| [00:00.31] | Unable to sail directly east because of the prevailing winds, |
| [00:04.23] | they were forced south and into the area of the South Pacific |
| [00:07.73] | known then as the Desolate Region. |
| [00:11.00] | A vast, uncharted, windless ocean the size of Australia. |
| [00:16.54] | These beautiful blue waters are the clearest in the world. |
| [00:21.29] | But they are a watery desert, clear and blue |
| [00:25.12] | because there is so little plankton, |
| [00:27.17] | the key to all marine food chains. |
| [00:29.37] | Plankton need nutrients, |
| [00:31.31] | but most nutrients are locked in the deep, |
| [00:33.57] | denied access to the surface by a layer of water called the thermocline, |
| [00:38.30] | around 200 metres down. |
| [00:41.03] | The little life that does exist at the surface seeks shelter, |
| [00:54.05] | no matter how superficial it may be. |
| [00:56.60] | In time, whole communities build on the flotsam. Barnacle larvae settle, |
| [01:02.14] | along with miniature predators. |
| [01:02.14] | Frogfish. On just a piece of drifting rope, |
| [01:02.14] | tiny creatures may spend their entire lives. |
| [01:02.14] |
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