These men are more than just wrestlers.
In Mexico City, they're heroes.
They're mean, moody and macho.
And like everywhere where men throw each other about,
there are women who love to watch.
- How many years has she been watching? - 40 years.
40 years?
These are the Lucha Libre, or free fighters.
Inspired by comic-book heroes, they have names like Satan and The Ghost.
Amongst the oppressed of Mexico City, they have a legendary status.
- What are they all shouting? - "Kill him, kill him."
(SHOUTING)
Grandmothers watch appreciatively as groins are clutched, faces punched, arms wrenched.
Their grandchildren can't wait to grow up and get in there too.
For everyone else, it's just a great day out.
I'm sure there are Mexicans who stay at home in the evening,
but this is not the land of the introverted.
If you like company, Mexico is the place for you.
Mariachi bands will serenade you wherever you want to go,
whether you like it or not.
Under pretence of selling cigars...
And if you want to know if you're a real man, there are machines on hand to prove it.
Yeah.
I do this. You put electric... Ah! Ooh!
Yeah. I see. Yeah.
It's supposed to test your macho-ness, isn't it?
There's a definite tingle. Ooh! OK. Ooh!
It's like those machines at the fair that said, "Kissable, very kissable, explosive."
Yeah. Higher? What's that going to?
Three? 30 volts? No, I don't think so.
All I need is a lampshade on my head. That's quite enough. Stop.
That's quite enough! He's a sadist, this man.
- Ah, ooh, OK. Ow! - (CHILDREN LAUGH)
I've broken his machine! Oh, dear.
(SHOUTS IN SPANISH)
(SHOUTING)
(SINGS)
Mexico City has quite a pedigree.
0nce it was a dazzling Aztec citadel, full of canals and palaces.
Then the Spanish conquerors built the centre of their American empire here.
Today it's the world's largest city.
16 million people live in a polluted bowl 7,500 feet above the sea.
For the few lucky ones, there has always been prosperity at the centre of it all.
Today huge investment, mostly from the USA,
has taken the place of the wealth the Spanish left behind.
Cathedral bells sound over the Zocalo, the square that is the heart of the city
and a good place for a quiet start to the day.
But, this being Mexico, there's no such thing as a quiet start to the day.
(DRUMMING)
The Aztecs may have been gone for nearly 500 years,
but fortunately for the tourist board someone remembers their dances.
In the centre of the square there's more topical activity.
A local radical group is painting temporary hoardings as a protest against the government.
(CHANTING IN SPANISH)
Their caped crusader is a character called Super Barrio,
"barrio" meaning a poor district, the sort of place from which most of his support is drawn.
(CHANTING IN SPANISH)
Super Barrio had the bright idea of turning the masked wrestlers into political activists.
(SPEAKS SPANISH)
"The situation in Mexico is hopeless," he says to the crowd.
"There is no work, no future.
"This state of affairs is forcing thousands of people
"to risk their lives crossing the border
"to find even worse conditions in the USA."
Super Barrio's words are noted and reported.
(CHANTING) Super Barrio presidente!
When he's finished painting, the government moves in.
They have only one colour, but it does the job.
Soon the tourists in the Zocalo will no longer have to be bothered with Super Barrio's views.
As befits the world's largest city, there's something for everyone.
A shop entirely full of loofahs, for instance.
And across the square, a restaurant promising "comida exótica y precolombina".
The food they ate before Columbus found America. I have to find out what this is.
(SPEAKS SPANISH)
Before the Spaniards brought over sheep, cows and goats,
the staple food seems to have been insects.
Delicacies include baby grasshoppers, mosquito eggs,
fried beetles and the chef's speciality, gusanos.
(SPEAKS SPANISH)
Get out my phrase book.
Now, then, let me see. Gusanos. Ahl Here we are.
Gusanos... maggots.
So I eat it with this. A bit of tortilla and a bit of guacamole to help the maggots slide down.
There we are. Let's try one there.
Two. Just try two to start with.
There they are, nestling out.
Not the best maggot I've had, but pretty damn close.
It's good grub!
Mexico City is behind us, but there's still a long way to go to complete the circle.
With nearly 40,000 miles on the clock,
fatigue is creeping in and dreams of home are becoming more frequent.
Mexico is split between the Hispanics, whose ancestors were European,
and the Indians, whose predecessors were from Asia,
and who, many believe, crossed the Bering Strait when it was still land.
More often than not, it's the Indians who get the rough end of the stick.
Guadeloupe and her family are Indians.
Her husband, Don Antonio, works a smallholding.
This year he can't afford to grow anything other than maize.
Maize is the basis of tortillas, the staple diet of rural Mexico.
With ten mouths to feed, Guadeloupe must make 80 a day.
But she still has time to give cookery lessons.
(THEY SPEAK SPANISH)
- OK. Water first. Agua más importante. - Si.
Agua. And then...
I think mine's a bit wet. Yours looks nice and dry.
Oh, dear. Look at that. Serrated edges!
In normal cookery programmes they cut to one they made earlier. They don't keep going!
Jolly difficult, actually, isn't it?
It took her 30 years to do this. I'm expected to do it in 30 seconds!
Most of this, Guadeloupe, is in my hand.
I wouldn't give that to a dog! Oh, dear.
Despite my appalling performance, Guadeloupe would not let us go without tortillas,
nor Don Antonio without a sackful of corn cobs.
From their village north of Mexico City,
we head across the country to the Pacific coast and the American border, 1,000 miles away.
Tijuana is always painted as the victim, a town of easy virtue.
Its cultural heritage is all too often ignored.
The guidebooks are disparaging about architecture but they never mention this.
The lady over there is a house.
Not your typical two-up one-down,
but that was designed by an architect and modelled on his wife.
Before it was finished, he divorced his wife.
He lives there with his second wife, who resents living in the first one's body.
It's wonderful that they were allowed to build it.
A message for Britain's planners.
Barratt Homes, estates of naked ladies across Surrey!
Get on with it, Britain! Take your example from Tijuana!
- (WOMAN) Adiós, señor! - Bye!
This is the US border.
A ten-foot high steel barrier made from landing strip sections from the Vietnam War.
It's called the Tortilla Curtain.
Those who cross illegally are known as "pollos" - chickens.
You have to pay about... between 300 to 350. It all depends.
Dollars, you know. To pay to the coyote.
So, I tell you, many people has not one nickel.
So they have to do for themselves.
- Do you know of anyone who's been over? - Yes, me.
- Really? You've tried it yourself? - Yes, I did. Twice.
Tijuana is a magnet for the pollos.
From here, it's no distance to Los Angeles.
If you're determined to go, the Tortilla Curtain can look a very flimsy obstacle.
Do people swim out and round it, or is that too dangerous?
I think it's too dangerous because it's very...
Sometimes the sea is very great, you know.
Some people cross, but...
- What does that mean? "Cuidate..." - "Cuidate, paisano."
"Take care, neighbour."
Meaning dangerous to go beyond...
That's right, because just crossing the border, they find many, many problems.
What's the view of the Mexicans of this fence? It shouldn't be there?
Very sad, you know, because don't forget, all this used to be Mexico.
Arturo Espinosa shows me the risks that Mexicans and others are prepared to take
to climb out of poverty and into the land of opportunity.
There's a never-ending stream of pollos waiting to take their chance.
- Are these all people waiting to get over? - Yes. They try to get some polleros.
They may go on their own, or pay guides known as polleros or coyotes.
When will these guys go, do you think? Oh, they're going now.
Yeah, they go now. There's a way they cross.
- Yeah. - See?
Just... What's going to happen to them? The middle of the day is a bit risky.
I think it's a big mistake, you know, but... they do.
Is it just young guys, or do women and children go under?
Women and children and old people too.
Anybody who needs work, who needs money.
- I could get under there into America. - Sure.
You can go if you want.
Look right, look left.
- Here I am. This is America. - It's America.
- No passport, no papers. No queues. - Nothing.
We are pollos already.
So are they. Nigel, have you got your passport?
- You cheated on me! - They look like chickens too!
- Vehicles patrol along here. - Yes.
- Are we being observed at this moment? - Sure. Of course.
We are observed from there. You see that point? More and more fellas.
- We'd better leave the land of the free. - Yeah, we'd better go.
Last year alone, over half a million people were arrested
for crossing this 60-mile stretch of the Tortilla Curtain.
But still they go.
The young woman I saw at the fence goes ahead to scout the ground.
(MICHAEL) There's a whole group going now.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven people.
Eight, with the girl.
- Are they with a coyote? - I don't think so.
(ARTURO) They go for it themselves.
(MICHAEL) They're bent double, crouching to avoid being seen.
(ARTURO) These people have more experience.
A crowd gathers to will them on.
But in broad daylight and only 100 yards from the airport terminal,
the attempt looks suicidal.
(MICHAEL) They don't seem to wear any dark or camouflage clothing.
Someone with a pink shirt. Very obvious.
(ARTURO) Poor people. They are very simple people.
- (MICHAEL) Just take what they've got. - People from the country.
(ARTURO) Look. See? They get to know the direction.
(HELICOPTER OVERHEAD)
The helicopter is coming. Right there, see?
The helicopter is coming.
(MICHAEL) Here comes the vehicle.
They must know that they've made the break. They must have observed them.
- How many in each patrol? Is it just two guys? - Yeah. Two guys.
- Are they armed? - They have guns and everything.
(ARTURO) They go for them.
If you were in that group of people, what would you do?
I'd run in different directions.
- Somebody can escape. - Yeah.
- (ARTURO) Look at the other van. - Here comes the other vehicle.
(ARTURO) It's coming in the other direction.
(MICHAEL) They're cornered. They've had it.
- And the money they paid the coyote? - They lose it. Wasted.
- How much do you reckon they pay? - I think 250.
(ARTURO) Look at the other cars. There are three now.
So it's impossible they escape.
The legal border between Tijuana and the USA is the busiest land crossing in the world.
30 million people pass over it in a year and the salesmen are ready for them.
The gauntlet of souvenir stalls, row upon row of international junk,
feels like an ominous warning of what is to come as I step from the Third World into the First.
(W0MAN) Welcome to the United States.
You are about to apply for admission at the world's busiest border.
Please have your documents ready.
The use of fraudulent documents is a federal offence.
Aliens attempting to enter with fraudulent documents
will be detained for a hearing before an immigration judge.
Re-entry after exclusion or deportation will result in felony prosecution.
Welcome to the United States of America.
You are about to apply for admission at the world's busiest border.
Please have your documents ready.
The use of fraudulent documents is a federal offence.
Aliens attempting to enter with fraudulent documents
will be detained for a hearing before an immigration judge.
Re-entry after exclusion...
(MICHAEL) Before I go very far into the US,
curiosity compels me to look at the border from the other side.
I'm with Ron Henley of the Immigration and Naturalisation Service.
Yesterday's enemy is my host today.
Last year, 523,000 arrests.
Um... right now we're up around a little over 400,000, so we're on a pace with that.
How many of these people have been over before? Do you have any figures on that?
At a bare minimum, we have about a 40% recidivism rate.
What's your feeling about the people you pick up?
What do you feel? That they're just trying to get some work, or what?
It's a push-pull effect. They're pushed up here and drawn up here economically.
I think if I was in their shoes, I'd be doing the same thing.
The border at night.
An expensive array of hi-tech equipment has been made available to Ron's men
by a generous, if increasingly paranoid, US Congress.
Infrared cameras scan the fence.
- What are you seeing there? - There's a group on the south side of the fence...
...waiting to cross the border.
They're still in Mexico.
They're moving around, seeing where there's a good opening
to come through without being detected.
- How far away are they? - From a quarter of a mile to half a mile away.
They are in darkness. As far as they're concerned, they're walking around...
- Yes, they are. - They're in the dark.
You can see them because of the sensor... which gets the heat...
The body heat. Yes. Exactly.
- There's a lot of activity, isn't there? - Yes.
- What's happening there? - We have a group of 10 or 15.
They're on the north side of the fence, which is US.
It looks like they're resting right now.
They wait and look for the movement of our vehicles and see when they disperse.
They wait for an opportunity to move north.
Do you think those people are about to move?
No. Not yet.
They'll wait around at a different hole and see how the area looks
and see what the movement is.
As you can see, there's the helicopter flying above.
They won't move.
They'll just stay there.
Unlike the pollos, we're free to go north,
into California, the richest state of the richest country in the world.
For the 32 million people who live here,
it's the ultimate realisation of the American dream.
(VOICES ON RADIO)
The epicentre of the American dream is Los Angeles,
one of the great cities of the Pacific.
The only way to take it all in is from the air.
(PILOT) This is downtown Los Angeles.
Just over here on the east side is the older section of Los Angeles.
My guide is Bob Tur, doyen of the LA skies.
(RADl0) New help may be on the way for women with bladder control problems.
(MICHAEL) Tur makes a living by swooping from the air to snatch the news from his rivals.
He was the first on the scene when 0J Simpson was chased down the freeways.
From an office in Santa Monica airport,
his wife Marika monitors emergency service frequencies
and guides the helicopter to the scene of the next crisis.
The airport's right here.
This morning's first big story is an emergency landing on a freeway.
Bob Tur goes in, broadcasting live.
(TUR) We have the aircraft in sight. The pilot has made a safe landing on the freeway.
It appears to be not the 405 freeway, but the intersection... the 405-5 interchange.
It is a Cessna single-engine aircraft.
Four people can be aboard, but we understand two are aboard. Looks like everybody's OK.
(TUR) We listened to this guy coming in over the Van Nuys airport frequency.
He said he lost his engines. He was over 2,000 feet up in the air.
He couldn't make it to the airport, so he decided to put it down on the freeway.
The pilot is waving up in the air, ecstatic that he's safe.
Just an incredible situation. The aircraft is just fine.
All aboard are OK. Nobody injured on the ground.
This is a code 4. Everybody's OK. Back to you.
(MICHAEL) During a brief lull in emergencies,
Bob and his pilot give me a landmark tour of America's second-biggest city.
This is our version of the Eiffel Tower.
You can see the Hollywood sign and above it that tower that we can see so brilliantly at night.
They have to repaint it white every so often
because people think it's fun to tag it and put graffiti on it.
- Very clean today, isn't it? - It is clean.
It was cleaned in honour of your presence last night.
I wanted "With Michael Palin" but they couldn't afford it.
The lettering was expensive.
- Is that translucent or something, the surface? - No.
- In front of us we have Madonna's house. - In front of you?
International rock star Madonna's home.
- She's very fond of us. - Is she in? Will she come out on the roof?
Make a 360 over...
It's off to your left. It's got the adobe roof and the tower.
- Behind it is the pool. - Right. Yes.
Bugsy Siegel, one of our notorious gangsters, owned that home.
You can see the maintenance people are there.
No Madonna. No photographers.
The tour comes to an abrupt halt as word comes in of a serious accident.
(MAN) Southbound l-5 Hollywood Way. Roger.
Tell me what you're seeing, Bob.
It's a car pinned between a big rig.
The car is up against the guard rail, completely crushed.
His bird's-eye view, combined with the power of a 72:1 zoom lens,
gives him a range of shots rarely available to those on the ground.
His network, CBS, clears a space on the news for his report.
(PRESENTER) Bob Tur is live and above the scene.
We have a terrible accident here in Sun Valley, the 5 freeway southbound.
We have a big rig that pinned a small automobile against the central divider.
There was an explosion. Fire swept through the area, killing the automobile driver.
(TUR)... had to use heavy equipment to pry open the automobile door to see inside.
Unfortunately we believe nobody survived that crash.
(MICHAEL) Tur is fiercely competitive, setting himself high standards.
By the time we return to Santa Monica, I'm utterly exhausted.
For Bob it's just been a routine kind of day.
Back in the office, with the help of his video library,
he shows me days that weren't quite as routine.
- What's this story? - Sheriff's deputies beating up illegal immigrants.
We're a few miles away with our camera system.
They don't hear us and they continue to give these people a beating.
The only positive thing I can think about this appalling scene
is that there are very few countries that would allow Tur the freedom
to show that things like this actually go on.
Compared to the freeways, the Pacific Coast Highway is as quiet as an English country lane.
I could almost fool myself into thinking there's no hurry at all.
0utside Salinas I pick up the immigrant trail again.
By picking strawberries in John Steinbeck country
they can earn $1.40 a box, a fortune back home.
It is no surprise that over 90 per cent of the fruit crop in California is picked by immigrants.
It suits everybody.
By the time I reach the Golden Gate Bridge, the sea mist is catching on its towers
and the weather has turned from sultry Mediterranean to bracing North European.
0nly a short way from the temples of pleasure is the temple of punishment, Alcatraz Island.
Separated from the mainland by just over a mile of fierce currents and icy water,
it was regarded as the ultimate in incarceration.
This is where they put the hard men: Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly
and my two guides today, retired bank robbers Jim Quillan and Glenn Williams.
Apart from spells in the punishment block, this was their view of the world
for 17 and a half hours of every day.
Both were glad they didn't have a cell with this view.
It was considered unbearable.
Can I ask you about probably the most famous occupant, the Birdman of Alcatraz?
- Did you know him? - Yes.
- What were your feelings about him? - My feelings... he was a jerk.
He was a guy that thrived on chaos, turmoil, upheaval.
He liked other people to be involved in these kind of things,
but he was never a participant.
What did you think of the movie?
- Fantasy. - I refer to them as comedies.
I have seen them all.
One way or another, we have become consultants on those movies.
It isn't long before the director tells you,
"Look, we'll just ask you a couple of questions. We'll make the movie."
And when you see the end product, it's kinda funny.
Other people cry and we laugh.
We have this image through the media, the movies, the magazines,
that there's something glamorous and macho about prison.
But you know what prison really is? It's tears and sorrow and heartaches and loneliness.
Bitterness, insanity, murder, suicide, death.
That's what prison's all about.
Yet when the media portrays it, these guys are heroic.
(JIM) That's about as far from the truth as you can possibly get.
(MICHAEL) Jim was one of the few who tried to escape from Alcatraz.
He says there were 14 attempts.
Seven men were shot dead, six were drowned.
0nly one ever made it to the mainland.
He was recaptured almost immediately.
Despite Alcatraz, San Francisco is best known as a free-thinking town.
To see how it lives up to this tradition,
I take a tour of one of the world's largest gay communities.
My guide calls herself Trevor.
Michael, let me tell you about this intersection.
The intersection where we are right now, of 18th and Castro,
this is reputed to be the gayest four corners on earth.
That's quite a claim.
The gay and lesbian community in the Castro is over a quarter of a million strong.
Here they call heterosexuals those who enjoy an alternative lifestyle.
Trevor, who was once called Evelyn, is proud of its achievement.
The Castro is to gays what Israel is to the Jews, she tells me.
Why is San Francisco particularly tolerant?
San Francisco's birth was the gold rush.
When gold was struck in this area,
40,000 men migrated to this area from the four corners of the earth.
With everyone arriving on equal footing, the first characteristic to develop was acceptance.
- Acceptance of men with men. Men alone. - Precisely.
The Castro seems the epitome of a well-ordered community.
Everyone seems to know and love everyone else.
...the drug culture of Haight-Ashbury...
Sorry, Michael, I didn't mean to interrupt you, but here's Dennis.
- May I introduce Michael Palin? - Pleased to meet you.
- Local bobby, as we say in England. - That's what you say?
Trevor tells me that this is the centre of the gay community in San Francisco.
- Does it help to be a gay cop? Are you gay? - Yes.
So does it help in your work to be gay?
I think as far as the community's perceptions are concerned, yes.
I think that makes one more approachable, especially over certain issues.
- Are your fellow officers predominantly gay? - No. Not at all.
I don't think... according to the numbers that I am most familiar with,
I would say probably no more than two per cent of the department. Maybe a little more.
- Do they ask to come and work here? - Some do.
Trevor, I think we must go. Really nice to meet you.
- I'm also glad we ran into you. - We're going to see the neighbourhood.
- Look after it. - We certainly will. Enjoy.
The rainbow flag of the gay community flutters outside one of the most significant locations.
- Did the Names Project begin in San Francisco? - Yes, it did.
- When was that? - In 1987, early spring,
is when people began to make and collect panels in this very building.
What does each panel represent?
Each of these panels represents an individual that has been lost to the Aids epidemic.
30 other countries have their own quilt with this group's blessing.
It's used as a vehicle for grief,
a memorial to those we've lost to the Aids epidemic,
and it also is an education to people about what the epidemic truly represents.
All this youth, talent, creativity that's being lost.
Moving on, I'm at San Francisco airport for an early evening flight to Seattle.
Z-1, rotate.
For some reason, probably because the pilots get so bored,
I'm often invited up onto the flight deck to watch a take-off or landing.
Today is an exception.
As we approach Seattle, I'm asked to do more than just watch.
- Mr Palin, how are you? - Very well.
- Here? - Why not?
- Like to try a landing? - You must be joking.
No. Piece of cake. We'll talk you right through it.
Well, I think I'll probably...
(VOICE ON RADIO)
- A little to the left. - 800 feet.
- Is the airport in sight? Is that the runway? - Straight ahead.
Small corrections now.
- A little left. - Little left.
- Left. Left. - Whoa.
- Back to the left. - I've lost it. Whoa.
- Left and down. Down and to the left. - Down.
- Ooh! - 80 feet.
50. 30.
Ooh! Wow! Sorry about that, everyone. Spilled your drinks.
- Now just welcome them to Seattle. - Well... W-W-W...
W-W-Welcome to S-S-Seattle.
Home of Boeing and their wonderful in-flight simulators. Realistic, aren't they?
After a night in Seattle we're on our way again, across another border and into Canada.
First to Vancouver, then by railway north through British Columbia.
0ur first Canadian train is pulled by one of the locomotives
that used to haul expresses right across the country 60 years ago.
I'm told that because there are so few people here, you can flag trains down like buses.
We'll see.
(HORN)
Well, it's worked, but then the Canadians are notorious for being very nice people.
Thanks a lot. Sorry to stop you, but I was told you stop anywhere.
Ah! I couldn't afford the whole fare.
Where else in the world could you stop an entire express train
and still get lunch without a reservation?
This is timber country, with logjams on one side of us and sawmills on the other.
And in Canada, where there are trees, there are lumberjacks.
(TANNOY) Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to Mr Michael Palin.
(MICHAEL) I once sang a song about lumberjacks. Today in Squamish I pay for it.
The annual logging games always start with a bang,
and this year I've been asked to provide it.
- Has it got a kick on it? - Just a little kick.
See that tree with the red markings on it up there? No excuses, now.
Ready? And fire.
Whoa! We've never had anybody miss!
You did it!
It was nothing. It was nothing.
- He said it was nothing. - I worked in a firing squad.
Enjoy the show. We'll call you again a little bit later.
Michael Palin, ladies and gentlemen.
After that, thank God, all I have to do is watch
as the loggers show us 101 things you can do to a tree.
(TANNOY)... get through that wood faster than they normally would go.
They saw them, climb up and down them in under 30 seconds
and even, surprisingly, dance on them.
Watching their feet. As long as they don't go over the red line, anything goes.
Ready to go. Each one, remember, not less than eight...
Look at this! Look at this!
(COMMENTARY INDISTINCT)
That is one man down. Well done, Bill.
You're watching two of the best, a heck of a match.
(SHOUTS)
(COMMENTARY INDISTINCT)
Can he get across without falling in?
A little encouragement again would do. Stay up there!
Just as I think it's all over, I make the fatal mistake of getting excited.
Pride comes before a fall.
One, two, go!
It's fast. Fast, fast, fast!
It's no good. I think I've lost the will to win.
Oh, my goodness! How about it! Let's give him...
I want to go home! I want to go home!
(TRAIN HORN BLARES)
After that, the last lap can't go quickly enough.
The remote grandeur of the Rockies, the raw power of the Fraser River
are no match for my overwhelming desire to get back to Diomede and close the circle.
The further north we go, the more limited our transport options become.
Roads run out and the ocean takes over.
This route through the coastal islands is called the Alaska Marine Highway.
There is no regular passenger boat going further north than Skagway.
We must use an aircraft to take us on, via Anchorage, to the edge of the continent.
This is just... This is ultimately depressing.
I've gone absolutely as far as I can go on the American mainland.
This is a little area called Wales. That's Prince Of Wales Cape.
It's impossible to go further west in America.
And yet Diomede, where we began, is still about 25 miles out over the Bering Sea,
which is choppy and cold and there's just no way of getting there.
It's so frustrating after the distance we've been.
To have got to the...
Hang on.
Hang on!
Hey! Hey!
Hey! Over here!
The US Coast Guard, who offered us a ride down the Aleutian Islands chain a year ago,
had promised to help us on our return journey.
Today they're as good as their word.
Their ship, the Munro, is in the area,
winding up routine patrol duties in the Bering Sea.
Thanks, guys.
If anyone can get us to Diomede, it's the US Coast Guard.
- All ahead full. - All ahead full.
- Right.
Be advised we will be answering a full bell. All ahead full.
We're not all that's racing to Diomede.
A fierce storm from the south-west seems determined to beat us to it.
(FOGHORN)
Captain, it doesn't look too good. What are the chances of getting to Diomede?
Not very good, I'm afraid. Winds are about 30 knots. Seas are about 12 feet.
The fog signal's going off, which indicates reduced visibility around Diomede.
I don't think we'll be able to fly the helicopter in either.
- So that's helicopter... - Small boat. All out.
- How far are we away from Diomede? - Only about two miles right now.
We can't even see it.
The visibility is very reduced, which means the helicopter can't fly in.
The seas are too rough for the small boat.
What's the forecast if we wait around for a bit?
It's not looking any better. It's looking worse.
There is a front coming through. The winds will pick up as the front passes us.
We anticipate reduced visibility on the other side of the front.
We expect some warm air to be brought in, which is just going to bring more fog.
- So... - So I'm afraid that's about it.
It looks as though the Bering Strait has defeated us.
The most notorious and changeable and dangerous weather systems come through here.
A year ago, when I started this journey, it was flat, calm, sunny,
and everyone said, "You're very lucky."
And this, today, is the reality.
So I shan't set foot on Diomede, but I feel that I've closed the circle.
It is out there. We've travelled 50,000 miles.
We got within a gnat's of it, and I think that's something.