(gentle music) (siren wailing) - Everyone has an image of America, a land of big shops and bright lights, of asphalt highways stretching right across the continent, but there's another America, and I'm going to find it.

(boat engine revving) Dotted around this nation's shores are many thousands of islands that also fly the stars and stripes.

(waves splashing) To discover them, I'm going on a 10,000 mile island hopping journey, looping around the U.S.A from west to east.

Really beautiful, isn't it?

From Hawaii's islands of fire to Alaska's islands of snow and ice, from California's secret marine paradise, this is unbelievable, to the people playgrounds off the New England coast.

Aaaah!

Along the way, I'll see nature at her most spectacular.

(Martin laughs) I'll encounter the animals that inhabit these far-flung places.

Oh, hello.

Oh, boy, that's my first white shark.

And I'll be meeting people who live in their own sea-bound worlds.

(crowd cheering) (Martin laughs) I knew I was gonna be over this.

- Five, six, s.. Each with their own identity.

- I'll find the deep spots for you.

- Thank you.

(people singing in foreign language) And their own unique story.

(bright music) (fireworks crackling) Oi!

So if you wanna see a different U.S.A, come with me and discover the "Islands of America."

(bird chirping) (ethereal music) (birds chirping) These are the San Juan Islands in Washington State, just off America's northwest Pacific coast.

There are more than a hundred islands, mostly uninhabited, but even out here on the very edge of America, there are incredible stories to tell.

I've travelled nearly 1,500 miles here from Alaska, and my starting off point is Orcas Island from where there's really only one way to explore this frontier territory.

(gentle guitar music) - Let's get her down in here.

(metal door screeching) - Wow.

(gentle guitar music) I'm meeting Stuart McPherson.

He's a dentist by day, but his real passion is his 1920s bi-plane, a veteran from the barnstorming days of the Flying Circus.

And you recreated all the stunts as they were with- - Yeah, more or less.

None of the crashing, of course.

- No.

(Stuart laughs) No, no.

Stuart prefers to be known as Captain Mack.

What was she made of?

Aluminium?

- No, the wings are made of wood.

- Wood.

Wow.

(plane engine roaring) Small planes are a common site around here.

Used for everything from the school run to popping to the shops.

- Even an old plane like this makes a lot of sense on an island because you're water locked.

So to get off the island, you either need to take a ferry or an aeroplane.

So they're just like your Volkswagen, your daily transportation.

- Oh, let's get off the ground, shall we?

(Stuart laughs) - [Martin] Getting my six foot three frame into the cockpit is a bit of a squeeze, although I like to think that I make it look easy.

(plane engine roaring) Mack's told me I'm in for a treat, but it's just my luck that as we take off, the weather closes in.

I'm an okay flyer, but I'm not crazy about heights.

(tense music) So being in a bumpy, open cockpit and the cold and wet isn't ideal.

- [Stuart] Yeah, let me get up about 1,500 feet over the channel.

- [Martin] It didn't seem appropriate to ask Mack to stop, even if he could hear me.

(tense music) But as I look out, even through my tears, I can see that it's a very beautiful view.

(soothing music) The San Juans are known as the disputed islands.

They're so close to the U.S.

Canada border, it's hard to judge where one country ends and the other begins.

And down below me on the most populated islands, San Juan, crowds are gathering for America's biggest national holiday, the 4th of July Independence Day.

(ceremonious music) (people singing in foreign language) - [Martin] Since 1776, Americans have celebrated their freedom with gusto.

And on this island, it's a big deal.

- [Host] It's all about having fun and making people smile.

- [Martin] Maybe because San Juan was the scene of America's last war with her former colonial master, Britain.

- [Announcer] Ready!

(guns clicking) - Oh, they're gonna shoot me 'cause I'm English.

- Ready, fire!

(guns firing) (Martin laughs) And bizarrely the conflict kicked off because of a pig.

(sausage sizzles) (people chattering) To find out more about the pig war, I'm meeting local historian, Robin Jacobson.

- In 1859, an American citizen shot a British pig in the potato patch owned by the Americans.

There was a disagreement over how much to pay for the pig.

And then both countries kind of got up into arms and both of them sent troops here.

- Right.

- It was kind of a standoff that l.. - 13 Years.

- I know.

It's so strange, isn't it?

Yeah, none of these soldiers actually wanted to fight each other.

They got along very well that no one died except for the pig.

- Okay, good.

I like this war.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

Ever since we've been celebrating that the pig war was actually a war that did.. (catchy music) - At the height of the pig war, there were well over a thousand American and British troops stationed here.

The British flexing their imperial might, the Americans jealously guarding their independence.

Only in 1872 did the troops finally lay down their arms.

And today, islanders remain proud of their unique place in history.

Do you think that independence means something else on this island?

Sort of an added independence?

- That independent spirit, I think is still pretty strong.

If we're gonna go to the mainland, we just jokingly say, "Yeah, we're gonna go to America."

- No, you are.

Well, that's interesting, isn't it?

Listen, you know, if the independence thing isn't wo.. the door is always open, we don't bear grudges.

- [Robin] Well, we appreciate that.

(laughs) (crowd cheering) (gentle guitar music) - More than 150 years after the pig war, casualty, one pig, the British army camp still survives.

It was built here at Garrison Bay on the site of a former Native American settlement.

(birds chirping) Much of the base remains, including a rather pretty herbal flower garden originally planted the story goes to cheer up a homesick officer's wife.

(birds chirping) It's hard to believe that so many battle hardened troops were stationed here, but the serenity of San Juan must have won out.

The so-called enemies spent more time picnicking with each other than fighting, and they even celebrated Independence Day together.

(fireworks crackling) (crowd cheering) Watch.

(laughs) Hey.

(fireworks crackling) My 4th of July draws to a close with a spectacular fireworks display.

Watch!

A traditional finale to the Independence Day celebrations.

(euphoric music) Watch!

Tomorrow, I'll be moving on again.

Heading 60 miles south to an island with a very different vibe.

That was amazing.

(car horns honking) (ethereal music) Just off the coast of Seattle lies my next stop.

Another island proud of its independence spirit, Vashon Island.

Vashon can only be reached by a ferry, and most islanders prefer it that way.

They like having a natural barrier to mainland America.

(ethereal music) Like much of the West Coast, Vashon was settled by colonists in the 19th century, drawn to its fertile soil and rich woodlands.

My guide here is local entrepreneur, Susie Gress.

Susie spent many happy summer here as a child, and now lives full time on the island.

So your mom lived here and you used to come and stay with her.

- Yeah, growing up here, I thought, "Oh, big deal, lots of trees," but now I realise what a special place it is.

- Really.

- It's so beautiful.

When you've been to Seattle and fighting traffic, crowded streets, as soon as you hit the ferry dock, all of a sudden you smell the salt air and all your cares drop off your shoulders.

It's one reason I would never leave.

(groovy music) - Just like the island's original settlers, Susie runs a farm tucked away amid the forest.

(door thuds) But there's rather more to her than meets the eye.

- [Susie] Come on up and see the barn, Martin.

(groovy music) - Wow.

(Susie laughs) (groovy music) - (chuckles) Oh my God.

- Welcome to where the magic happens, Martin.

What do you think?

- And when you said you had a farm, I thought, I sort of imagined fields and things like this, not, (Susie laughs) oh my goodness.

(groovy music) Oh, my word.

Susie runs Vashon Velvet.

It's extraordinary.

A business growing cannabis on an industrial scale.

Oh, wow.

Look at the colours.

That's not the lights, is it?

- No.

- It is that colour.

- It is, this is called blueberry sapphire.

It looks like autumn, doesn't it?

- Yeah, it does.

- Yeah.

(gentle guitar music) - Back home, growing this much weed would see you put behind bars, but here in Washington State, cannabis was legalised in 2012, making it one of the very first places in the U.S.

where you're allowed to get high.

- This is Rude Boy, one of our news strains.

- Rude Boy.

- [Susie] Right.

- Each cannabis plant contains over 500 different chemicals.

And Susie's developed distinct strains, each with their own special characteristics.

What sorts this?

- This is our canna suture, Martin, that I think you'll really enjoy.

It tends to be very sexually arousing.

So, can I pack some up for you to take home?

(Martin laughs) - What are you suggesting?

(Martin and Susie laughing) - Come and see an Acapulco Gold.

I think you'll like this one.

- [Martin] But be warned though, some of her plants can be mind boggling.

- It has such a crazy high, it's almost like LSD.

- Oh, is it?

- [Susie] You take a whiff.

Hmm, I love that smell.

Smells like a gas station in the middle of a lemon grove.

- I'm getting a bit of lemon.

- Are you getting the diesel?

- I'm not quite getting the diesel, I'm not there yet.

(Martin and Susie laughing) - You're gonna wear out my plants, Martin.

(laughs) - Sorry.

Sorry, mate.

Well, how did you get going with this?

Why?

- My husband had died.

And when that happens, it kind of pulls the rug out from under you.

You know, all the plans that we had for retirement go up in smoke, and I realised I had to start a new life.

The state came out with its rules for how to get a licence to grow marijuana.

And I thought, I like gardening, and what the heck, I think I'll try it, see how it goes.

And I've been happier than I've ever been in my life.

- [Martin] Wow.

- Looking for work in your off time?

- Well.

(Martin and Susie laughing) - We could use another trimmer.

- Oh, really?

(suspenseful guitar music) - [Martin] More than half of U.S.

states now allow marijuana's medicinal use, though most still regard its recreational use as a crime, classifying it as an addictive dangerous drug.

But here on Vashon, three out of four Islanders back to more liberal approach.

As long as you're 21, you can buy cannabis openly.

Susie sells much of hers at a state licence store on Vashon's High Street.

(lever clacks ) I'm getting a whiff now.

- Even though it's packaged, it comes through.

(people chattering) - Wow.

(playful music) I never imagined that cannabis could be sold in so many forms.

From traditional joints to skincare, cannabis cookies to soft drinks.

- [Susie] What tickles your fancy?

We have hard candy, soft candy.

- It's just everything.

- [Susie] It's really amazing how normal.. to walk into a store like this that a few years ago you would've been in jail for.

(playful music) - [Martin] And for some customers, this store is changing lives.

Ashley suffers from severe back pain after a car accident.

- I'm not from here, I was living on the East Coast.

I'm basically- - And where you- - A medical refugee.

- Oh, you are, you're literally, 'cause it wasn't legal where you live.

- Yeah, it wasn't legal.

It was not legal in Georgia, I deal with chronic pain on a daily basis.

So cannabis is my lifesaver.

- Well, you hear this all over and over again that it's a brilliant painkiller, is it?

- Yeah.

- And it's not making you stoned?

- [Ashley] It's not making me ston.. - At all?

- I can function normally.

I have two kids and they don't notice really, other than I'm happier.

- 'Cause I've heard people talk about smoking too much cannabis and getting some paranoia and getting into, and you don't get any of that?

- Yeah, sometimes people get paranoid, but I don't have that problem myself and I smoke quite a bit.

- When you go smoke?

- Oh, do you?

- Yeah, I smoke quit.. Yeah.

- Memory loss?

- No.

- And what about memory loss?

(Ashley laughs) - I don't have any problems there.

(Martin chuckles) (groovy music) - Last year, Washington State took over $300 million in tax from cannabis stores like this one, more than it earns from alcohol.

(people laughing) Those figures are extraordinary.

And the sheer number of customers has taken me by surprise.

The pop business may divide opinion, but in this land of opportunity, cannabis has become a multi-billion dollar industry.

(gentle music) (car engine roaring) The hippie dream has always burned bright along America's West Coast.

And everything feels pretty chilled out here on Vashon.

While not everyone approves of the island's cannabis culture, so long as it's regulated and policed properly, it's probably not gonna go away.

(gentle music) (jazzy music) Los Angeles in California, with a population of over 4 million, it's one of America's biggest and most glamorous cities.

All bronzed bodies, biceps and beautiful beaches, but just out across the Pacific is a very different America, of which most of us are oblivious.

I've travelled from Seattle down America's West Coast to visit the Channel Islands National Park, known as America's Galapagos because of their unique wildlife.

(intense music) It's just a short hop by plane from LA, but it feels like a journey to a lost world.

(intense music) The Channel Islands have relatively few visitors and that isolation from man has proved to be good news for their animal inhabitants.

(intense music) (waves splashing) The island's brim with life.

(waves splashing) Birds crowd the cliffs and the beaches are packed with vast colonies of seals and sea lions.

(intense music) (plane engine roaring) I've landed on San Miguel Island to see some of the extraordinary wildlife for myself.

(door thuds) (sea lions barking) the landscape might look barren, but I can already sense the energy of the natural world around me.

There's an incredible phenomena that everywhere you turn your head, I haven't seen any yet, but I can hear the sound of seals or sea lions go oh oh oh.

Because my ears are at right angles to my head.

I only hear what's straight ahead.

So everywhere I turn, there's a different bunch of them making a different, a different set of sounds.

I can't wait to see them.

(sea lions barking) (ethereal music) It's not long before I get my first glimpse.

Now you can see where all the noise has been coming from.

That beach there is just litter, I don't know if they're seals or sea lions.

Hundreds of them like big, dirty tourists, (laughs) overcrowding a beach, sunbathing, living the dream.

(sea lions barking) (waves splashing) (sea lions barking) (waves splashing) (ethereal music) Dr.

Tony Orr is a conservationist.

- Hi, Tony.

- Hey, Martin.

- How you doing?

- [Tony] Doing good.

Welcome to San.. - Thank you very much.

You see it's great to see these guys because from the interior of the island, all you can hear is this barking, but you can't see where it's coming from.

Nice to put a face to the bark.

- Yeah.

Absolutely.

- Yeah.

- [Tony] There's a lot of them down there, so let's go take a look.

- Yeah, cool.

(waves splashing) (celestial music) San Miguel Island is home to well over a hundred thousand seals and sea lions.

- [Tony] What do you think?

- Oh my word.

(Tony laughs) It's one of the world's largest colonies.

And I'm here at the peak of breeding season.

(sea lions barking) The beach is packed with newborn pups, protective mothers, and aggressive territorial males.

(seals grunting) And it's not just bolshy seals that we have to watch out for.

- [Tony] Here comes the gulls.

(seagulls squawking) - [Martin] We also have to run a gauntlet of gulls who have newborn chicks of their own (whistles) and dive bomb anyone who comes too close to them.

- Oh, there's a chick right there, so we'll go around it.

(seagulls squawking) - [Martin] Wow.

- All right, welcome to the mobile blind.

So what we'll do is we'll get in.

- Right.

- And we'll just head straight to the beach crest.

And they'll allow you- - And they won't bite at all?

- They won't.

(sea lions barking) - [Martin] Apparently, the seals don't have very good eyesight.

- You come on in and then lock the door behind you.

- And the best way to get up close to them and observed is to climb into this sand coloured wooden box.

It's appropriately named the mobile blind.

Let's hope they can't see us.

- So we'll go nice and slow.

- Okay.

- On the left here is where you have a group of breeding animals.

- [Martin] Oh, he's a big fella.

- [Tony] Yes, he is.

- It's so funny to be so close and kind of semi invisible in this dad's army prop, rickety box on wheels.

Purpose-built seal reveal.

(seals honking) Pretty smelly too, aren't they?

(Tony laughs) - There they are there.

Hello, guys.

- [Martin] This is unbelievable.

- You see a lot of animals here.

- Just a smack in the middle of the morning.

It's a real privilege, thank you.

- It's a good place to watch the show.

You've got comedy, you've got drama.

- Yeah.

- [Tony] Action, romance.

They're all here.

(Martin laughs) Yeah.

Oh, here we go.

- Whoa.

- Oh, watch this, yeah.

- [Martin] Ooh, they move so fast, don't they?

- [Tony] They are.

They're very quick.

(playful music) (seals honking) (seal grunting) - [Martin] Conditions here on San Miguel are ideal, wide sandy beach, abundant food.

And apart from our box on wheels, no pesky tourists to disturb the peace.

Oh, look at the tiny ones.

Sounds like a little lamb, meh.

They're adorable, aren't they?

- Yeah.

- Quite nice to give that little one a cuddle, wouldn't it?

Yeah.

Oh, hello.

(seal grunts) Ooh.

(Tony laughs) He's telling us off, isn't he?

- He is.

- Yeah.

- Oi, excuse me.

Excuse me.

Excuse me, could you get up, please?

Excuse me.

- Tap it, blind a little bit.

Could you look?

Thank you.

(seal grunts) Got it.

(camera clicks) That is a seal-fie.

Thanks very much, mate.

That was a good seal-fie.

(laughs) (gentle music) San Miguel Island is over 25 miles off shore.

And this remoteness has created a unique ecosystem.

Plant and animal species have evolved here, which can be found nowhere else on earth.

The diminutive Island fox is one of them.

This evening, I'm joining Ranger Stacy Baker, setting fox traps as part of a remarkable conservation program.. - There's even a little fox trail so somebody goes in this ravine, we can set the first one there.

- Which is the front, which is the back?

- So this is the front of the trap.

- Okay.

- We can have that- - And that fac.. - [Stacy] Yeah.

- [Tony] What's the bait we put in?

- We bait the traps with a mix of d.. And then we also use a loganberry lure, but it's pretty strong.

So that'll get them to the trapping area.

- Wow.

Trapper's Choice for the stink you really want.

(laughs) I would've thought a fox would go for meat or something.

- They're omnivorous, so an opportunistic, they'll eat pretty much whatever they can out here, fruit, insects, mice.

- Oh, I see.

Well, they'll survive, I mean, if they're anything like t.. they are, I mean, they're in towns, they smoke, some of them have mopeds.

They're, you know, (laughs) they're real survivors.

- Yeah, they do pretty well.

- Yeah.

- [Stacy] So to set the trap, we pull this little hook on the edge.

And so fox walks in, hits the treadle.

Got it.

- And lid goes down.

- [Tony] And how many traps have you got out?

- We're gonna set 10 traps by the end of the day.

- Right.

God, I hope we see one.

Once we've set our traps, it's a matter of waiting until tomorrow to find out whether our Trappers Choice bait has enticed a fox or not.

(gentle music) (sea lions barking) Early the next morning we set out to check our fox traps and the signs look promising.

Oh, hello little fella.

Oh, hello.

Oh, foxy.

Oh, sweetheart.

- Oops.

- Hello, mate.

Oh, look how nice he is.

Hey, foxy.

- [Stacy] Hey, watch your fingers.

(Martin laughs) Pull him out of the trap.

- [Martin] Oh, little fella.

- [Stacy] And I'm gonna close.

- That's female.

- Yep.

- Hello, baby.

This fox has been caught before.

She already has a tracking collar and an identity tag.

- An active collar.

And so the first thing we'll do is identify the fox.

So MAZE is our PIT tag reader.

And we'll just scan along the back and it picked up the tag.

So she was caught last year as a yearling, so she's about two years old.

- [Martin] Right, yeah.

- [Stacy] Little cat mask.

Put that on.

So we wanna check for parasites.

They can get fleas and ticks out here.

- [Martin] Really wanna tickle her tummy.

- [Stacy] Oh-oh.

Not like that.

(Martin laughs) And then we'll do a quick comb for fleas.

Yep, no fleas detected.

- [Martin] Well done.

- Yeah, she's doing well.

(strap crackles) - [Martin] Whoop.

- [Stacy] All right, let her go.

- [Martin] Bye-bye, baby.

Off she goes.

This female's in good shape, but for many years the Island fox was under grave threat.

Golden Eagles had begun nesting on the island and had hunted the foxes to the brink of extinction.

Just fifteens survived here.

- So in 1999, the park rounded up the last 15, just captured them, put them in a protective pen so that they couldn't get eaten by eagles.

And then once they had captured all of the Golden Eagles and removed them from the island, then the foxes were able to be released.

And the numbers came back up over the years.

And now, they've reached pre decline levels.

You know, anywhere from 200 to 300 foxes on average.

- That just shows you what survivors foxes are there.

- [Stacy] Yeah, it's a pretty incredible success story.

- [Martin] The next trap has even more proof of the success.

- [Stacy] This looks like one of this year's pups.

- [Martin] Oh, wow.

- [Stacy] This is a real tiny pup.

- Oh, little baby, baby.

Hello, sweetheart.

(laughs) A very young untagged pup.

Oh my gosh.

(laughs) So he's like a year?

- [Stacy] Just a few months.

- A few months?

- Yeah, he's, so let's get the weeks.

- [Martin] Everything about him looks young, doesn't it?

His little arms.

- Yes.

- Legs.

- [Stacy] He's tiny.

- [Martin] He is tiny.

- [Stacy] The mask might barely fit him.

- [Martin] So she can track this new addition to the Island's fox population.

Stacy's fitting a microchip beneath the pup's skin.

- [Martin] Well, that was nicely done.

'cause I didn't even see him squirm.. - [Stacy] So there we go.

Says the tab has been read.

(strap crackles) - Whoop, there you go, fella.

Is that him done?

Good to go?

- Yeah, he's good to go.

- [Martin] Little man, bye-bye.

- [Stacy] All right, so for release.

- Yep.

- Just set him that way.

All right, there you go.

Bye-bye.

- Boop, boop, boop.

Oh, God.

He's tiny.

(laughs) (gentle music) It seems remarkable that the Channel Islands are so close to California, yet, remain largely unknown.

This is an extraordinary place.

Quite simply a natural wonder.

(gentle guitar music) I've left the remarkable wildlife of the Channel Islands behind.

(gentle guitar music) And I've come to Louisiana in the deep south, a low lying region, crisscrossed by slow moving waterways or bayou.

It's a 2,000 mile journey across the states to Avery Island.

Avery sits inland from the Gulf of Mexico rising 150 feet above the surrounding bayou.

(gentle guitar music) The island is home to one of America's most successful fam.. Tabasco Chilli Sauce.

(gentle guitar music) Chilli peppers were first planted here over 150 years ago by Tabasco's founder, Edmund McIlhenny, a former banker with a love of hot sauce.

These plants are all descendants of Edmund's original badge.

And the sauce they produce has got some notable admirers.

Oh, look at that, you've got the queen's, what's it?

How fantastic.

That must be quite rare for an American company.

- It is.

- Isn't it?

- The company is really proud of that.

- Yeah, I bet.

Thank you very much.

- I'm honoured.

- I'm a huge chilli sauce fan.

Wow, I'm getting the smell already.

- It's all right there.

- I even make my own at home.

So a chance to see behind the scenes of Tabasco feels like a pilgrimage.

What?

(bottles clinking) Oh, look at all the bottles.

- Yeah.

- My guide, Elias Landry, grew up .. and dedicated over 35 years to making chilli sauce.

Oh, boy.

Elias is taking me to the bottling room.

It's busy and noisy, but boy, it makes an impression.

- These machines are vacuum fillers.

You get sauce from upstairs, it pumps the air out of the bottles and replaces it with sauce.

- Mesmerising, isn't it?

- Yeah.

These lines are capable of running .. - All slotting through like good little soldiers, here, look.

(chuckles) Go on, boys.

- Next we have an automatic capper that puts the cap on these bottles.

- When Tabasco was founded in 1868, one of its very first orders was for around 600 bottles of sauce sold in discarded cologne bottles.

Can I touch them?

Woo.

(laughs) During my visit, this high tech production line will churn out well over 600,000 bottles in just one day.

(enchanting music) And then these ladies are checking quality control?

- [Elias] Yeah.

- Sorry.

- Hello.

(enchanting music) - [Martin] Tabasco has proved a global hit.

It's sold in over 185 different countries.

South Africa.

- [Elias] It should be the whole order.

- That whole line is South Africa, where's that one going?

That's going to Belgium.

Germany.

- Yeah.

- Germany, Nigeria, Nigeria and Senegal, I call it, I'm so excited (laughs) just to see it all come literally down a line.

- Yeah.

- And all of these bottles in everyone's homes all around the world, all took that a little journey to.

- Yeah, we've been doing it like this for 150 years.

- Amazing.

(laughs) (gentle guitar music) Tabasco may be a modern global business, but it's still made in a traditional way.

Just chilli peppers mashed with a little salt and vinegar, and to give extra colour and flavour, aged in whiskey barrels for up to three years.

Managing Director Tony Simmons is the great, great grandson of the company's founder.

Huh?

(laughs) Holy Moly.

(Tony laughs) Holy, what sauce?

Look at that.

(laughs) - [Tony] That's about 66,000 barrels of Tabasco mash, ageing.

- [Martin] So in a normal barrel of mash, how many bottles?

- About 10,000 bottles per barrel.

There's a lot of Tabasco.

- [Martin] There's enough mashed pepper here to fill 660 million bottles.

About a billion dollars worth.

Tabasco's turnover is as eye watering as the hot sauce itself.

- So Martin, what we're looking at is two barrels of Tabasco pepper mash, and this is mash that we've aged for up to three years and now we would be ready to make Tabasco.

You measure heat and food in what's called Scoville units.

- That's it.

Yeah.

- The regular red Tabasco has a Scoville rating of between 2,500 and 5,000.

This mash would be somewhere between 35,000 and 50,000 Scoville units.

- Wow.

So we don't, I'm not gonna taste this.

Am.. - If you want to.

I will.

I do it every day.

- Do you?

- The way I taste it, Martin, is to take it and put it on the tip of my tongue.

- Yeah.

- And hold it there.

And then I spit it out because it's almost too hot to e.. but you'll taste salt out on the edges of your tongue where you taste salt.

And about the time you say, "This isn't that bad," the heat will come at the back of your throat.

(Martin laughs) - That's exactly the timing.

I was just thinking actually, this is delicious.

And then it hits you.

- For anyone who's willing to try Tabasco mash, we have a spoon here.

So for courage under fire.

- Wow, I just won that.

- You just won that.

- Yes.

- For tasting the mash.

- (laughs) Oh, thank you for that.

This day's just gonna get better and better, isn't it?

Thank you.

- But yeah, it's strong.

- Yeah.

- But when you cook Tabasco, the heat cooks out.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- What stays is flav.. - Yeah, I keep telling my wife that.

So I put it in when she's not looking.

- Yeah.

- Don't tell, ease that bit (Martin and Tony laughing) (vibrant music) (car engine roaring) For 150 years, Avery Island has thrived.

But just along the coast, Louisiana's island communities are being washed away, destroyed by climate change, rising sea levels and violent weather.

(tense music) In August 2005, (waves splashing) the full force of nature's power swept across the state.

Hurricane Katrina flooded the region's largest city, New Orleans.

Over 1,500 people lost their lives, a million were left homeless.

(tense music) More than 10 years on, over $20 billion has been spent building new flood defences, dubbed the Great Wall of Louisiana.

But as I approach the impressive floodgates, one of over 200 gates that will shut in the event of another hurricane, I can't help but think of those who now find themselves living on the wrong side of the wall.

(tense music) There's a lot of dead trees, this side of the wall, whereas the other side of the wall, they were all, they all looked quite healthy.

All these plots must have had houses on them.

The driveway and the infrastructures are all there.

Wow.

The river here is only two foot short of the bank.

It wouldn't take much to flood over.

See that?

Everyone's built their houses on st.. or they're just in mobile homes where they can leg it.

Oh, look at this one, right up on stones.

But you wonder if a hurricane came through, it might just knock that out, right?

I see what they're doing.

I'm heading to Delacroix Island to meet a local fisherman, Thomas Gonzales, whose family have lived here for generations.

You sort of think, well, why live here?

But I suppose people wanna live where they live, don't they?

I don't know, I guess Thomas will have a view on that.

(tense music) (birds chirping) Delacroix was settled by Spanish immigrants in the late 18th century.

(gentle guitar music) Islanders made their living from the water, catching shrimp, crab, and turtle, or from the surrounding land, hunting for mink, otter, and muskrat for their fur.

With so much on their doorstep, the people of Delacroix flourished.

When these images were taken in the mid 20th century, the island had over 400 homes.

Today, only 34 people live here.

(boat engine revving) 80-year-old Thomas was born here during the island's heyday.

- How young were you when your dad first started taking you out?

- Me?

- Nothing.

- Almost in diapers.

- Just like- Yeah.

(laughs) - I was so small, we used to fish trout, and they used to tie me to that post so that fish won't pull me overboard.

That's how big I was.

(Martin laughs) I'm still a little guy, I never did grow.. I just got older.

This is where the school used to be.

- [Martin] Wow.

- All along here, they had houses.

Right here, they had a ballroom and everything right there.

- [Martin] Wow.

Thomas' island community is being wiped off the map.

Land is vanishing here at an alarming rate.

Each year, Louisiana loses 75 square kilometres to erosion and rising sea levels.

- When I was a kid, this was all land when I was a young boy, but all of that was land.

It's all gone, keep washing, washing, more and more away, yeah.

- It's really hard to imagine there was land and buildings .. You look at it now.

- Yeah.

For years, less and less land.

(gentle music) Water that destroys.

They don't understand that.

These people from the concrete jungles don't understand it, what water can do.

(gentle music) - Out here with Thomas, it's hard to believe anyone could doubt the reality of climate change.

Yet like generations before him, Thomas still makes his living from the water.

(motor engine revving) Today, he's fishing for crabs with his son, Tommy.

(metal clanking) - Here, the number one.

- That's how you m.. - [Thomas] Yep, to sell them.

It's gotta be six and a quarter.

- Take that way huh?

- Yeah.

I got four, five.

- [Martin] There's plenty of blue crab here.

- Six.

- And a good income for Thomas and Tommy to make, albeit a hard one.

They typically start work at 4:00 AM.

(water splashing) (bright music) - Now you think you got enough.

(bright music) - Back home, Thomas has invited me to share lunch with his wife Joan and their family.

- Y'all want beer, water, what?

- I'd love a beer.

Thank you.

We are having a traditional Cajun dish, crab boil, which you'll be surprised to hear is crab boiled, albeit with sausage, veg, and spices.

Did you just eat the legs of the crab or do you get in there?

- Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

- No, you get in the bony?

- The body of the crab.

Yeah.

- Ye.. - Open it up.

- Break it open.

- Mm.

- Good stuff, huh?

(Joan laughs) - Perfect.

That's really good.

Beautiful.

Well, lovely.

Thank you.

- [Tommy] The same thing with this side.

(metal clanking) (Joan laughs) - It's real activity food, isn't it?

- Yeah, you gotta work for it.

(Martin and Joan laughing) - Tommy's moved his family behind the wall, but despite all their difficulties, his parents are determined to stay.

They live in a house on stilts, 17 feet up in the air.

Though during the last major flood, that was only just high enough.

- This is after water went down some.

We had 14 feet of water in here.

- Oh my God.

- [Thomas] I took that.

- [Martin] It took the second floor out.

- [Joan] Yeah.

Yeah.

all of this was gone.

- 'Cause this was gone.

- This is 17 where we at.

- Right.

- And it was 14, so we didn't have much more fit to get to the trailer up there.

- How fast was the wind?

- That's what's so weird about it.

It wasn't such a strong hurricane to do, but it did a lot.

- Do you worry about the future here?

- Yeah, it's because we don't know how long we're gonna be here when it all washes away with the land disappearing.

So we just live day to day and year to year and see what happens.

- And that's the problem we had.

(gentle guitar music) - [Martin] Unlike Thomas and Joan, many islanders have had enough, their homes now left empty and abandoned.

(gentle guitar music) - I was born and reared here.

From hurricane to hurricane, it keeps going.

- You're talking like you think there's gonna be another hurricane.

- Oh, yeah.

We're gonna get many more.

- Really?

- Because you don't have nothing o.. When I was a young kid, we had barriers.

We had land out there.

Miles of land out there, that's not there anymore.

- And what about that wall down the road?

What do you make of that?

- That wall?

- Yeah.

- I see another hurricane come in, like, bet it's gonna knock it down.

Gonna knock it down.

- So you don't think it's gonna work?

- I think it's gonna knock it down.

- You don't think it's gonna work?

- Knock it down.

- Really?

Wow.

- With 150 mile an hour wind, that tidal wave that's coming with it.

Ain't nothing could have stand it.

- And what about the state, the government, do you feel like they're, it just- - In government?

- Whoop.

(laughs) - Man, you hit the worst thing of all.

- So what's gonna happen?

- What's gonna happen?

I don't know.

I love it here.

This is a freedom of life.

I'm my own boss, go when I want, come home when I want, that's my freedom.

- You're happy.

- Right, I'm like that little duck.. southern dog ever quack.

(Martin laughs) That's it.

You got that?

(gentle guitar music) - I've enjoyed spending time with Thomas and his family, but I can't help but be worried for them and for the dwindling island that they call home.

(gentle guitar music) Water gave this community life, but ultimately, that water may also prove the death of it.

(gentle guitar music) (bright music) Next time, I'll be strutting my stuff to salsa.

I'm like a Dante sponge.

- Yes.

(laughs) - Netting fish the traditional way.

Yep, all right, fish.

And getting up close to the world's most famous pony swim.

You can see the foals in there.

(bright music) (bright music continues)