In a Hawaiian creation chant called the Kumulipo, the origin of coral, algae and fishes is described.
After a time of darkness, the coral polyp was the first earth life to emerge, then a
coral colony.
Eventually, all plants and animals would follow this genesis out of the sea.
There are Hawaiian legends and stories of gods and goddesses who live in the ocean and
take the form of underwater creatures.
Many myths explain why certain fish have stripes or look the way they do, or why they gather
in certain places.
Powerful protective spirits, or aumakua, watch over and guard human families for generations.
Some of these are at home in the surrounding sea.
Hawaiian islands are composed of lava that escape the earth's core through undersea
vents.
It all started about 70 million years ago.
As the ocean floor moves slowly in a northwest direction, the center of activity forms new
islands while the older ones are chiseled by wind, rain and the sea.
The coral colonies begin to grow within 25 years on new lava flows and slowly establish
fringing reefs.
These subtropical Hawaiian reefs are some of the most beautiful in the world, comprised
of thousands of species of fish, mollusks and other plants and animals.
It's here that we'll take you to this unfamiliar world, to the ancient land of Hawaii that
few have seen before.
The urge to explore the undersea realm began thousands of years ago, when man thought it
was inhabited by monsters.
As time went on, all sorts of devices were concocted to plummet the ocean depths.
Imagination ran wild and pioneers like Jules Verne created machines and heroes of fancy
that actually live 20,000 leagues under the sea.
But maybe this isn't so absurd after all.
Science has almost caught up with fiction.
In just a century, submarine technology has advanced to a point where we can remain submerged
hundreds of feet for weeks at a time.
Each year, the possibilities increase, bringing Captain Nemo's ultimate diving machine closer
to reality.
At the forefront of submersible technology, Atlantis submarines discovered a new and very
refreshing concept, passenger carrying subs that take peaceful and inobtrusive tours to
the rich reef zones, where visitors can comfortably witness firsthand the undersea environment.
This is the story of Atlantis, the first passenger submersible in the world.
The big island of Hawaii is the largest and youngest island in the Hawaiian archipelago.
Molten lava still pours into the sea.
It's a battle between the forces of fire and water that eventually the ocean will win.
On Kona's western or sheltered coast, reef building corals have begun to colonize over
a network of lava flows.
This was the first Hawaiian reef Atlantis submarines would explore.
Arriving in 1988, they received a warm aloha and have been at home ever since.
This area of Kona has many vahipanna, what Hawaiians call storied places.
On the shuttle ride out to the submarine, the historic Kona coastline can be seen resting
on the long slopes of Mauna Loa, the most massive mountain on earth.
Atlantis lies waiting to take these passengers on a tour they'll never forget.
In air-conditioned comfort, the 48-passenger 65-foot sub travels in an area where gardens
of coral are already visible through the individual viewports, 13 on each side.
Maintaining a speed of about one knot through this shallow expanse, the young reef and its
inhabitants are introduced.
The pilot's front viewing window is over four feet in diameter.
Pilots for Atlantis are specially trained to operate this DC battery-powered electric
submarine, a marvel of technology.
There are two stern thrusters, two vertical thrusters, and one at the bow for careful
maneuvering.
Above water, the support boat pilot keeps watch in constant contact with the sub, and
divers prepare to put on a show underwater.
As the Atlantis sub moves out to meet the divers, shoals of fish move in all directions,
illuminated by the sun.
A safe distance is maintained above the delicate corals so as not to damage the living creatures
there.
Reefs grow only about an inch a year.
The pilot and co-pilot monitor the distance from the bottom at all times.
The divers arrive.
They can only stay down 10 minutes at a time at this depth of about 85 feet.
The fish that immediately surround them are common in all Hawaiian waters.
Schools of surgeon fish called palani and hualu have razor-sharp blades near the end
of their tails.
Humuhumu eleele are the ones that seem to flap wings through the water.
These are triggerfish, or black durgeon.
The black and white striped fish are Hawaiian sergeant majors, or mammo, a kind of damsel
fish.
And the yellow school is blue-striped snapper, or ta'api, an introduced fish from Tahiti.
Now, in great abundance, they're seen on every dive.
When it comes to food, they're not very shy.
Small millet-seed butterflyfish, or lauwiliwili, make a more timid approach.
There's a rhythm down here that has nothing to do with the world above, an interaction
based on hunger and curiosity.
Carefully selected examples of reef life are gathered to show close up to the passengers,
like this small sea urchin.
It's respectfully placed back on the reef in its own little niche.
A Triton's trumpet is brought to the viewports.
Its shell was called pūpuhi and was fashioned into musical instruments.
The divers' ten minutes are not complete without showing off.
They don't leave the scene until everyone's had some laughs.
There are 44 species of coral in Hawaiian waters.
Small animals live within the polyps and feed on plankton drifting in the water.
Their hard skeletons form limestone, the only organically made rock in the world.
It is continually made through erosion of shells and coral, and from the digested matter
of coral eating fish.
One adult parrotfish, or uhu, can produce up to one ton of sand a year by munching
on the reef and eliminating the waste matter.
The coral gardens support a bounty of life.
Many particles of plankton floating in the ocean become food for reef fishes.
These surgeon fish are vegetarians and feed on debris and algae on the sandy bottom.
Smaller reef fish stay close to their coral homes and each has a role to play in this
balanced ecosystem.
There's a logic to the dance of aggression and survival.
Twenty-five percent of Hawaii's fish are endemic or found only in these waters.
Isolated from other land masses for so long, they have evolved unique characteristics.
These yellow tangs were called laupala in Hawaiian.
They're eating small particles of algae in the coral.
The similar looking black gold ring variety is called cole.
All butterfly fish were called kikakapu.
The ornate butterflies swim in pairs like most of the other 22 species in island waters.
The raccoon butterfly fish is one of the most flamboyant.
Hawaiians were inspired to be more descriptive with the long-nosed butterfly fish, the lauviliwili
nukunuku oioi, meaning the little fish with a long nose shaped like a viliwili leaf.
Many fish species change color and sex during their life cycles.
Often a male, female, and juvenile look entirely different.
Dresses are the most versatile and striking of the color changers.
One of the most enchanting fish on the reef is the moorish idol or kihikihi.
They search the vicinity for sponges to eat.
Moray eels hide out in their adopted holes, brilliantly camouflaged.
An octopus or hee'e appears out of a crevice.
A stranger inhabitant of the reef is the trumpetfish.
These predators can change color to match their environment for a better disguise.
Their mouths are designed to vacuum in unsuspecting prey.
They can turn yellow when lau'ipala are nearby.
Puffer fish resemble something from another planet.
This spotted puffer is a slightly different species called o'opu hu'e.
O'opu means stomach in Hawaiian.
As a defense mechanism, puffers blow up like a balloon when agitated.
All of these species can be clearly seen from the Atlantis viewports, a world witnessed
before only by divers.
Sometimes larger predators appear in deeper water.
This is a rare view of the white-tipped reef shark.
Sharks or mano play a large part in Hawaiian myth and folklore, said to save or protect
their human families.
Graceful manta rays glide over the sand, their wingspan sometimes reaching 20 feet.
After a 50-minute tour, so much more is known about this underwater world that changes every
day.
The sub lands briefly in a sandbank about 85 feet down and prepares for a signal to
surface.
As inobtrusively as it appeared, the Atlantis sub leaves the coral wilderness as it was.
More than two million people have journeyed on Atlantis subs somewhere the world over
since 1985.
At a cost of three and a half million dollars, each sub is flawlessly designed and built
to the highest standards, thoroughly inspected and certified for 150-foot dives.
Atlantis has a home in seven other locations, including the Caribbean, Mexico and Guam.
But it was a natural choice to come to Hawaii to reveal some of the glories of its unique
underwater environment.
The island of Maui was formed by the activity of two volcanoes, Haleakala, or House of the
Sun, is the youngest.
The older volcano is composed of deeply eroded cliffs and lush valleys, forming the West
Maui Mountains.
A partial fringing reef has had time to establish itself off of Maui's protected shorelines.
A shallow shelf connects the islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Kahoolawe, having all been
one island before the sea level dropped thousands of years ago.
Endangered humpback whales find this particularly inviting and visit every winter to mate and
give birth in these warmer waters.
The Maui-Atlantis tour out of Lahaina Harbor is special because the submarine will journey
to the deepest it can go, 150 feet.
It's a two-mile shuttle trip out to the boarding site with a spectacular view.
This slowly descends into deep blue liquid space.
She will submerge about 95 feet to a region of thriving coral growth.
The pilot gently maneuvers the 80-ton sub through the OO channel.
It's some of the most beautiful diving in Hawaii, with scattered coral outcrops extending
all the way to Lanai.
Prominent schools of Ta'ape, Black Durgeon and Surgeonfish patrol the reef.
This protruding colony of coral is nicknamed the Hobbit Hilton by the Atlantis staff because
it presents an entire condominium full of residents.
A massive coral settlement like this is home and sanctuary for many varieties of fish and
plant life.
They might gather at the station of the local cleaner wrasse, a splendidly colored fish
whose job it is to clean parasites and debris off of other fish's skin.
The interdependence of creatures here may involve many relationships unknown to us.
Just a brief passage into a world that existed long before we were able to witness it.
Here is where small trees of black coral bloom.
Hawaiians named it Ikahakumuana and used it as a medicine in ancient times.
Atlantis dives deeper to a range of lava ledges and caverns.
Atlantis ventures into the territory of the pyramid butterfly fish that linger around
coral trees, protecting their property by flashing a bright white spot at intruders.
On the outside, a cavern looks foreboding, armored by a forest of coral trees.
Once inside, it's as if the trees are decorated with bright colorful ornaments.
Long-nosed butterfly fish, the Lao Vili Vili Nuku Nuku Ooi Ooi, feed on small crustaceans
and coral algae in hard-to-reach places.
Upside down, they comb the roof of the cavern, where another type of coral algae is a crimson
color.
The long-nosed hawkfish is only found near black coral.
It keeps a sharp lookout for tiny crustaceans and worms that prosper in the branches.
Along the outside ledge, a reddish sponge thrives and numerous forms of life find a dwelling
place.
As Atlantis reaches the rim of the old lava ledge, large schools of ta'api come into
view, drifting and swirling on the current.
This is the deepest that the sub goes, 150 feet down.
Here, ancient lava walls form an undersea mountain range.
After a 50-minute dreamlike journey, the pilot travels to the area of surfacing.
At this maximum depth, a wailing anchor about 140 years old lies on the sandy bottom, a
deserted relic of Lahaina's history.
Again, Atlantis awaits the signal for the two to three-minute ascent to the top.
Pressurized air fills her ballast tanks, and vertical thrusters lift her toward the sky.
Atlantis Submarines also tours Oahu with an entirely different focus.
Here, you have to dig a little deeper under the surface.
Deeper underground, because all of the plains beneath Honolulu are limestone, a huge remnant
of compressed and solidified coral.
It formed over 100,000 years ago when the area was underwater, and coral built itself
over the lava flows.
Oahu, like Maui, is also formed by two volcanoes, now eroded into long, rich lines.
A partial fringing reef flourishes in certain protected areas.
Besides being the most famous beach in the world, Waikiki is the most visited area in
the state, receiving 75% of the 6.5 million tourists a year.
At one time, it was a network of rich wetland taro and royal fishponds.
But through the course of time, the coastal environment was altered to accommodate development.
The natural reef was dredged, and sand was brought in to create more beach area.
That's why Atlantis decided to create artificial reef structures off the coast of Waikiki to
join in a research effort to discover how an area can be replenished and how long it
takes.
The Waikiki Submarine Tour is a lesson in ecology as well as another fun and exciting
introduction to Hawaiian reef life.
The tour off Waikiki descends to a depth of about 85 feet to the first artificial reef
structure.
Schools of Opelu, or mackerel, hover near the surface.
These ladder-like constructions weigh about 27 tons and are part of a University of Hawaii
research project in partnership with Atlantis Hawaii.
It has attracted a huge variety of familiar fishes and supporting plant and animal organisms.
The surfaces are encrusted with new plant and animal life, a garden tended by these
plankton-eating fishes.
These small openings provide shelter for residents from predators and strong currents.
Preliminary testing has shown that the marine life in the Atlantis reef area has multiplied
about 3,000 times since inception.
The next experimental reef structure was designed and fabricated in the city of Asahi, Japan.
In this manner, the Japanese cultivate nutritious seaweed for sushi and other fine foods.
It's made of fiberglass and weighs about 25 tons.
Not to be mistaken for moorish idols, these black and white striped pennant fish seem
to match the delicate rings of the Asahi reef.
And the Lao Vili Vili also have adopted this as their private feeding ground.
Traveling down to about 110 feet, the SUG continues its underwater flight to the deepest
artificial reef.
A Mitsubishi YS-11 airplane was placed here and opened up to allow shelter and plenty
of room for fish.
Damsel fish have claimed part of it as an egg-laying site and will energetically defend
their patch of algae.
But the best part of the show lies silent a short distance away.
The sunken Navy oil tanker YO-257, a veteran of three wars, is Hawaii's largest shipwreck.
It was built 50 years ago.
Who would have thought it would end up providing life to thousands of sea creatures off the
coast of Waikiki?
Coral and encrusting algae growths have sprouted up from the decks.
Large holes were cut so the fish could maneuver around inside and find privacy or refuge.
It's one of the highlights of daily scuba diving tours.
This is Ernie.
Ernie has moved into an old pipe and can always be found here, keeping watch over the whole
parade.
The population of ocean citizens here is amazing considering how short a time it took to colonize
the ship.
It's different every day, but you can always count on the schools of Ta'ape and of course
Ernie.
That's another one of the Atlantis subs in Waikiki, viewing the wreckage from the other
side.
The pilot heads for the surfacing area now, near the lava flow called Paliopono, or Ridge
of Life.
The Atlantis adventure is not only beautiful, but teaches a valuable lesson about conservation
of our precious Hawaiian reefs and marine life resources.
Malama'aina, care for the land, or aina, and it will care for you.
The aina for Hawaiians extends all the way from the mountain to the seafloor.
Lokahi, unity, balance, and harmony with nature.
Mana'o'io, a respect for the things of nature and the true spirit, or mana, they have.
Aloha'aina, the love of this land.
These images might remain in your dreams long after you've left.
You'll remember the softness and mystery, the rhythm and spirit of Hawai'i, beneath
the surface.