an hour and you have a lot of time to figure out how to work with him. So you have to be very, very adaptive and notice that, within the hammerheads, they also have different personalities. One was more, I would say. curious about us and stayed a bit longer and came back and came back, every 5,6 minutes he was coming back.
Uh, but another one just came 30 seconds and left, we haven't seen him. So you really have to be prepared and adaptive. That's also the fun part of that job. But it's probably the most difficult shark to work with and probably one of the most difficult things I ever did free diving, to tag that hammerhead.
Even though it was in 15 or 16 meters of water, not a long dive, but just the dedication, the timing, the mind-set and all that, putting everything together. We had a lot of current that day. Uh. And also being able to have a camera not too far. It was very difficult to put everything together for success, so it was probably one of the most difficult things I did free diving.
The island of Rurutu in the South Pacific. An exceptional team of divers with a set of specialist skills is about to embark on a journey in the tracks of humpback whales. Their aim: to study the whales in an unusually intimate way. I think free diving is a very good way to explore the underwater world. And it's probably the less invasive way of exploring the underwater world.
In spite of their massive size, whales are extremely shy animals and difficult to approach. Most people are only ever tolerated for a few seconds. There's still a lot to learn because we still have an estimation about 15,000 animals, maybe, humpbacks in the South Hemisphere, but among them only a few proportion has been identified, with pictures.
To explore their secret lives beneath the waves, it is essential to meet the whales in their element and on their terms. These whales are enormous. They're not small fish. They weigh 30 tonnes. That's a bit like an approaching bus. They are really majestic. Rurutu is a tiny island in the middle of the South Pacific. Discovered by James Cook in 1769, it now forms part of French Polynesia.
Giants Of Rurutu
Few visitors ever set foot on this isolated island, so its greatest asset is its unspoilt wilderness. Only seven kilometres long and three kilometres wide, it lies far off the main shipping routes. But it does lie right in the path of another very special route: the migration of the humpback whales. They were once hunted by the native peoples, but today, French Polynesia has been turned into a unique conservation area for marine mammals.
Diving with conventional equipment is strictly prohibited here. It makes it an unusually safe and peaceful haven for the humpback whales. And this is where they come during the harsh winter months in their Antarctic feeding grounds. It is an epic annual trip of 7,000 kilometres. Although humpback whales tend to be loners, it is possible to find whole groups of them here. It is an ideal place for a whale nursery.
The cows give birth to their calves in these warm, tropical waters. Here, their young are safe from deep-sea predators and protected from violent storms. It is mid-September. The intense tropical colours typical of these South Pacific islands have vanished, and Rurutu is immersed in the threatening grey of a tropical storm. The weather is unusually unpredictable and threatening. It's been raining for days. The idea of spotting whales just off the shoreline remains a distant dream.
These are bad conditions for the free divers Frederic Buyle and William Winram. Their expedition to find and catalogue the whales could be in jeopardy. They're on their way to assist Cécile Gaspar, the founder of the Polynesian conservation organization Te Mana o Te Moana, or Spirit of the Ocean. Hello. Hello. Hello, welcome to Polynesia. How are you. Beautiful weather. How was the trip. Good. It's good weather. Tomorrow is better. The weather forecasts are very vague.
The team can only hope for the best. So we go tomorrow morning. The weather will turn around, so we will have luck. Good, great. And so let's go. Cool, great. Okay. Okay, go. Finding the whales in the waters around Rurutu is usually not a problem, but they need better weather to conduct Cécile's study effectively.
A lot of studies have been done on whales and other marine creatures for the past decade and it's very interesting to get information. We know, for example, the whaling has damaged a lot of this population, and we also know now, we've all studied that the population is in a better shape.
It started to reproduce and we hope this is going on the good side, but we are not sure, because there are so many changes in the world that maybe our hope right now is going to be really different in a few years.
The new kind of research we have been developing with Fred going underwater with the whale and be very comfortable as a whale in underwater is going to help us having new type of information and also sharing with other people, and this is one of the keys where, if we could study wildlife without too much interference, we may get more information, more accurate information, without too much disturbance.
And so we hope that this is a new step in research and that it could be maybe an example worldwide about how humans can use this ability to adapt to nature, to better study it. Finding a whale requires discipline and patience. Since whales tend to keep their bodies mostly submerged, it means having to spot a whale's back as it's about to dive.
Even better is to search for the "blow," the cloud of fine spray when the whale exhales on surfacing. Oh. Whale. Just blow behind us. Là, là, là, là. But even once a whale is spotted, getting into the water with them and obtaining useful images is far from easy. The first thing is to locate the whale since it's always in motion. When it's moving, it's tough to film it.
So you have to wait until it finds a resting place. If you're watching a mother with her calf, you can wait until she feeds the baby. Then the whale will remain calm and still and you can carefully enter the water. Right now, that's not possible. This whale is swimming around the island. It's moving and we can't film it. The search for whales is tough and time-consuming.
Even once a blow has been spotted, there is no guarantee that the whale will continue its travels in the same direction underwater. And actually getting into the water to attempt a closer encounter is only worth it when it's certain there's still a whale in the vicinity. The only option is to keep your eyes peeled and constantly evaluate the situation. But the team will also have to keep an eye on the tourist whale-watching boats.
The danger when you are involved in ocean activities, it's always human. Uh, it's never the creature or the weather or anything. It's always human. And here the biggest problem is that we are like four boats around the whales, so you have to be very careful not to be run over by one of the boats. And more on a day like that with not a lot of sun.
All the colours are the same underwater and our wet suits are quite dark and you have to be very careful. So that's why we have to spot each other with William, in order not to be run over. But the whale watchers give up. Fred and the team have more patience and continue their search. Finally, a humpback whale. The camera team gets ready. They will watch Fred from a distance.
Diving is usually strictly prohibited in the area. The loud noise associated with conventional diving equipment agitates the animals, and since they're supposed to be left in peace to mate and raise their new calves, these disturbances are not tolerated. But the free-diving team has special permission to observe the whales underwater. Free divers are different. they move silently through the water. Years of training allow them to spend several minutes at a time below the surface.
They are perfect underwater observers. They can search for the whales without the help of noisy technology and wait patiently until an opportunity arises to get close to the animals. But the whales are very alert. Despite the free divers' utmost care, they soon put an end to their rest period and move on. The good news for the team is that they don't seem to be nervous. They even take the time to investigate the divers.
It bodes well for any future encounters. Fred can clearly observe and document the unique patterns on the whale's delicate underside. Conditions improve. The weather gradually clears up. But for now, the team's luck has run out and they don't spot any more whales. Fred and Will decide to find out more about the indigenous population, who used to hunt whales around the island. Perhaps they can shed some light on the best places to find the whales.
They visit the caves in which the original inhabitants lived, and from where they would look out for passing whales. The steep cliffs provided not only protection but also a good vantage point to scan the sea. Calm and protected bays allowed them to go out to sea even in rough weather. But reaching the caves is anything but easy and involves traversing difficult terrain. The caves themselves are also dangerous.
Without a guide, it's easy to get lost in this underground network of chambers and tunnels. The native people had vantage points scattered across the island from where they could observe the whales. Rurutu's hills reach almost 400 metres above the sea level. There are no sign-posted paths up here. Time for a rest beneath some spectacular stalactites. Even today, there are still people on the island who remember the old whaling days and their ancestors' traditions.
Fred has been told about Mama Paré, one of the oldest islanders. She's written a book about the history of Rurutu. Perhaps she can explain the whales' current elusiveness after their initial brief encounter. We've been here for several days already and we still haven't come close to any whales. Are there years when there aren't any whales here? The whales come every year.
American and Japanese whalers killed hundreds of them, so now we see a lot less of them than in the past. Now the fishermen have to go on long journeys. But usually you still see a lot of whales here. They amuse themselves. You can watch them from the beach as they jump out of the water. It's a disadvantage for you since you've not been allowed to hunt whales for years, but the Japanese still kill many.
We caught one whale in 1930 and then the last one in 1957. That's over 20 years later. You didn't catch any whales for 20 years? Not a single one. Do you think that they'll come back soon? There are some around. A few people saw one not long ago. They told us it was a mother with her calf.
Fred has also been told about another sign of whale season on Rurutu and he decides to follow it up. It's the flowering of the "whale tree." A fisherman takes Fred to this special tree. The tree is in full bloom at the beginning of the whale season? Yes, that's when it's covered in blossoms. When it begins to flower, it means that the whales have arrived. That's when the whaling season starts. That's right.
What happens when the trees finish flowering? That's when the whales have gone. So we've come at the end of the season. Yes. If this bit of local folklore is correct, the team has come here at the right time. But then there's another setback. Sirens sound an alarm. There's been a fax from Papeete, the capital of Polynesia. It's a tsunami warning. Nobody seems to have concrete information. The team desperately tries to find out more.
I'm in contact with France. It's possible this is the last chance to be in touch before the tsunami hits. They know that we're taking all necessary precautions to evacuate people. So we stay here until it arrives. I guess. See what it looks like. The island's shoreline is quickly evacuated. Technical equipment is packed and everyone hastily retreats to higher ground. The wait begins. The tsunami hits Samoa and kills 120 people, but it doesn't reach Rurutu.
The island has a lucky escape. For the expedition, the first few days on the island have been very disappointing. So when a call from Dr Michael Poole, a humpback whale expert on Moorea, reaches the dive team, they're quick to take up the opportunity. Dr Poole would be interested to meet them. Moorea is one of the Society Islands, 600 kilometres to the northeast of Rurutu. Its bigger neighbour is Tahiti.
It is located right in the heart of the conservation area for marine mammals that was established in 2002. Lush vegetation and high trees cover the island, and imposing volcanic peaks rise up from the sea. It is the essence of tropical tranquillity. The bright turquoise bays with their deep, clear waters are lined with a protective fringe reef that reaches right around the island. Hello, Fred. Dr Poole has been based here for the last 15 years.
He's the director of the Marine Mammal Research Programme at the Island Research Centre and Environmental Observatory. .the biggest animals on the planet. He's one of the driving forces behind the set-up of the whale and dolphin sanctuary. Every time we find an answer, or partial answer, to one question, there are five other questions that pop up. And some basic things that we do not know: how do whales navigate? We don't know.
How do they find their breeding ground? How do they find their feeding ground? Seven thousand kilometres' distance between Antarctica and here in Tahiti, and how do they undertake that migration? We find the same whales coming back different years to the same island. How do they do that? We don't know. Um, the song of the humpback whales. The males that sing the song, what is it really for? We have different hypotheses.
But no one is totally sure, really, what's going on. Why does the song change during a season and over years? Why does the song evolve over time? We don't know this at all. And so we're searching every day we're out. Every week we're out, every month and over years, to try to find answers to these questions. Myself, my colleagues, our students, all trying to find answers to these questions.
We've never lost that fascination, because there's so much we don't understand. And another reason why you and your ability to dive deeply and stay long is valuable to our research is that you can photograph the underside of the individual, or the side of the individual. And with your photographs, we can sex the individual. Free diving has a long tradition in Tahiti. Both fishermen and pearl divers have used the technique for hundreds of years.
Local knowledge is always invaluable, and the Tahitian free diver Matana Taimana accompanies Fred on his next dive. On the way, she has a chance to show Fred a very special local attraction: stingrays that show no fear of humans. Christian Pétron gets his equipment ready. The stingrays are already waiting right under the boat.
Due to the venomous barbs on their tails, they have a reputation as lethal marine creatures, but here they're at ease and don't pose a significant threat. Elegantly gliding through the water, the rays live up to their docile reputation and don't respond nervously to the divers. But to find humpback whales, the divers have to leave these shallow waters. The tireless search for the whales begins again. Dr Poole doesn't usually work with divers.
He tends to watch and identify the animals from the surface, using a catalogue of photographs. Là-bas. Ooh-la-la. Bad angle. Humpback whales have completely individual tailfins, distinct both in shape and colouration. Occasionally, the whales give spectacular, even acrobatic performances. They emerge from the water and thrash the surface with their tailfins. These may be attempts to rid themselves of irritating parasites.
The energetic spectacle means that fragments of whale skin come loose, which the scientists quickly gather from the water. It allows them to analyse the animals' DNA. Over time, they can piece together a more and more detailed description of each individual. Fred prepares for a dive. Should a whale approach, he has to be ready. Christian is only too aware that it will take a bit of luck to get the chance to film Fred near the whales.
It can mean hours of waiting, ready to get in the water in minutes. Patience is one of the absolute requirements to make it as a wildlife filmmaker. Then they're in luck: they spot a whale cow with her calf. They seem to be resting near the surface. There's no time to lose. Fred always makes the first explorative dive on his own.
By the time the other divers manage to reach the required depths, the whale may have already moved on. This time, luck is on their side. The whale calf is not at all shy, even playful, while its mother is having a rest further down. It's a one-off chance for a close encounter. The divers have to be very careful: even a calf's tailfin could wreak havoc.
But this intimate meeting of the whale baby and the free diver is over all too soon. The mother eventually intervenes and the two majestic marine mammals move on. But then Fred spots another opportunity: a school of pilot whales passes nearby. For a few minutes, Fred can swim alongside them. But the pilot whales are being followed: an oceanic whitetip shark is on their tails. This is a formidable predator, reaching around three metres in length.
But the whales are safe in its company. Oceanic whitetip sharks are often found in the company of pilot whales, although the reason for this association is not fully understood. It's a breathtaking experience for Fred. For a few seconds, a few minutes, I m really part of the environment as one of the inhabitants of that environment.
I try not to bring my human abilities with me, but try really to forget about them, bury them somewhere in my brain, and just being like an animal, a part of the area I'm diving in. Free diving allows you to do that. And as Fred becomes one with his environment, the animals he encounters seem to perceive him as one of them. He can witness their behaviour in an entirely different way.
Tracking whales is laborious and time-consuming. But there are some shortcuts. Sometimes it's possible to hear these giants before you see them. And Fred's luck hasn't run out yet. Photographs like these can only be taken underwater. They're a very welcome addition to the whale researcher's catalogue. Maybe we can talk about this mark. That's really pretty, Fred. I mean, from the aesthetic viewpoint, it's absolutely beautiful. Nice marks. Yes. And look how these throat pleats bifurcate.
Can you go backwards just a second? Right here, splitting into two. Allowing more spread, more expansion as it takes in water and food. Very, very nice. These detailed photographs of the whale's unique markings are invaluable to Dr Poole's research. Working from the boat, he would normally be unable to take any pictures as detailed as these. We can actually identify whales, not only by their tails, not only by their dorsal fins.
We can identify them by their pleats. They're different for every individual. Great photograph, Fred. Yeah, truly, really nice. But Fred soon has to return to Rurutu to continue his original mission. It isn't looking positive. Will has told him that the team still haven't managed to sight any whales. This is highly unusual for this time of year. Normally, there are always several whale groups in the area.
Could there be a connection with the disturbance of the storms or the tsunami? Not a blow anywhere to be seen. A frustrating wait for the divers. Nothing yet. In the past they had sometimes periods of one week to ten days with no animals because they go to other islands. Okay. So, hopefully it's the case and they just stay for one week or so, but still it's apparently like eight days now, they haven't seen a whale.
We have to keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best. Fred tries to stay optimistic. He knows only too well the value of his abilities to a mission like Cécile's. The best example of the difference between scuba diving and free diving, is that, for example, in many places it's forbidden to scuba dive with the animals like whales, dolphins, sharks, or even reefs. And the scientists understood that it's disturbing a lot.
Most of the time free diving is allowed. For example, here in Rurutu you cannot scuba dive with the whales. But you can free dive. With free diving, you don't disturb them as much. But of course with free diving you can also disturb whales. It doesn't mean you're just part of the water and they don't notice you. But the general disturbance is smaller with free diving.
But you still have to be careful when you approach them, to approach them from front, not from behind. Otherwise they feel you and go away. And try always to be in their field of vision. It's not because you are a free diver that you can go everywhere and do whatever you want. You still have to keep an ethic to your work and the way you work with animals. It's not, uh.
I would say a general visa, being a free diver. You still have to be careful. The team continues their efforts. Again, the boat is loaded with equipment and supplies. They're committed to their mission. But for Cécile, too, time is running out. She's expected back on Moorea. So Christian wants to try a different tactic to track down the whales. He has a special hydrophone, a microphone for underwater recordings.
Encased in a watertight housing, this highly sensitive microphone registers soundwaves underwater and records them. Christian's plan is to listen for signs of the whales, just like on Moorea. And if you can hear a whale, you can also find it. Today, conditions at least are very favourable. The visibility is good and the sea relatively calm. Fred and Will get into position in the water. Christian lets the hydrophone drift around 10 metres below the surface.
And the tactic seems to be working: they pick up some interesting sounds. And these are special. They clearly originate from a whale. The problem is to work out the direction from which the sounds are coming. Finally, success! They've come across a singer. Whales take up a particular position in the water when they're about to sing. They remain motionless in the water column, head down and fins outstretched.
Underwater, it's actually possible to feel the powerful sound waves. The exact method of generating the sounds is unclear. Unlike land animals, the whales don't exhale while producing them. It's possible they manage to recycle air within their bodies to continue their songs without having to breathe. For the divers, this encounter with a singing humpback whale was a first real success in their mission near Rurutu.
They return to dry land and prepare to brief Cécile in the evening with precious underwater images as well as observations of the behaviour witnessed. Male humpback whales sing during the mating season. It's possible they're trying to attract a mate with their serenades. But their songs could also serve to keep potential rivals at bay. Studies have shown that different whale populations have their own distinct songs. Arriving very slowly, slowly, slowly.
The tunes the males produce are complicated and travel for hundreds of kilometres underwater. The different sounds combine to produce individual verses, which are repeated in a particular order and are constantly developed further. Cécile explains to Fred why she is so interested in more information about the whales. What is your hope for the future?
So I think even if we feel there's been very good action in the past, we still need to do more and we need to go very fast. So I think whales are very appealing to people, and if really there is a message that whales are still threatened by all the human activity, even if it's not hunting, but now it's pollution and global warming, then we hope that these people may be more sensitive to react.
We also found that when people had close contact with a wild animal, they feel they know this animal better, they feel it different way, and when they come back home, they are like, "Okay, now maybe I'm going to recycle my trash," so we try. The divers are eager to continue their work the next day. But they don't get very far. The engine breaks down.
Without engine power, the boat drifts helplessly and threatens to run aground on the reef. They have to abandon their whale search before it even started. The priority now is to call a rescue boat. Can you use that, please? They've been lucky to escape with no further damage, but it's a further disappointment, for today, they're unable to start another excursion.
Fred and Will try to spend their time usefully and visit the next village to stock up on supplies. Around lunchtime, after school, the place comes alive with young people. The people are very friendly here at Rurutu. You see, it's a very small island so everybody knows each other. When you're walking the street, people say hi. Everybody is really friendly, you can go everywhere. They give you fruit from the garden.
You can ask them to pick up fruit from the garden if you need. People are so friendly. Other than exuberant wilderness, Rurutu doesn't have much to offer its visitors. The villages are not packed with tourist attractions. But customs have to be kept alive in traditional crafts, which are one of the main forms of income for the islanders. But there are one or two surprises in store for the divers. Rurutu also has French roots after all.
The divers need to have a high-calorie intake and they've found just the place to get them. I did not expect to find this on this small, remote island. No. It's French Polynesia, they have some traditions. Oh. Mmm. Wow. While their boat is being repaired, they can only wait and watch while others demonstrate their diving prowess. A new day brings fresh hope. But although the sun's out, diving conditions are bad.
The divers want to reach the open sea through a pass in the island's fringe reef. There are only a handful of these "gates" in the reef. Things aren't going to plan. With the condition today, there's no way the boat can pick you up on the other side. No, no, no. It's too rough. It's way too rough. For us conventional divers, big waves aren't a problem.
We can dive under them, but for the free divers, it's impossible because they get overrun by the waves and can't prepare their dives. Even the stunning South Pacific beaches are no consolation. The divers are again forced to wait until wind and waves calm down. Eventually, they're able to try their luck once again. Whale. Whale! This time, the start is more promising. Now they have to follow the whales. A last equipment check.
They've managed to find a whale cow with her calf. They're an ideal target for the divers, since the pair will definitely have a rest period at some point. The divers continuously check that they haven't lost the whales. They don't want to take any chances and miss their long-awaited chance of a close encounter with the whales of Rurutu. Finally, things seem to be going their way. They can risk approaching the animals face-to-face underwater.
The whale mother remains motionless in the depths, resting. Floating upright in the water column, her eyes lifted towards the surface, she keeps an eye on her baby. The calf is very curious, playful and exuberant. Although still a baby, it is already an enormous animal and dwarfs Fred. It seems curious about this silent intruder into its underwater world and shows no signs of nervousness.
On this occasion, Fred has enough time to watch the animal closely and catalogue its distinctive marks in detail. It's a unique and rare opportunity to meet these mysterious creatures on their own terms and in their own element, before, finally, it's time for the mother and calf to move on. This mission turned out to be no easy task for Fred and the team.
But despite all the setbacks, they've been successful in delivering some important underwater images of the Rurutu whales. They will provide valuable information and identification clues for the researchers. These are the pictures I took the other day of the mother and the calf. The calf was very playful and we had to be careful because it was like a little kid, a little pup. It didn't know where to put its fins, so we had to be careful.
So you have a very good access to the belly. So this is a very distinctive mark that will grow with the animal, of course. Uh, did you get an estimation of the size? The size, I think it was around six metres long. It was young, but from this year, for sure, but maybe one, one and a half months old already. Was just not a newborn. Okay.
So you know this is very important because these kinds of marks on the skin are so distinctive and so impressive, they are going to stay all the life. So this animal, if it's seen in a month, two months, ten years, twenty years, maybe forty years, you can tell this is the same animal spotted by you in Rurutu this year. So that's very interesting.
Maybe during my next trip to Antarctica, I might bump into that whale again? Exactly. So this is how it's very important for not only researchers, but tourists and any people who have access to whales and take pictures, to be able to download these pictures to this very extensive catalogue, and any specific mark like that, or natural mark like that, they should be labelled so people could find them again. Yes.
I'm always happy when one of my pictures can be used for something else than just being a picture. Uh, if it can help and improve the knowledge about these animals, it's great. It's great. It's a great picture, but it will be also used. That was really fascinating, the pattern of the birthmark. I've never seen that before.
Part of the fascination people seem to have developed for the whales here must surely also lie with their exotic summer territories: the South Pacific. What we find here in islands like Rurutu, it's the Pacific Islands 150 years ago.
For me, the humpback whales are the most fascinating whales because every year they do thousands and thousands of kilometres to go from their feeding grounds in Antarctica back here in the South Pacific islands to rest and mate and have their babies, and then go all the way back with the newborn babies in the feeding ground of Antarctica. And that's a mystery, because they do this very, very dangerous journey twice a year.
It's fascinating to watch them, how they move in the water. Um. it's also awe-inspiring to feel so small. When you're next to an enormous whale, you feel tiny. Sometimes when I'm free diving with the whale here in Rurutu, when they sleep, they lay at 25 metres. I look at the whale and I say, "Yeah, that's a wonderful life." It's whale therapy. Yeah. It's true. Yeah. It's true.
I mean, all your problems disappear when you see a creature like that. Because it's so big, it's there for like thousands and thousands of years. It's just a perfect creature. And peaceful. And after spending time with them, yeah, you're changed. For sure, you change. By themselves they can change you from inside. They can really do that. Free diver Frederic Buyle is on an extraordinary quest.
Fragile Mediterranean
For thousands of years, the Mediterranean had been abused and turned into a veritable cesspool by the people living along its shores. Now he wants to take stock. What condition will he find the Mediterranean in? And how have people changed this underwater world? His extraordinary free-diving abilities, sensitivity, and not least his courage, allow Frederic to become part of his underwater surroundings. He manages to uncover spectacular secrets that remain hidden to most.
Only a diver that behaves like a fish is able to get really close to them. His noiseless and extremely flexible diving technique allows him to investigate places that remain out of reach for conventional divers. He can experience this world in a new way. He's searching for traces of the underwater paradise that the Mediterranean used to be. Fifty kilometres off the French coastline near Marseilles lies the Garlaban, ready to begin a three-week expedition of the Mediterranean.
The Mediterranean has a surface area of around 2½ million square kilometres and is among the most ravaged sea regions in the world. On board, an unusual team, anxious to begin their mission. It includes a renowned underwater cinematographer and two of the best free divers in the world. Christian Pétron has a wealth of experience, including Luc Besson's cult movie. The Big Blue. The Belgian Frederic Buyle, former world-record holder that has now devoted himself to underwater photography.
His security diver is the record-breaking free diver William Winram. So, I heard from a lot of people that there's not much life in the Med. And, you know, I've only dove around Nice and. a few other places and not seen a lot of fish, so don't know what to expect. You'll be surprised. With Christian, we're going to show you some of the nicest places and it will change your idea about the Mediterranean Sea forever. Really.
Yeah. I look forward to it. Finally, the expedition gets underway. They're heading east to the island of Porquerolles and the wreck of the Donator, the remains of a freighter that hit a mine after the end of World War II and sank. Wrecks have always been favourite dive spots, not least because of the sense of mystery and danger that surrounds them. For me, that kind of dive is the essence of free diving.
It's what I like to do in free diving because going to 50-metre zone with current, no visibility, no line to guide you, and just use your senses to get. Somehow it's a sixth sense to find a wreck because you don't know exactly where it is. You feel maybe the big metallic mass at the bottom of the sea to guide you. I think that's the essence of free diving. Okay.
This morning, we look for diving on the Donator. It's a wreck sinking during the. just after the World War II. A very, very nice wreck. We have to do a good diving plan. William and I will be able to do four dives, not more. Also, on the wreck, when we arrive first, there is a lot of chance to see a big school of fish with dentex, bream, and stuff.
So we have to be very silent when we arrive on top of the wreck, not to scare them away. If they are there, it's very spectacular. We will see a lot of fish. The problem, it's in the middle of the channel between these two islands, which means you have a lot of current there. That's why it's a rich wreck, but also it makes a very difficult dive. Okay? Let's go.
From their base on the Garlaban, the team approaches the Donator's wreck site with a more versatile Zodiac. The weather looks promising, but it gives little indication of the conditions below the water's surface. Currents, visibility, and water temperature are all unknown. For dives like this one in considerable depths, everything has to be just right, no matter how experienced the divers might be. The remains of this dead ship are overrun with life.
It seems nature has conquered the barren bleakness of human technology and turned it into a true paradise. The colours revealed by the spotlights are incredible. And although the colour red is swallowed up in the blue depths, it is there, spectacularly exposed by the artificial light. This dive is a serious challenge for the free divers. Just to get here and back, they have to cover over 100 metres on a single breath.
Once at the wreck, they have to be careful to conserve energy to avoid a potential blackout on the way back. Reefs are like underwater islands in the blue expanse of the ocean. They offer shelter and food for all kinds of underwater creatures. And while the wreck of the Donator is an artificial island, it has been here for over 60 years, allowing masses of organisms to colonise it, turning it into a true underwater city.
The wreck attracts divers in droves. On resurfacing, Fred and Will have to be extremely careful not to be hit by the numerous boats. A collision with a ship's propeller could be fatal. Bonne journée. Bonne journée. Underwater, peace and quiet prevails. until the scuba divers arrive. Everything changes dramatically. The exhaled bubbles from all these divers now dominate the wreck. Mud is whirled up from the seabed. The fish retreat.
For Fred, there is nothing left to see here. It's really interesting. When we arrived, our first two dives, at 20 metres you could see the wreck clearly. Now. with all the movement on it, all the sediment being stirred up, at 20 it's barely visible. It's the Muppet Show down there. Have already 110 divers. With that boat arriving, it will be more than 150 on the same dive spot. It's just crazy. Allez!
It's time for the divers to have a rest. For Christian Pétron, this expedition is part of a personal mission. Twenty-five years ago, he already documente Date: 2024-01-29
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