Is Nessie the sea monster actually real?

DW (English)

For centuries, adventurers have searched for Nessie—without success. But Dave Holton is confident he'll find the Loch Ness monster someday. And he has high-tech equipment to help with his quest, but a canoe may be just as useful.

Transcript

00:00 Welcome to the home of Scotland's greatest mystery, Loch Ness.

00:05 What lies below its depths is a question that's gripped generations

00:10 and draws millions to its dark and murky waters in search of a monster.

00:16 There's a brute.

00:17 Dave Holton's seen many Nessie hunters come and go.

00:21 He spends every moment he can camped here by the water's edge.

00:25 Wow.

00:26 His own private sanctuary away from the crowds.

00:29 Dave believes there's a creature out there, a creature he hopes one day to discover.

00:35 Of course I do. It's got to.

00:37 Somewhere out there, or there has been, or hopefully she's still, or he's still here.

00:43 You know, on those mornings where the mist is just hovering above the water,

00:48 you know, just, come on, just poke your head up.

00:52 Let's come out and let's see you.

00:54 It was a passion for nature that first brought Dave to the Loch.

00:59 Now in his 60s he says he's addicted, spellbound by its majesty,

01:04 hooked on the endless promise of mysteries still to be discovered.

01:08 It just makes me, oh, there's hairs on the back of my neck.

01:13 Standing up, yeah, yeah, it's amazing.

01:16 Yeah, just love it.

01:19 Away from Dave's secluded corner, Nessie's a global sensation.

01:23 It spawned a massive tourism industry, with a major new monster hunt this summer

01:28 drawing the world's attention to Scotland once again.

01:33 You've got your drones, get them up.

01:35 You've got your cameras, take them out.

01:37 Binoculars, monoculars, we'll get on it. OK, guys?

01:41 A boat equipped with sonar and sound technology

01:44 trawled the waters in the biggest surface water hunt in 50 years,

01:50 with hundreds of volunteers lured to the Loch.

01:54 We've travelled 12 miles by train, so she's here and we're going to find her.

02:02 Rebecca and her two sons travelled all the way from Wales

02:06 to turn a Nessie fantasy into reality.

02:09 We came because it's been Rufus's dream for the last two years

02:13 to come to Loch Ness and to try to find the monster.

02:18 And I thought, I've got to do this for him.

02:21 I will not get another chance in his childhood.

02:24 So 11 and a half hours on a train and we're here.

02:29 Worth it.

02:31 Another Nessie enthusiast hooked,

02:35 as another search passes with the mystery still unsolved.

02:40 But there's magic to this story that an elusive monster can't dampen.

02:45 Magic that makes even the most hardened cynics scour these waters

02:49 and wonder, what if?

02:53 And for search organiser Alan McKenna,

02:55 preserving this legend for the next generation

02:58 is even more important than finding the monster itself.

03:02 I don't want this to go away. I love this mystery

03:05 and the environment since I've been a wee boy.

03:07 I will be called selfish for that.

03:09 He's only feeling it for himself. You're damn right I'm feeling it for myself.

03:12 I love this place.

03:14 I'm happy to just play a really small part in this important legacy

03:19 and I think that's worth protecting.

03:21 Across the water, Dave's setting off once again.

03:24 One man and his kayak.

03:27 A more welcoming prospect, he hopes,

03:29 for a creature who routinely shuns the crowds.

03:33 When all those people have gone, I'm still going to be here

03:37 and I can go out and paddle to my heart's content on my own

03:40 and just, you never know.

03:44 See?

03:45 For Dave, this loch's more than just a monster.

03:48 Osprey!

03:50 Wow!

03:53 But if he finds one along the way, well,

03:56 wouldn't that really be something?

03:59 (playful music)

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