The World's Oldest Scuba Diver | Michele Hall - Award Winning Underwater Filmmaker

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Welcome to the Deeper Blue Podcast, your weekly guides to everything that is happening around the world underwater. My name is Stephen Wheeler. I'm the founder of DeeperBlue.com, the world's most popular diving website. Every week, the Deeper Blue Podcast covers everything that's happening in the scuba diving, freediving, diving travel, and ocean advocates world. So join us as we explore the Deeper Blue. Hi everyone. Welcome to episode 13 of the Deeper Blue Podcast. Coming up today, in this episode, we've got all the latest news in the last week from around the world, underwater. Then we welcome back one of our fabulous co-hosts, Lyndon Walbert, as she speaks to famed underwater filmmaker Michelle Hall. Michelle left her 20-year career as a pediatric nurse to dive into the world of underwater wildlife filmmaking as a producer. She's produced with her husband Howard Hall, some of the most successful underwater IMAX films of her time, including multiple Emmy Awards. Then we hear from Mermaid Linden, perhaps the world's most famous mermaid, as she shares a travel tip for all those aspiring mermaids and mermen out there. And then finally, we hear from Ross Arnold on his best dive ever. So let's catch up with this week's underwater happenings. Some rec diving news this week is a team of divers believe they found the final resting place of the USS Grenadier, an American submarine that sank off the coast of Thailand during World War II. The Grenadiers were scuttled more than 75 years ago, while under attack and surrounded by Japanese aircraft and ships on April 21st, 1943. And a group of technical divers are claiming they have found it. The finding is believed to be a Tambor class submarine, which was the US Navy's first fully successful fleet marine. The wreck was at a depth of about 80 meters and around 80 nautical miles south of Fuket in Thailand. The four-man dive team, that is still waiting for its findings to be verified by the US Naval History and Heritage Command, completed six dives over a period of six months to try and identify the submarine. Quick bit of COVID-19 news coming from Paddy this week. The diving training agency has launched a bunch of new e-learning courses as it's been able to transition several of its in-the-water courses to e-learning in a way of helping people keep safe, busy, and connected to the sport that we love during these difficult times. Obviously, these courses aren't going to fully replace in-water training, but it's a great way of keeping skills foremost in your mind till we can get back in the water. Talking about the coronavirus, travel continues to be significantly disrupted. This week we've heard that Costa Rica, where the popular Cocos Islands is located, they've announced this week a stage return to allowing US residents to enter the country. The first tranche includes New York, New Jersey, Maine, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, who can pretty much enter country immediately, because that's from the 1st of September. Colorado, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania residents can enter from the 15th of September. And Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, Michigan, and Rhode Island all from the 1st of October. In the sign of how travel is likely forever change, just like it did after 9-11, which of course the anniversary, the 19-year anniversary was last week. You're now going to have to jump through several bureaucratic hoops, including getting a digital health pass, turning a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of your departure, and purchase travel insurance that will cover accommodation in case of quarantine and medical expenses if you get caught with COVID-19 whilst in the country. To celebrate the diving community, diving equipment manufacturer BARE is launching a campaign to highlight divers around the world and the common bonds they all share called the Faces of Dive. Taking part in a campaign is very easy. All you need to do is simply share a picture of yourself with or without dive gear in any location, dock, boat, underwater, classroom, bathtub, toilets, wherever you think it's it's a good one. And then you need to tag yourself on the picture with the hashtag faces of dive. Along with the pictures, divers will need to submit some information about themselves, including name, age, location, profession, and to how diving affects their life. Entrants will be posted weekly to bare social media channels, and some will also feature in a monthly longer blog post. In a somewhat surprising bit of news this week, we've learned that shark squalene, that's made from shark liver oil, is being used in a number of COVID-19 vaccines being developed. According to conservation group Shark Allies, shark squalene is commonly used as a moisturizing agent in cosmetics. But it's now being used in vaccines as a component that increases the human body's immune response to the vaccine, making them more effective. Apparently, it's being used because it's cheap and easy to come by rather than being the most effective thing out there. The problem here is when these vaccines go to mass production, it's going to cause an ever bigger problem of shark populations. As shark species are already at critical levels, which you've heard us talk about a few times on the podcast. Worryingly, there is very little control and transparency in the shark squalene industry. So, in a nutshell, exploiting sharks for a key vaccine ingredient that can be derived from a much more sustainable and reliable non-animal alternative is going to be a detrimental and destructive approach. Shark Allies at the time of recording had a petition that had just over 3,000 signatures and was aiming for 5,000. So head over to sharkallies.com to learn more and to sign the petition. Finally, proving that you're never too old to try something new. Earl Lambert in Illinois in the US decided he was going to start diving two years ago when he was 98 years old. Today he is now 100 years old and he is just submitted for the Guinness World Records recognition as the world's oldest scuba diver. Lambert took a 27-minute dive to 12 metres, that's 40 feet, with a guide from his local dive center in a local lake earlier in the week. He was followed by local news reporters and his daughter. Lambert took a dive trip two years ago to Cosmel. He was 98, but did not submit for Guinness recognition at the time. So this is his second formal attempt at the world record, having dived last year at 99 years old at Pearl Lake in Illinois. At that time, he told reporters he stays fit by riding a stationary bike for half an hour, six days a week, which is pretty admirable because I think most of us couldn't do that based on what's been happening in lockdown. Woolley broke his own record three years in a row. That's the British diver, broke it three years in a row. A precedent that Lambert wants to follow. And his goal is to live to 101 and break the record once again. So wishing Lambert the very best of luck and hoping that his Guinness World Record comes through. That's it for the news this week. Remember, you can catch up on all the latest news and happenings around the world underwater by heading to deeperblue.com or checking us out on social media on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And as always, if you like what you've heard, please do subscribe, like, and comment wherever you hear your podcasts. Also take a moment and let your friends know about it. Honestly, all these comments, subscribes, likes, and suggestions to your friends really do make a huge difference.

SPEAKER_06 8:21

Hi, I'm Kirk Kroc at Performance Free Diving International, and you're listening to the best 30 Minutes Above Diving. The Deeper Blue Podcast. Hi, this is Jason Elias, producer of the Deeper Blue Podcast. Today we welcome back one of our co-hosts, Lyndon Wolbert, as she speaks with famed underwater filmmaker Michelle Hall. Now, normally here I would give a bit of introduction, but honestly, there's no way I could match what Lyndon does to start the interview.

SPEAKER_05 8:50

I'm speaking today with Michelle Hall, a woman who left her 20-year career as a pediatric nurse to dive into the world of underwater wildlife filmmaking as a producer. Michelle has been scuba diving since 1975, is a member of the Women Divers Hall of Fame, and has produced some of the most successful underwater IMAX natural history films of our time. Between Michelle and her husband Howard, over half a dozen Emmys have resulted from the vibrant underwater imagery that they have created together.

SPEAKER_03 9:22

Michelle, it's an honor to have you here today. Thank you, Lyndon. But that's a wonderful introduction. Thank you. But you you mispronounced my name. Did I? It's Mershell, as in the ocean. My mermaid sister from the sea. Well, I was given that name by my favorite mermaid, you. So we need to stick with that, please. Well, I suppose we can if you insist.

SPEAKER_05 9:50

So, Mershell, I'm curious to know. When you decided and made that choice to leave this incredibly fulfilling career as a pediatric nurse and move into the world of producing underwater wildlife films with your husband, what was it that catalyzed that change for you?

SPEAKER_04 10:07

Yeah, that's a good question. Thinking back, I mean, being a nurse was the only thing I ever wanted to do from my childhood, and I loved, I loved my nursing jobs. But Howard and I met and got married, and we were building our lives together, and as his career began to grow and his film productions became more complicated, we realized that he needed some help. And we had been thinking for some 10 years that if I got tired of the nursing job that I had, that rather than go find another nursing job, that we would consider my quitting that and staying home and working with him and joining a family business. And so that finally happened. And in January of 1991, I left nursing and I missed some of the kids and the families that I worked with, but it's fabulous working with Howard. And I feel like I traded doing something for the kids and families that I worked with for trying to do something to help the health of the ocean.

SPEAKER_05 11:03

And what a wonderful thing to be able to not just help the oceans make beautiful images and travel around the world doing this, but to share it in a way where people like me, I was so greatly affected and continue to be affected by the films that you make.

SPEAKER_03 11:18

How many countries have you traveled to? Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_04 11:22

Not probably as many as I would like to, but certainly very, very many. And my diving experiences have just been fabulous and opened my eyes to so much. Being able to get out and travel and dive has been such a fabulous excuse for me to see parts of the world that otherwise I might never have bothered to try to.

SPEAKER_05 11:44

In many of the films that I have seen you diving in, there's this element of kind of showing some of the behind the scenes sometimes, like in Coral Reef Adventure, which was one of my favorites. But is there a moment or a place or a time or an experience that you were in the water and you just you had one of those quintessential ocean moments?

SPEAKER_04 12:08

Yes. And the one that comes to mind happened almost 40 years ago. I remember the date, it was August 30th, 1980. We were diving in the Sea of Cortez. We were working on a documentary for American Sportsman. The film was about hammerhead sharks, but this manta ray showed up. And we ended up nicknaming him Grandad. He was about 18 feet from wingtip to wingtip. He was just huge. He had a bunch of fishing lines wrapped around its cephalic lobe, which is the mouth area. I had just jumped in the water to make a dive, and so I was right under the boat, and it came up underneath me and just hovered, and I couldn't help but swim over to it. This was again 1980, way before it was incorrect to get close to Manta Ray's. It was just hovering there, and I settled on its back and I managed to pull off that fishing line that was embedded into its skin. It shivered as you can expect it might. I thought, well, this is really hurting it, but I need to get this fishing line off. And I reached out and packed the skin down. And it took me for a ride. It was late afternoon. It was in an era before we had wrist computers, so I wasn't looking at any computer to see what my depth was, but I could tell that it was taking me down because I needed to clear my ears. And it was just a magic carpet ride. And I suddenly thought, my gosh, I don't know where I am, and I need to get back to the boat. I'm gonna have to surface. And the next thing I knew, we were back at the anchor line and then right back under the boat. It was just amazing. And this ray stayed with us day after day after day. But I looked in the eye of that ray, and it looked back at me, and it just changed my life. Changed my appreciation for the ocean and the need to protect and to save this wildlife.

SPEAKER_02 14:22

You are listening to the world's only weekly podcast for scuba diving: free diving, dive travel, and ocean advocacy. I'm Ken Stewart of Diving with a Purpose, and this is the Deeper Blue Podcast.

SPEAKER_06 14:40

Earlier in the episode, we heard an interview with Michelle Hall that was done by one of our co-hosts here on the Deeper Blue Podcast, Lyndon Woolbert. Now we switch gears and explore another side of Linden's personality, the one that most people know as Mermaid Linden. So today's top tip comes from Mermaid Linden, one of my favorite people and perhaps the world's most famous mermaid. Mermaid Linden, can you share what you think is an essential piece of advice with our listeners today?

SPEAKER_05 15:07

I'd be delighted to, Jason. My top tip for mermaids specifically, or aspiring mermaids, is that when you're traveling, which inevitably will happen with your tails, the TSA will often have a lot of questions when they open up your luggage. And I have found that it is fun and you can bring a smile to the TSA if you happen to be there when they're inspecting your luggage to put a little note in there for them and say, Hi, my name is Mermaid or Mermaid So and So. This is my tale. This is my livelihood, and I really appreciate you handling it like it's your firstborn because it's mine. Have a beautiful day, swim safely. Love mermaid so-and-so. I put these funny little notes in my luggage with my tailcases, and I have received all kinds of laughs and fun and questions, and it makes it a lot easier than having a stressful experience when you're traveling.

SPEAKER_06 16:01

That is very specific for very small subsection of people, but for those people, that is a great top tip. Thanks, Mermaid Linden.

SPEAKER_05 16:10

Anytime.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Hi, my name's Ross Arnold. I'm based in the UK. One of my best dives was probably when I just started out and we took a team trip off to Egypt. One of the reasons that I like diving is because I love the history behind a lot of the shipwrecks, and for me it's about the story behind what happened to that bit of metal that went down. We got up very early one morning, took a two-hour voyage out to the thistlegorm. I must have had maybe 50 or 60 dives at most under my belt. Never dived anything really that big, and just descending down the shot line as this massive piece of history comes into view was just awe-inspiring to see the flatbed trucks and the bikes and the locomotives. It was just something that was really special, and being able to be a part of that certainly is something that I would love to share with other people. For me, that is one of the most iconic dives that that I've done to date. I've dived some other big shipwrecks as well, but certainly that one sticks out in my mind as being one of my favourite dives, and that is, as I say, the thistle gorm in Egypt.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

We'd love to hear your story about diving. So at the end of the show, you'll find out all the info you need to submit your best dive ever. Thanks for listening to the Deeperblue Podcast. Find out more on all the stories you've heard this week, plus connect to the world's largest online dive community at deeperblue.com. And if you like what you've heard, please subscribe, like, and comment wherever you hear your podcasts. These comments and subscribes really make a difference. Before we go, I want to give a big shout out to Jason Elias, our producer. In case you didn't know, he has an amazing podcast about people who have a deep connection to our world's oceans. Connections strong enough that they've dedicated some part of their lives to being in or working on behalf of the water. Take a listen when you get a moment to Jason Show, the Big Deep Podcast. Every week, we want to hear your stories and share them with the world. So please record and send in your short story of your best dive ever. Keep it brief, no longer than two minutes, please. And in it, tell us your name and location, where you were on the dive, what happened that make it so great, and why it's meant so much to you. You can get that over to us at best dive ever at deeper blue dot com or head to our website podcast.deeperblue dot com forward slash best dive ever. Join us again next week and explore much more of the deeper blue