From the BBC this week came 2 very unique underwater world programs the 1st taking us too the amazing under water world of the Amazon Abyss here the guide to diving cameraman filmed visions of magnificent river creatures from the wood eating Panaque fish to the flesh eating 5cm Candirus that if it gets inside of any opening to your body you will have to have immediate hospitalization to have it removed - as it has its teeth on the outside of its mouth a nasty little feller. Has the reputation of the vampire of the Amazon - there is the story of a native in the Amazon who when urinating into the river had one swim up his urine and into him - ouch.

A team of scientists lead by Mike de Gruy cameraman diver went fishing in the shallow water edge looking for new species using a fine fishing net - were they landed some Candirus and a needle nose fish with razor sharp teeth. There are still hundreds of species of undiscovered fish along the awesome Amazon River which is wider and deeper at some points than the English Channel, flowing 6,500 km across South America. In a short stretch of river alongside a small village there can be found more species of fish than the whole of the U.K. Rivers combined. So a world were divers are still looking to find new undiscovered species of fish and animals. The diving doesn't go completely trouble free as Mike Pitt air supply has a problem with the computer and has to return to the surface in a hurry and needs to go on Oxygen as a precaution but is ok later.

The other team lead by Kate Humble and Fernando Costus go in search of giant otters the Amazons rarest large mammal .Here are some of the most amazing featured in the program and living in the most remote parts of the region. They also go in search of the largest species of fresh water dolphin the Boto - some people think it can stun its prey with burst of sound from its bulbous forehead, the dolphin in its lifetime changes colour beginning dark grey, it turns pale or vivid pink before fading to almost white. The dolphin's neck bones are more flexible than other dolphins, so it can move its head independently to its body helping with echo location in the murky waters of the Amazon.

The next program ran by the BBC was called HMS Pandora (thursday. 07/04/05)

On the 28th August 1791 north of Australia divers search four weeks to discover a trapdoor to the past a 24 gun frigate. They had set out to capture the crew of the mutiny on the HMS Bounty. And had only captured 14 of the Bounty crew .The wreck is under sand mostly and will need to be excavated. They last left Portsmouth with 142 crew aboard, Captained by Edward Edwards and Doctor George Hamilton, in the night the Pandora was lost, some 35 men lost their lives.

When on their dive they find a big lump that looks like coral - it's a sextant perfectly preserved in the concrete like cru station. They also find a grim reminder of the wreck with the discovery of 3 sets of bones whom they have nicked named Tom, Dick and Harry. Tom a 17 year old with rickets, Dick a smaller man but healthy had been crushed by cannon and falling mast as they had been thru a severe storm and were laid up in sick bay when the Pandora finally went down after she hit a coral reef, keeled over and sank.

The divers must stop 9 meters under the boat to flush out nitrogen using air before going inside a decompression chamber for 21/2 hours with no signs of the bends.

The divers discover an earthen ware jar which they howl to the surface unfortunately it explodes on the way up - a trapped air bubble inside being the cause - the jar is filled with the sail makers spares.

A sculptor has re-created the face of Harry using his skull - thought to be a forty year old Robert Bowler who was the purser's steward.

After surveying the ship wreck the crew and Captain Edwards climbed onto tenders and reached safety of a sand cay. Two days on the sand cay and the crew climbed into four open boats and the Captain look them to the Dutch island of Timor, a journey of a 1,000 mile. There, they purchase a large ship to sail back to England - where Captain Edwards faces court-marshal charges for the loss of his ship but is acquitted.

Of the 14 prisoners only six where found guilty of mutiny and two publicly hung.

The HMS Pandora was only two days from finding the remainder of the Bounty crew on Pitcairn Island, where the descendants of the crew still live.

By Alan Walker www.guidetodivingsite.linedancecompany.com