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Diver submerges GoPro to capture sunrise, results are ‘magical’

Diver submerges GoPro to capture sunrise, results are ‘magical’

A diver from Hawaii left her GoPro underwater to capture the sunrise, but she filmed much more than that. The incredible images she managed to capture are now great users on the Internet.

Shared on TikTok in June by 34-year-old Brittany Ziegler from Maui, under the username @divedivelive, the video offers not only the beauty of the sunrise seen from underwater, but also plenty of marine life swimming by undisturbed. At first, only a few curious visitors got close to the camera, but as the sun rose, all kinds of creatures appeared, including sharks, turtles and fish of all sizes and colors.

“This is the side of the reef we don’t get to see on our underwater livestreams. The peace of dozens of species coexisting beautifully. The true magic of the underwater world,” reads the stop text in the clip.

Ziegler, who together with her team is known as one of the few livestreamers divers in the worldtold Newsweek that this clip in particular is part of a “behind the scenes” series they are currently running.

Ziegler Diving
Ziegler dives near an artificial reef teeming with marine life (left), and an image from the camera she left behind to film the sunrise from underwater. Ultimately, she captured much more.

@divivelive

“We live stream the underwater world to share its beauty and foster the love and passion for the ocean. The majority of our followers come from an audience that dives with us in real time. The Unattended GoPro series is something new that we have started to capture all those moments that we don’t see on the livestream with human interaction.

“We place a GoPro on the ocean floor and let it record itself. The camera records the entire dive while we are at a different location on site. Each video lasts 30-70 minutes,” she said.

In this particular clip, the camera was placed close to an artificial reef, 26 feet underwater. Man-made reefs are becoming increasingly common as scientists try to tackle the disappearance of coral around the world, which is largely the case as a result of climate change.

National Geographic says the oceans absorb more than 90 percent of the planet’s heat, which has caused waters to warm in recent years, endangering reefs and marine life around the world, especially in areas around the equator.

When El Niño developed in 2016 and warmed the Pacific Ocean, it killed a third of the Great Barrier Reef’s corals. It is estimated that more than half of the corals on the Australian coast bleached and subsequently died.

In the Hawaiian Islands, the degradation of coral reefs increases the exposure of coastal communities to storms, increasing the risk of flooding.

Artificial reefs, which are used to reduce environmental damage and habitat loss, are typically built on submerged shipwrecks, oil and gas platforms, bridges and lighthouses, according to the National Ocean Service website.

The video quickly went viral on social media and has received over 475,000 views and 68,000 likes on the platform to date.

One user, Lucy, commented: “The turtle silhouettes are simply magical.”

Sleepy_Niffler said: “I wish this was a 24-hour live stream that I could watch for hours.”

Love_cats added: “I counted 3 sharks, 5 turtles and what is that long fish at the end of the video.”

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