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.
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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)