which is straight after this programme. this is just incredible. this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. this is just incredible. the caribbean — a collection of 7,000 islands set in shimmering seas with some of the best beaches and marine life in the world. it's home to over 45 million people and a mix of cultures, music and natural wonders. but this oceanic environment is as fragile as it is beautiful and the caribbean�*s relationship with its seas and ecosystems are changing rapidly. i'm reece parkinson. as someone who has caribbean ancestry, this place has

almost mythical status, even though i've never been here before. we're swimming with sharks! i'm kicking off my adventure in the dominican republic... oh, i'm excited! ..where i discover how islanders are carving out a new relationship with the sea. really, what i want is for the community to get in touch with the ocean because that's the only way we're going to take care of the ocean. and... esperate, capi! shouting. ..i come face—to—face with one of the giants of this unique marine environment. there's a whale! yeah. 0h, whoa! i'm starting myjourney on the island of hispaniola, shared by haiti and the dominican republic. this is my first time ever in the caribbean. i'm in the dominican republic, in the capital city santo domingo, and it actually feels quite european. in fact, this is the oldest cathedral in all of

the americas, and it was built nearly 500 years ago. the cathedral of santa maria la menor — and much of the architecture here — is the legacy of the spanish, who arrived here by sea in the late 15th century, spearheaded by christopher columbus on his maiden voyage to the region. spain became the first european colonisers in the americas whilst also decimating the indigenous taino population. centuries later, the spanish legacy is still very strong. and when it comes to music, on this island, you won't hear much reggae. instead, it's the more latin feel of merengue and bachata. hey, reece! i'm meeting the country's king of bachata, martires de leon. so, bachata actually originates from the dominican republic?

plays slow, melancholic tune. plays fast, staccato arpeggios. # bailalo, bailalo, reece. # bailalo, gozalo, reece... as well as its spanish roots, it's thought that bachata is fused from influences from the enslaved africans who were brought here

and the indigenous taino people who were displaced during colonisation. # bailalo, reece. # bailalo, bailalo, reece... its infectious melodies soon attract passers by. # bailalo, bailalo, en bachata. # bailalo, bailalo, esta bachata. # bailalo y gozala, esta bachata... # mira montilla, como esta? # y reece! you think of the caribbean,

it's barbados,

jamaica, saint kitts. # ..con la bachata. applause. wow!

even myself, i'm mixed race — jamaican father, british mother — and coming here has opened my eyes up to the spanish culture and the latin influences. but what draws most people to the caribbean are the incredible beaches and extraordinary marine life. the dominican republic boasts over i,000km of coastline, attracting some 10 million visitors in 2023 — that's more than any other caribbean destination. i'm heading north to cabarete, a seaside town that's become world —famous. i'm told a few decades ago, cabarete wasjust a small fishing village. but in recent years, it has completely transformed, and that's because this part of the coastline is in the right spot to capture the strong currents from the north in the winter and the constant trade winds from the east. this creates the perfect wave and now attracts surfers from across the world. you can find every type of water sport here, from windsurfing to paddleboarding. and right now, cabarete is hosting its annual global event, master of the ocean, and i'm meeting the current champion, brian talma. brian! it's de action man. de action man! how you doing, man? yes, brother. respect, respect. 0h, dude, respect. so, you're going for back—to—back titles this year? well, i'm going to try, you know? this event is amazing because we do all the sports and all the sports i love — windsurf, kitesurf, foil and everything.

originally from barbados, brian arrived here in the �*80s, becoming one of the pioneers of water sports. back then, there were literally only a handful you got up, you rode a few waves — success! action! brother, thank you, dude. action! whilst adrenaline—fuelled water sports are a key part of the championships, there's a wider aim — to engage the local community. lively drumming. caribbean culture, for those that live in the region, hasn't always been based around beach time — most leisure activities are targeted towards visitors. as tourists, we come over and we're like, "of course, we're going to try and surf. "of course, we're going to swim." you know, that's different. that's not the case for a lot of the locals. ..para poder asistir a cualquier persona en la playa. but organisers want to change that by launching initiatives that teach dominicans water skills. i'm meeting the team coordinating the event,

patricia hiraldo and marcus bohm. so, has the event brought more of the community into water sports? definitely. i think the event really awakens the mind of the children and the youth because, of course, they're looking to compete and they're looking to shine. we realised that eight out of ten children don't know how to swim and we're an island surrounded by water on three sides and it's an economy thriving on water sports. and we have a theory that if your parents don't know how to swim, there's not a culture of swimming. so, you cannot change the adults�* mind, but you can change the children's mind. they are training since a few years on swimming. really, what i want is for the community to get in touch with the ocean because that's the only way we're going to take care of the ocean. 0k, esta bien. beyond enjoying the water, patricia and marcus hope to empower the next generation

to improve safety. what we want to do is create a situation and that we have a culture of lifeguarding, which we don't have, like in australia or florida or hawaii. we usually bring trainers from the usa or canada. so, we trained over 70 lifeguards and we trained over 20 lifeguard instructors, but our dream is to create a situation where we go island—wide. un aplauso! applause. applause. amazing day here at cabarete, and i have always been obsessed with the sea. but what's really great is that now, the locals are connecting with the oceans in ways that they haven't really done before. and considering that over half the population are under 30, i can only imagine the positive impact that it's going to have on future generations. next, i'm heading some 200km along the coast

to samana peninsula, a thin strip of land poking out of the north—east of the island. and something else that stands out here is a distinctive wooden church and a little—known history dating back two centuries. hey, how are you? wilfredo. wilfredo, how are you? reece. good to meet you. the pastor. hi, great to meet you! will kelly, pastorjerlin feliz diaz and the congregation at st peter's church are descendants of african—american former slaves. having won their freedom, they opted to emigrate here from the united states at a time when haiti briefly controlled the whole island of hispaniola. when the dominican republic regained the country, much of the african—american population remained. hi!

norma. reece. good to meet you. this church has quite the cultural mix. yes, that's right. my family, they came from philadelphia — exactly — straight from philadelphia to samana 182a. around 300 people made that first journey by sea from the north—eastern states, enticed by the offer of free land and a chance of a new life. haiti's mission was to consolidate their power by boosting its population. the haitian president talked with the united states president — "oh, i need some people, "like "like carpenter and bakery. "they build boat, fishing, agriculture." and my family, they felt happy when they tried to make deal with them. they say, "no, no, no — let me try, let me try.

"let me go," because they don't felt so free. so, clearly, there wasn't enough opportunity in america for them to feel like they were really going to progress, so when they heard about this in philadelphia and the first few hundred came over, not knowing the island or knowing anyone here, ifound it so profound that they were willing to take that huge life risk. despite living on a spanish—speaking island, this enclave fiercely clung onto their heritage, with some services held in english and the hymns they brought over centuries ago still ringing out. # give me that old—time religion. # it's good enough for me. old—time religion. # it was good for my dear mother. for my dear mother... i didn't expect to hear gospel in the dominican republic, and the lengths that they have clearly gone through to pass it down, generation by generation, the history that they have, they have so much pride in making sure that that part of their history and culture is still represented. and, i mean, whata way

to represent it than a church that's 200 years old? but the community who built st peter's were relative newcomers compared to some other locals who've been coming here for some 50,000 years. as you can see, there is the atlantic ocean, and these are some of the most important waters for sea mammals breeding in the whole world. the waters around samana bay are the most popular place for whale—watching in the caribbean. from january to march — whale season — tourists arrive in their droves. it's also where scientists can study the animals' behaviours. hey, hey! i'm meeting a team led by rita sellares and marvin del cid from the dominican foundation for marine studies.

their work informs the country's marine policies. so, today, we are going to see the humpback whales and do some monitoring, so it's going to be an exciting day. every year, thousands of humpback whales swim epic distances on their annual migration. part of our role during the season is come and collect some of the data of the behaviour and the number of whales and the tails of the whales. so, rainer is part of our team of technicians. it's his first time seeing the whales. ah, first time? we're together on this. afterfeeding in the north atlantic over summer, come winter, the humpbacks embark on a six—week commute south to the warmer waters of samana for breeding. so, i will try to fly the drone over the whales and try to take pictures and film some kind

of behaviour, the behaviour of the whales. see what they're doing. the relationship of the mother with the calf or whatever. i thought whale—watching would be relaxing. esperate, capi! shouting. i wasn't expecting quite such a bumpy ride. so, rita, you told me before i got on here to take a pill for seasickness, right? which i didn't. yes! am i an idiot? laughs. maybe. it's super relaxing and calm! you've just got to ride the wave. don't try and resist the wave. it's all about being — being calm and don't panic! the vast majority of north atlantic humpbacks are born in these waters and it doesn't take long for my first sighting. yeah, yeah! hey, hey! music swells.

oh, yeah! laughs excitedly. i saw that! i saw it! rainer, mira la ballena! some measure up to 60ft long — almost the size of two school buses — and can weigh a whopping 30 tonnes. we are seeing with the images of the drone that probably, that is a female because we have the males kind of fighting, hitting each other, and it's part of the reproductive behaviour. then, the female is going to choose one of the males and then, after the copulation here, she's going to travel back to the us or the north coast, will feed and then, coming back next year to have the baby here in the bay. so, that's why we say that the whales are dominican because they are born here.

here. the females go through almost a year—long pregnancy before giving birth. ok, let's see. as for me, the choppy seas are starting to have an effect. actually, i'm feeling pretty sick. but it seems rita has a plan b. screams. laughter. laughs. are you feeling better? rita! what?! laughs. i'm so sorry! i'm feeling so much better now, rita! thank you! muchas gracias! 0h, 0k, right. yeah. i'm back. while the conditions here proved a little rough for me, the bay�*s deep waters are perfect for humpbacks. in 1986, strict guidelines were put in to protect the area, and samana became one of the first sanctuaries of its kind in the world. humpback whales command deep admiration here. but there's another animal found in these waters that's perhaps been less well loved

or understood until recently — the manatee. these enigmatic creatures are typically around 10ft long and weigh about a ton. studies into their behaviour forms the bigger part of rita and marvin's work. hola! and once i've got over my seasickness, i'm back to hear about their research. we started monitoring manatees in 2006 in bayahibe. we were really worried about the number of manatees left in the country because we started to see like, an average between six and ten per year — that animals that were dying in the beach. just like the whales, there used to be thousands of manatees around these shores but numbers are dangerously dwindling due to fishing, hunting and shipping accidents. we only have left

around 100 of animals. 100?! 1007! yeah. marvin is going to fly the drone and try to find the manatees. so, once he sees the manatees, we are going to register the time, the height and the data of identification of each manatee. so, rainer is a drone assistant. so, let's go, rainer. yes, let's go, rainer. uno... ah! barks. from above, the manatees are not as easy to spot as the whales were. he has a really good eye and he has a really good eye, too. your eyes? mine, they are ok. laughs. hay otro manati! hay otro al lado. we have two manatees. three, three, three! three? three manatees, yes. this is a baby manatee. this is important that we found babies because you know

they are reproducing. and you can see now the calf and the mum. you can see that they can be apart from each other — not too much. but when it's a new baby, it stays all the time with the mum. and now, it can get a little bit far, yeah. oh, you can see his face! yeah. here, there is a population of ten animals, more or less — 10—11 animals. i think it's an amazing animal. it's really calm, it's never aggressive, so i really like them. so, we want to check the temperature and the water the temperature and the water conditions, just to see that everything is ok for the animals. one area where the team have seen some real progress is with public perception. so, now, there is a huge awareness in the country, thanks to juanita. there is a huge story behind juanita. this is juanita. wow! uh—huh. and you can see the tag. juanita was a manatee

rescued after an attack from a fisherman. her plight, along with two other rescues, pepe and lupita, really sparked the imagination of dominicans. she was rehabilitated at the national aquarium and then reintroduced into the wild in 2020. is this you? yeah, that's me, that's me. and it's really nice, because — so, i saw her when she was born in bayahibe, so, for me, this was a happy moment to see her after eight years, free into the ocean and doing what she likes and seeing that she was really well adapted. it's inspiring to see how people like rita are gradually transforming public awareness here. the aim is that more dominicans will start to develop closer relationships with the sea and the unique marine life that surrounds them. so, i think that people's mind has changed a lot. people is more connected to the sea. it's not only manatees — so, it's the marine ecosystems

and it's something that we need to save and protect. hello there. much of central, southern, and eastern england yet again saw another warm and very humid day. but as we move through the weekend, certainly after saturday, it'll be fresher for all, with pleasant conditions in the south. but there will be rain at times, particularly across northern and western areas, thanks to atlantic low pressure systems. so, we start saturday off with this weather front that's been crossing the country, taking the cloud and any showers with it and the warm air. so, into saturday afternoon, it'll be much fresher across the south and east. a bright day for many with

sunshine and blustery showers — these mainly across scotland and northern ireland, where it will be quite windy. mid—to—high—teens here, but much fresher across the south — 21—24 celsius with lower humidity. that takes us then into saturday night, which will be a cooler, fresher one for many. cloud building out west as the next weather front starts to approach scotland and northern ireland. it'll be a fresher night to come — 8—12 celsius across the south. now, this ridge of high pressure will build in for sunday — that'll bring fine weather for england and wales. next low pressure system will start to push into scotland and northern ireland through the day, the winds picking up here, the cloud building, outbreaks of rain pushing into northern ireland and western scotland. but for eastern scotland, much of england and wales will see variable clouds, some good sunny spells — best of the sunshine towards the south—east corner, and it will feel very pleasant, with 23—24 celsius here with lower humidity, high teens further north with a wind in the rain. we tap into some warmth and humidity again into monday —

this moving off france into much of the midlands, southern and eastern england. so, here, a warm and humid, rather sunny day further — north and west, very different, windy, cloudy outbreaks are pretty heavy and persistent rain for northern ireland, southern and western scotland. could give rise to some localised flooding in places, but a warmer day to come even further north — we could be up to the mid—to—high—20s again across the southeast. that weather front eventually starts to push across the country on tuesday, eventually reaching the east and southeast with a few showers as it weakens and moves off into the north sea. and then, it introduces fresher air to much of the country once again. a bright day to come for northern and western areas with some sunshine — vast improvement to how monday is looking. 19—24 celsius from northwest to southeast. as we move through the new week, it looks like much of the north and west of the country will see the wind and rain at times — whereas, further south and east you are, tending to stay warmer, drier, and sunnier.

live from washington, this is bbc news. eight people have taken to hospital —— been taken to hospital. plus the middle east raises for a possible uranian police after the killing of hamas chief and us president joe biden says he will press after another —— another russian imprisoned after yesterday's historic prisoner swap. hello. welcome to this hour. we come on air as police in england say eight people have been arrested and three police officers taken to hospital following riots police officers taken to hospitalfollowing riots in the

north—eastern city over sunderland. a police building