Martin Clunes: Islands of the Pacific

-Seen from space, it's just one vast expanse of blue.

63 million square miles of water that cover a third of the globe.

And yet the Pacific Ocean is littered with islands, tens of thousands of them, from reef-fringed sandbars to soaring cliffs to rumbling volcanoes.

Home to extraordinary animals.

Oh, blimey.

[ Laughs ] And countless vibrant cultures.

Thank you, sweetheart.

Now I've returned post-pandemic to resume my travels around the Pacific... Hello.

Hello.

[ Chuckles ] ...to places long thought of as Paradise on Earth.

[ Breathes deeply ] So lush, vibrant.

But as the forces of change wash every shore, what happens to Paradise?

And what does the future hold?

To find out, I'm continuing my epic adventure in search of the real Pacific.

The Pacific is the largest ocean on the planet.

Come with me and discover its magical islands.

This is Guam, one of 2,000 islands that make up a remote region of the Western Pacific called Micronesia.

Guam is the closest landmass to the Mariana Trench, the deepest point on the planet's surface, nearly seven miles beneath the ocean.

Since 1899, Guam has been a U.S. territory and is home to a huge military base.

It feels very American, and its population of 170,000 are U.S. citizens, but Guam isn't a state and people here don't have a vote in U.S. elections.

You work it out.

At the end of World War II, with Guam newly liberated from Japanese invaders, a ship brought a new intruder -- the brown tree snake.

This snake wreaked havoc on the island's bird population.

In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to hear any birdsong on Guam... ...except for here.

-So, any type of movement that we do could upset somebody.

So it's important to think like a ko'ko'.

-Okay.

-Yes.

-Uh, yeah, okay.

I'll just guess how they think.

Suzanne Medina is a wildlife zoologist who's trying to bring a species unique to Guam back from the edge of extinction.

Oh, hello.

The ko'ko' bird.

-So, this is Swethe.

-[ Laughs ] -So... -Hello, sweetheart.

Wow.

Hello, mister.

Whoo.

-Oh.

So, there we go.

They love to be scratched around their neck.

Yeah.

-Boy, nice and itchy.

-Yeah, yeah.

No, he'll -- he'll -- They get their little rubdown.

-Very beautiful, isn't he?

-Aren't they?

Yes.

They're super-cool birds.

-Lovely eyes, too, hasn't he?

-Yeah.

-I've never had this relationship with a bird before.

-Put your hands out.

Have him step up.

-Oh, I see.

-And then keep your hands flat, because that's what he's used to.

-Hello, mate.

-Yes.

-Ahh -- Ouch!

-They're a little feisty.

So, what happened was, during the '70s, they started to disappear... -Because of the snakes.

-Well, our birds are just not used to predators because they had the island for hundreds of thousands of years.

-Oh, there were no predators.

The ko'ko' is flightless, so it and its eggs were easy pickings for the snakes.

-They believe that it was one female brown tree snake that was pregnant, came to Guam, and populated our island with her and her offspring.

And then it was just kind of like game over for them.

-Carnage.

-Yeah, yes, basically.

-By the 1980s, many species of bird unique to Guam were extinct.

The island was scoured for any remaining ko'ko's.

Just 21 birds were saved and taken into captivity.

But attempts to restore the population failed until Suzanne came along.

-By getting to know the birds on an individual basis, figuring out how to work with little personality quirks and what for, pairing birds the right way, spending time with them, we were able to increase reproduction at our facility by over 400%.

-Here?

-Yes.

By over 400%.

-Over 400%?

-400%, yes, yeah.

-That's amazing.

-Yes.

We literally had, like, a no-vacancy sign up for our first year here.

-Are they okay in there?

They don't...?

They don't get frustrated, do they?

-Well, um... -I bet they wish they weren't in there.

-So, when we breed, we breed to release.

And when our facility reaches about 140, we start to prepare for our release on the neighboring island of Rota.

-They've got no snakes?

-They've got no snakes.

Right, right.

[ Ko'ko's calling ] -Thanks to Suzanne's program of rearing, ko'ko's are now breeding back in the wild.

But not on Guam.

Guam still has one of the highest densities of snakes in the world -- around 12 per acre.

And they're a real threat to both wildlife and island infrastructure, forcing the government to take drastic action.

I'm in the company of trappers Roman and Mark from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Wildlife Services.

So, this happens every day, does it?

-Every day.

Oh, we get a lot of snakes here.

-Brown tree snakes feed at night, so dawn is the ideal time for checking the traps.

-Hey, Mousey.

-Here's the mouse.

Lucky Mouse.

Clean his house once a week.

Fresh food, fresh potato.

-These traps use live mice as bait.

But don't worry.

They're designed to protect the mouse from the snake.

Oh, hello, mate.

He's pretty cool with it all, isn't he?

-Yeah.

-He's used to it.

Hang on.

Is there a snake in that one?

-Oh, looks like it.

Can see the shine -- -There's something in the bottom, isn't there?

-You can see the sun shining on it.

You get it?

-Okay.

What do we do with the snake?

Oh, boy.

-We bag him up.

-A brown tree snake has a nasty bite, so it needs careful handling.

Oh, my goodness me.

[ Chuckles ] -Nothing to it.

Here it is.

Brown tree snake.

If I can only untangle him.

-So, is that, uh -- Is that a good-sized snake, or do they get...?

-Eh, about three-footer?

Three and a half?

-Yeah.

-You bag them up.

-But what's the biggest one you've -- -Biggest one recorded here is 10 foot.

-10 foot?

Wow.

-Yes.

-Oh!

[ Laughs ] Thought that stick was a -- [ Laughs ] -Oh, no.

Just a stick.

-Okay.

[ Laughs ] So you trap them here in the power station because...?

-The risk to the power grid.

-Once a week, we have like two, three power outages just because the snakes.

-Oh, right.

They just connect two things together and bang.

-Yeah.

Where they're not supposed to.

-Oh, look at him.

-Yeah.

-No one knows quite why so many snakes are drawn to the power lines and generators, but they certainly keep the trappers busy.

How many have you caught, do you think?

-Eh, couple thousand, I think.

-Yeah?

-And counting.

-Yeah.

-Is this an uphill battle?

Because there's loads more snakes out there.

-Yeah.

I don't think we're going to get rid of snakes.

We're just trying to control the population.

-Really?

You'll never get rid of them?

-You'll never get rid of them.

-I don't even like looking at him in your hand.

-I got him.

-Oh, that's a nice bag of snakes.

[ Laughs ] -Oh, yeah.

-Just in the last seven years, 140,000 snakes have been caught by the Department of Agriculture, which they tell me they humanely destroy.

But that still leaves an estimated 1.6 million snakes slithering around on an island that is only 30 miles long.

Snakes are not the only invasive species to come to Guam.

Local culture has been largely suppressed under the weight of American influence, not least its food.

Spam was first introduced to the island by United States forces in the Second World War.

They used it as a foodstuff and weapons lubricant.

Now Guam is the single largest consumer of Spam in the world, every islander getting through an average of 16 tins a year.

[ Clapping, singing in native language ] Yet Guam has its own culture and its own indigenous people, the CHamoru.

[ Singing continues ] I'm joining an early morning assembly for the children and staff of the Chief Hurao Academy.

[ Singing continues ] The school was founded by Anna Marie Arceo, known to the children as Saina Guinifi.

Her mission is to reintroduce CHamoru culture, values, and especially the language back to the island.

-Viva tomorrow!

-Viva!

[ Indistinct conversations ] -So, what just happened there?

-So that's our daily blessing.

-Mm-hmm.

-And we sung praises to our values.

-Guam was first colonized by the Spanish in 1521, who brutally suppressed the native people.

-It was written in the accounts that we were naked, that we weren't dressed properly.

And so, being Catholics, you know, you have to dress and not show anything.

-So they gave you the gift of shame.

-[ Laughing ] Yeah!

Yes, I guess.

I guess you can put it that way.

We had the American occupation, and they had a "speak English only" rule.

-Oh.

-Which we are finding out through documents from the Navy that it was actually intended.

It was a planned culture genocide.

-Yes, yes.

-A planned genocide.

-[ Speaking CHamoru ] -Anna Marie's response is to get people speaking CHamoru again, starting with the reception year at this school.

-[ Speaking CHamoru ] -We try to reinforce just to speak in CHamoru.

If they don't know how, they have to ask how to say in CHamoru.

We use an immersion technique.

-Oh, right.

That's why I haven't heard any of them speak any English.

-Yes, we try.

-I'm going to join the lesson.

-[ Speaking CHamoru ] [ Plastic cracking ] [ Laughter ] -Maybe I won't sit on these chairs.

[ Laughs ] Very excited.

-[ Singing in CHamoru ] -Parents are now queuing up to get their children schooled in a language they themselves have lost.

[ Singing continues ] Anna Marie's efforts to save the CHamoru language and culture seem to be paying off.

[ Both laugh ] You know, in a funny way, Suzanne's efforts to keep the little ko'ko' bird alive in the face of this invasive tree snake destroying the wildlife is kind of a metaphor for what's happened to Guam over the years, with the various invasive humans that have come and tried to consume the culture and the people.

But with the efforts of the ladies in the school and the children learning the language and keeping the culture alive, they might just make it.

I'm now traveling 800 miles southwest of Guam to another group of islands within Micronesia.

Palau was also an American territory, but gained independence in 1994.

Now this tiny island state is leading the world in pioneering conservation and sustainability.

-Next.

-And it starts right here at passport control.

Good morning.

-So, what's the purpose of your travel to Palau?

-I'm making a documentary.

-All right.

So, we have a pledge that we'll stamp on your passport.

-Okay.

"Children of Palau, I take this pledge as your guest to preserve and protect your beautiful and unique island home.

I vow to tread lightly, act kindly, explore mindfully.

The only footprints I shall leave are those that will wash away."

-Yes, sir.

-Yes.

Thank you very much.

-Enjoy your stay while you're here.

-Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Palau is known as the jewel of Micronesia, and it's not difficult to see why.

Hundreds of islands covered in a luminous green canopy sit in turquoise waters sheltered by coral reefs.

In 2015, Palau took the decision to create a marine sanctuary, which now covers 80% of its national waters.

Within it, commercial fishing and mining are banned, and the area is strictly policed by rangers to protect the wildlife.

I'm with Paul Adelby from the Palau Turtle Conservation and Monitoring Program.

-We have sites to monitor.

-Right.

-Yes.

But, also, the rangers, they're out 24/7, so they can monitor with us and then they would inform us.

-Oh, what?

If they see a turtle?

-Yeah.

-Ah.

Rangers have reported a potential hawksbill turtle nest which they think is at risk, and Paul has come to investigate.

-We can see an old turtle track right there.

-Where?

-Here.

-Oh, that's a turtle trail?

-Yeah, about two weeks old.

It's kind of erased, but I can see it because I've been doing it.

-Because you know what you're looking for.

Yeah, yeah, it looks like sand to me.

-So it looks like it came here and then went there.

To this part.

So, probably the egg is here.

So we're going to find the egg.

-Yeah?

-And you can tell it's too close to the high-tide line.

You can see the high-tide line right here, because the tide pushes all the leaves.

-Oh, I see.

-So we need to relocate the egg.

-The beach is suffering from rising sea levels caused by climate change.

So what was a safe nesting site for turtles is now in danger of flooding.

How many eggs do they lay?

-Uh... Around 100 to 200.

-What?

Really?

-Mm-hmm.

-Hey!

May I hold him?

-Don't tilt it.

-Don't tilt it?

-Yeah.

-Oh, my gosh.

Wow.

Look at that.

They have to stay one way up?

-Yes, there's air inside.

So that's the air pocket on top.

-Oh, I see.

-Yeah.

-Oh, my God.

This is a real treat, holding this.

[ Both laugh ] It's a painstaking process as the team carefully extract the eggs, keeping them upright, and record each one.

There's no quick way of doing this, is there?

Because you have to be so... -Yeah.

-They're so tender.

-Mm-hmm.

-We would put them in the same order, like the top will be on the top and the bottom will be under.

-Of course.

-Yeah.

-So, apart from the encroaching tide and every other animal that wants to eat turtles at every stage in their life, what's their status in terms of the health of the population here?

-They are very -- a highly endangered species.

-After half an hour, we've recovered 66 eggs, and this batch is ready to be relocated.

Look at all those beauties.

[ Chuckles ] Well done.

I don't want the responsibility of carrying them.

You carry them.

[ Chuckles ] The eggs are being moved to a nearby island under the utmost secrecy.

This is because turtle shells and eggs are still highly prized by poachers on Palau.

In fact, this is the first time the authorities have allowed any filming.

-So, this looks like a nice spot to put the eggs so they won't flood from the... -Beyond the tide line.

-Yeah, beyond the tide line.

It's not too close to the water, but not too far from the water.

-Yeah.

-'Cause there will be other predators.

-Sure, sure.

-Yeah.

-So the predators would be the birds... -Birds, land crabs, rats.

-Land crabs would eat them, would they?

-Yeah.

-Lizards?

-Monitoring lizards.

-Oh, God.

Everything.

That's why they lay so many eggs, isn't it?

-Mm-hmm.

-These turtles will hatch within 60 days.

Then, as adults, the females will return to this beach to lay their own eggs.

-Then we take the coconut leaves and we cover it.

-Job well done.

And this conservation program is paying off.

I'm in the company of Kenneth Jolly, one of Palau's most experienced divers.

-From the top of the reef, it slopes down to about 10 meters and then slopes deeper to about 30 and even deeper.

We're going to head in that direction, which means the higher part of the reef will be on our left shoulder.

Any questions?

-No, sir.

-All right.

Let's get ready.

-We're diving on an area of the reef where Kenneth is hoping I can see an adult hawksbill turtle.

-...two and three.

-Palau's ban on commercial fishing is immediately apparent.

The reef is absolutely teeming.

A school of bumphead parrotfish.

An eagle ray.

And, lurking deeper, a gray reef shark about six feet in length.

And here it is -- the hawksbill turtle.

Seemingly unfazed by our presence as it searches out the reef for seagrass and other plants to munch on, and has a good old scratch.

That was amazing.

That's the most beautiful reef I've ever dived.

Absolutely fantastic.

That was quite a big shark.

It was at least 20 foot long.

-[ Laughs ] -Whoa.

-Okay.

[ Both laugh ] -And then -- And then this turtle, this lovely hawksbill turtle, came in to give himself a good old scratch, and he was just, ah, scratching away on the coral, wasn't he?

And he just wasn't bothered.

He wasn't bothered.

I could have tickled him.

[ Laughs ] Palau hopes that its efforts to conserve its turtle population will help inspire others to do the same and save these wonderful sea creatures.

But for the moment, I'm afraid, the hawksbill turtle remains critically endangered.

In recognition of Palau's conservation efforts, UNESCO declared the Rock Islands a World Heritage Site in 2012.

Guide Cobi Jones and I are kayaking to one of the larger islands, Ulong.

Now uninhabited, it was once the center for trade that stretched across hundreds of miles of Pacific Ocean.

Cobi's showing me just why an ancient civilization came all the way to Ulong Island more than 600 years ago.

-This right here is the Yapese stone money, and it's supposed to look more like a circle, but then it got cracked just past the middle.

-So it was -- it was naturally circular, or did they -- -No, they had to carve it out.

-Oh, my God.

So they made the hole?

-They made the hole especially for carrying it.

-Sailors from the island of Yap traveled nearly 300 miles just to get their hands on this stuff.

-This is all covered with years of algae, but what I have on my hand is a sample... -Oh, right.

-...of the Yapese stone money.

-That's what this is?

-This is especially what this is.

This is crystal calcite.

-Oh, suddenly it looks more valuable.

Oh, yeah.

I can see it's twinkly, but still, you'd think they'd sit down and go, "You know what?

We should spend something else."

[ Laughs ] "We could trade with something else."

-When the people of Yap came to Palau, they didn't have crystal calcite in their island.

And when they saw how amazing it was, how it reflects from the sun, they viewed it as like crystals or gold.

-And the Palauans just -- "That's a rock, mate."

-Just a simple rock.

-Really?

-They did some trading with Palauans -- food, water, resources, and especially women.

The more women you have in your tribe, the more warriors you can produce in your tribe.

-Yeah.

So they'd take a stone and leave a woman?

[ Both laugh ] -Yes.

-That's just crazy, isn't it?

-And this is actually the biggest known currency that is still used.

-It's still used?

-Still used on the island of Yap.

-So what's it used for?

In a traditional way?

-In any customs, like funerals, get-togethers, birth ceremonies, they can exchange this for land.

-Amazing.

And they still come here to get it?

No.

-No.

-They've just got what they took back then?

-Yes.

-Yeah.

Maybe they found a more usable currency, something you can fold up in your wallet.

Further into the jungle is evidence of the Palauans who traded with the Yapese.

-Just over on this way.

-Right, here's a wall.

-Just beyond this path is the ancient village of Ulong.

-That is some wall.

-Yes, the village -- most of the village all over the Rock Islands all have defense walls.

-Right.

Wow.

From other people or from the elements?

-Yeah, from other people.

Because the chief of Ulong at the time was known throughout Palau to have many resources, many women, and many money.

And this would have been the village 600 years ago.

-Just full of houses?

-Yes.

-That's just pottery.

Isn't it?

-Yeah, old pottery shells.

We had a population of around 500.

-Wow.

-And most of the evidence suggests that all the villages were abandoned roughly around 600 years ago.

-All roughly around the same time?

-Yeah.

-Does anybody know why?

-The hardship of living in the Rock Islands.

You'll never find water streams all over the Rock Islands.

You'll never find a waterfall, no river.

Because everything that comes right to the Rock Island just percolates through the Rock Island, and it dispels off it.

-Back into the ocean.

-Back into the ocean.

And if you fish out all the fishing spots all over Ulong, then you don't have much else to feed your people.

And warfare.

Warfare, not knowing -- Imagining every day you have to sharpen your blade, not knowing if a tribe would come to your island, kill you and your son, and take your wife and your daughter as a prize.

-Tough times.

-Very tough times.

-I'm heading to another Palauan island which also saw bloodshed and saw its inhabitants forced to flee.

But here, it was only 80 years ago.

[ Explosions ] This is the island of Peleliu.

The Japanese built a military airfield here, and it became the site of one of the bloodiest battles of World War II.

[ Gunfire ] Thanks, Captain.

It's considered to be the Pacific's best-preserved battle site, mainly due to the thick jungle that envelops the island.

I'm in the company of Chris Willis, a native Palauan.

And all of this stuff we're seeing lying around is kind of -- this is all more detritus from that battle, is it?

-Somewhat, yeah.

-Well, that looks a bit airplane-y.

-[ Laughs ] Yeah, seems... -I mean, a plane must have gone down here, mustn't it?

-Yeah.

I mean, if you see, like, the leftover parts out here, most likely.

-Whoa, lookit.

There's hardware everywhere.

-Yeah.

-Chris is a bomb-disposal expert whose job is to discover and make safe the thousands of live shells, bombs, and grenades that still litter the island.

Oh.

-Yep.

There they are.

-Oh, wow.

Hand grenades.

-Like, a bazooka rocket.

-Oh.

I'm the son of a conscientious objector.

I don't know what most of this stuff is.

-Basically like a propelled grenade, to penetrate tanks, actually.

So these are armor-piercing.

-Oh, my God.

So that's strong stuff.

-Yeah.

-Which side's are those?

The American or Japanese?

-These are American.

-So, who came across these bad boys?

-We offer support for another basic project to help find -- or help repatriate remains for casualties of war.

And this was basically one of the finds that, like, our staff found while assisting during those projects.

-People are still finding casualties, are they?

-Yes.

-Really?

-Yeah, the Japanese and the Americans both kind of are searching for... -[ Breathes deeply ] How did you get into this?

-I mean, my grandfather was on Peleliu during World War II, up until things just got so bad they had to leave.

So, I mean, it's nice knowing that, you know, 80 years later and stuff, the things that kind of drove him out, I'm here helping to help clear out and bring people back.

It's a really nice connection.

-Yeah.

Well, your grandfather would be grateful.

-Yeah, exactly.

-[ Chuckles ] But things are still coming up 80 years on.

-Oh, yeah.

[ Chuckles ] -It's not safe to pick it up and remove it, is it?

-They have safety pins within them, but, of course, yeah, the age on them, I wouldn't, like, move them.

I leave them where they are, and we'll most likely just destroy them in situ, like, where they stay.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-So how do you do, um...?

Do you blow them up?

It's not the old-fashioned...?

-No, no, no, no.

-No.

-I'm just gonna use an older-style safety fuse.

Basically, burn and runs time fuse.

-And then leg it.

-Yeah.

-Right.

Should we get out of the way now while you put the stuff in?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Happy to do that.

[ Both laugh ] All the best, Chris.

-Thank you.

-The safe distance is 200 meters.

I leave Chris to place charges on the two bazooka rounds.

Since 2015, Chris and his fellow bomb-disposal experts have made safe over 20,000 unexploded devices.

Thousands more still lie undiscovered.

[ Explosion ] The battle for Peleliu began in September 1944... [ Gunfire ] ...with an overconfident U.S. major general declaring that he could take the airfield here in four days.

[ Explosions, gunfire ] The Japanese were waiting for him and his men.

The fighting raged on for over two months.

[ Gunfire, cannon fire ] The Americans suffered their highest casualty rate of any amphibious assault in their history.

40% of the marines were either killed or wounded.

God, it looks like a terrible mistake, doesn't it, being on its side?

Like something's very wrong.

I'm going to resist using the word "iconic," but the Sherman tank is sort of part of the fabric of American military history, isn't it?

I'm sure I've heard the expression "He was built like a Sherman tank."

Look at it.

It's built like a Sherman tank.

Oh, my God.

[ Gasps ] What sort of force does that?

This tank was blown up by a 300-pound Japanese bomb hidden in the ground, killing all but one of its crew.

They seem intent on keeping these things as historical monuments.

The argument was that it was to teach us all the evils of war, but that hasn't worked, has it?

Just ghastly, that the thing designed to go and kill as many people as possible got killed.

And the people in it, unfortunately, sadly.

[ Sighs ] Yuck.

There was a huge loss of life here, both American and Japanese.

More than 12,000 died, and many still lie where they fell, undiscovered within the jungle.

A large proportion of the civilian population evacuated during the war and never returned.

The island of Peleliu still remains haunted by warfare.

For my last adventure on Palau, I'm joining zoologist Ron Leidich and his team.

Hi, Ron.

-Martin.

-How are we today?

-We're great.

Welcome aboard.

-Thank you.

Ron wants to introduce me to one of the ocean's most elusive creatures.

-Let's hit it.

-The dugong is a sea mammal similar to a manatee, but with a dolphin-like tail.

It's actually related to the elephant.

It's been declared functionally extinct in Chinese waters, and Palau has the only dugong population left in Micronesia.

I've tried to film these timid creatures before but always failed to even see them.

Now, if I'm very lucky, Ron is going to show me one.

-In 2009, the Koror state government had the foresight to create these no-passage zones.

So the area that you see in red is the dugong sanctuary.

It's known as the Ngederrak Reserve.

Kayaks, standup boards, speedboats, swimmers -- nobody is allowed in here, so it's -- -Not even swimmers.

-Not even a swimmer.

You'd have to have a research permit to go inside.

And that allows dugong to enjoy a healthy marine environment without any intrusions whatsoever.

So, when the tide is high, they're free to munch on seagrasses, algaes, and the occasional small marine invertebrate.

As the day goes on, the seagrass beds will become too shallow for them to continue feeding.

So, ultimately, they're going to leave the sanctuary.

-Ron's hoping that, as the tide goes out, we'll be able to spot a dugong as it moves into deeper water.

-Mac, Cobi, if you guys can get the surveillance drones set up and ready.

Guys, for everybody else, if you see anything breach the surface, it's either going to be a dugong or a turtle.

Call it out.

-Dugongs are notoriously elusive, secretive, even.

But Ron is our best bet, him and his team here.

They study them all the time.

So fingers crossed, we'll get lucky.

Ron's team, including his daughter Milu, spotter Macstyl, and Ulong guide and drone pilot Cobi scan the surface for signs of breaching.

-[ Speaking native language ] They're barrel-rolling.

-Who?

-The dugongs.

They're barrel-rolling.

-Okay, stop the boat.

Stop the boat.

How many, Mac?

-I think three.

-Okay.

-We've only just come out here, and there's a -- some kind of a sighting, so there's a lot of excitement.

-You see them?

They're glimmering.

Yeah.

So, at the boat's 3:00.

-How -- How many yards out?

-Oh, man.

This is -- In the blue, going out of the sanctuary.

-Okay.

-It's time to turn off the engine and anchor the boat so that nothing disturbs these shy animals.

-And up she goes.

-Ron's using high-definition drones to try and spot them.

-Cobi, I'm gonna head towards Ngesebaku, if you want to scout the nel region.

Guys, I got feeding trails that you can clearly see in the seagrass beds.

So these white straight lines are where the dugong moves like a lawn mower and just plows through the seagrass and algae and munches along.

-There's a dugong over there.

Oh, it went down.

-I'm heading back in that direction.

-Yeah.

-Cobi, about 100 feet from our 2:00.

Yeah.

Moving out to the deep.

-Okay.

Oh.

That might be something.

-Oh, they're still talking.

[ Chuckles ] -Cobi's got them.

-You've got them inside Ngederrak?

-Yeah, inside.

-How many?

-He's got three.

-Three.

-It just came... -Yeah.

Oh, sweetheart.

This is my first glimpse of a dugong.

So, Cobi's got a shot of a mother with her calf.

Just a little breathe.

-Oh, we got a calf?

-Yeah.

-Oh, gorgeous.

-What are you at, about 5 meters?

-Yeah.

Pretty shallow.

-Gosh.

That's the calf, the one that just breathed, yeah?

-Yeah, right in the middle.

-Yeah.

And then up back to mum.

-They spotted me.

They're moving.

-You think you spooked him?

-Yeah.

-What's your elevation, Cobi?

-8.

We're at 8.

-Oh, you're right on top of them.

Neat.

-He thinks the drone's spooked them, so... mum's swimming off, and the calves are keeping up with her.

But they're right by the surface, aren't they?

-The third one is just following behind.

-Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But they can move when they want, can't they?

I'm looking at three -- a mother, her baby, and a juvenile.

[ Camera dings ] It's what's called, in scientific circles, a Brucie Bonus.

Nice one, Cobes.

[ Laughter ] -What we experienced this morning certainly gives the impression that finding dugongs is an easy affair, but if you can believe it, the majority of the community here has never seen... -Yeah, no, I've heard, yeah.

-...what you've just experienced.

In fact, the total population may be as low as 300 to 500 individuals.

-300 to 500.

That's a tiny number, isn't it?

-It is a tiny number.

And, unfortunately, we don't have a firm population estimate because they've never been tagged, and they're difficult to distinguish one from another.

But what I can tell you, anecdotally, is that birth rate appears to be high.

The population, though small, appears to be increasing.

-And Ron believes there's a good reason for this -- a combination of marine management and the worldwide pandemic.

-As a habitat, the place is absolutely off-limits, and it is as close to biologically pristine as a biologist could dream of.

-And you're saying that the number of tourists dropped significantly, obviously because of COVID.

-With 18 months without flights or visitors, that meant the entire southern lagoon was free of all forms of disturbance.

And I'm hoping, in this post-COVID world, we'll re-address the potential impact of having a large number of visitors.

-Yeah, it's a balance, isn't it?

It's a tough one.

-Sure is.

-Ron regularly surveys this area.

It helps him gain vital data about the size of herds and the potential health of the dugong population here in Palau.

-It's just going to take some low-level inspections, and that'll tell us how many are out here, where they're moving, and what their general patterns look like.

But look -- a breath, a splash, anything.

I think I got dugongs.

I got dugongs.

Look at this.

-Oh, yeah.

-Holy smokes, you can't miss that.

There's one, two, three, four, five.

-Wow.

-Okay, I'm 61 feet up.

We've got an entourage at the surface.

This is gorgeous.

Look at them, guys.

Look at that.

Oh, my God.

What luck.

-This herd is probably a family group with remora suckerfish in tow, cleaning their skin of parasites.

Dugongs can live as long as 70 years and can grow up to 4 meters in length.

-Mac, what do you think about heading out solo?

And then Martin and I will follow you in a kayak.

-This is the perfect opportunity for a close encounter.

-Okay.

We're gonna follow Macstyl.

He's eyes on.

Oh, my gosh.

They're right in front of Mac.

-Oh, yeah, yeah.

-This is gonna be really amazing.

Yeah, let's just go slow, Mac.

-Just seeing their backs break the water, it's like, yeah, you know they're there, don't you?

You know we're right by them.

You never -- You seldom see a whole dolphin out of the water, do you?

-Sure, sure.

-It's just... Well, what a real privilege this has been to get up so close to these near mythical, mystical, secretive animals.

Not many people get to see that many up that close, so thank you, Ron.

-It's been an honor and a pleasure.

-This second part of my odyssey around the islands of the Pacific feels very different to me.

I feel like I've gone deeper and been more embedded in the islands, from living with the kindly and welcoming people of the village of Tilakaiwa on the Trobriand Islands to planting rice in a World Heritage site with those lovely, laugh-y ladies in the Philippines, and witnessing the pioneering and successful conservation attempts of Palau.

Despite what seems like the world's intention to turn us into one gigantic, homogenous community, I am very happy to report that the customs, the traditions, the ways of life on these islands are very much alive and well.

[ Drum banging, singing in native language ] But in the face of rising sea levels and climate change, it's now up to all of us to ensure that these tiny island communities are allowed to survive.