Fun ways to learn about the ocean
I thought it would be fun to have a list of the resources I’ve been looking at to learn more about the ocean. Not every resource has to be scholarly in order to be educating. I will update the list as I keep reading, watching and listening to new things. If you have a good suggestion, send it my way!
Films and series
Last Breath
My Octopus Teacher
This is a Netflix documentary film where the filmmaker, Craig Foster, makes an unusual friendship with an octopus. It is beautifully narrated and filmed. When I started watching, I had no preconceptions of what to expect, so every turn was a surprise for me. It was an emotional ending and I was not expecting to feel all the feels.
Last Breath is a documentary film that tells the story of how a commercial diver, Chris Lemons, becomes trapped on the ocean floor with limited oxygen and little hope of being rescued. This film was suspenseful and gives you a window of how little we are when compared to the massiveness of the ocean.
Losing Sight of Shore
Expedition Deep Ocean
Explorer Victor Vescovo and his team embark on a mission to dive to de deepest points of the five oceans. I was really looking forward to the series since the hosts of the podcast I like (Dr. Alan Jamieson and Dr. Thomas Linley) participated in the expedition. I really wanted to see some cool creatures, but it was more focused on the technical aspects of the dive and on Victor Vescovo. However, it was interesting to see the technological needs for a deep-sea dive.
This documentary film follows a groups of 4 women that set out to row the Pacific ocean from San Francisco to Australia. This is a passionate story of having the perseverance to follow your dreams.
Octonauts
Chasing Coral
This documentary shows us how and why coral reefs are dying all around the world and it is an emotional journey. If you ever wondered about corals as animals, this documentary really explains how the organisms exist and why we should protect them.
“A team of brave underwater explorers known as the Octonauts combs the world's oceans for aquatic creatures in desperate need of assistance.” This is a really cute cartoon and we meet lots of marine life.
Welcome to Earth - “Descent into Darkness”
“Will Smith descends 3,300 feet to the bottom of the ocean, where even fewer people have gone than outer space. Along the way down, Will and explorer Diva Amon investigate how color is used in the natural world. He discovers some animals creating their own vibrant, mind-bending light displays in pitch-black darkness.”
I watched this episode after finishing reading Below the Edge of Darkness and having a visual to go along with the descriptions I read about bioluminescence was great. The episode is short, so don’t expect a lot of in-depth analysis but it is still great.
Podcasts
Catch Our Drift Podcast
The Deep-Sea Podcast
The Deep-Sea podcast, according to the hosts is “A punk take on a science podcast.” Dr. Alan Jamieson and Dr. Thomas Linley talk everything about the deep-sea! It is an hour long podcast but it is well worth it. Each episode is released monthly and it is incredibly funny. I laugh and learn as I listen. They talk about facts, recent news, myth-busting, stories and have interviews. Also, make sure to listen to the very very end for a little fun.
The Sound Aquatic
The Sound Aquatic podcast is hosted by Elin Kelsey and presented by Hakai Magazine (which explores the environment, science and society from a coastal perspective). The podcast only has 5 episodes but it looks at the soundscapes scientists are recording and “
the surprising ways that animals talk and listen.”
The Catch Our Drift podcast is hosted by Dr. Helen Scales and Oliver Steeds. The podcast uses
storytelling to promote ocean conservation. “It’s entertaining and inspiring and appealing to a wide range of listeners.” The episode that really got me was #4 Art, but they tackle all type of subjects like space, literature, music, sport, sharks, etc.
Books
The Wave by Susan Casey is an incredible read. It reads like a novel, it is highly researched and entertaining. I would recommend listening as an audiobook because the storytelling is superb. She has also written other books: Voices in the Ocean and Devil’s Teeth
This book may not be about the ocean itself, but it gives you a great sense of how all our bodies of water are connected. Jill Heinerth takes you through her journey of being one of the first few female cave divers and the challenges she encountered.
I devoured this book! Dr. Helen Scales writes in a compelling manner and this books reads like a novel.
The book is divided into 4 main parts and takes us on a journey to explore the deep, explain why the deep matters, how the deep is being exploited and how we can protect it. If you are not sure where to start learning about the deep-sea, its biodiversity and the important issues, start with this book.
I cannot tell you the number of times I had to put this book down and let my brain soak in what it had just learned. I had to stop and read aloud passages to others because I just had to share the incredible things! This is a book about the deep-sea but also a memoir. If you want to get inspired by a woman in science who went against career and personal challenges to kick ass, this book is it!
“Sy Montgomery explores the emotional and physical world of the octopus—a surprisingly complex, intelligent, and spirited creature—and the remarkable connections it makes with humans.”
I listened to this as an audiobook and it was a really good contrast to “My Octopus Teacher" which is about an octopus out in the wild while this focuses on octopus in an aquarium.
“A beautifully presented, practical gift guide for all surf seekers. Explained with fascinating, easy-to-understand commentary from surfer and scientist Easkey Britton, this guide helps you soak up maximum vitamin sea.
The book is divided into six main sections – each filled with exercises, ideas and fun facts to help you reconnect with your oceanic roots and create special moments by the sea… “
“Near the island of Black Conch, a fisherman sings to himself while waiting for a catch. But David attracts a sea-dweller that he never expected - Aycayia, an innocent young woman cursed by jealous wives to live as a mermaid.
When American tourists capture Aycayia, David rescues her and vows to win her trust. Slowly, painfully, she transforms into a woman again. Yet as their love grows, they discover that the world around them is changing - and they cannot escape the curse for ever . . .”
“From a marine scientist and writer, Lorac is the story of a young man making his way in the sea and in the readers’ hearts to protect our planet.
When you meet him you’ll think he’s just a boy who lives on a boat. But if you go a little deeper you will discover that Lorac is the boy adopted by the ocean—its voice and unwilling hero.”
“A scientific team has boarded the submarine Oceanos to explore the ocean’s depths. Suddenly, it gets caught in a violent storm, causing it to drift thousands of miles off-course. From the glittering surface of the sea to the darkness of the abyss, Deep in the Ocean takes readers on a bewitching journey through fascinating waters—some warm, colorful, and crowded with sea creatures, others mysterious and turbulent”
“From luminous squid to invisible plankton, from sandy shorelines to the bone-crushing pressure of the deep, marine conservationist Tom 'The Blowfish' Hird takes us on an incredible journey revealing what lurks beneath the waves.”
“Peter Godfrey-Smith, a distinguished philosopher of science and a skilled scuba diver, tells a bold new story of how subjective experience crept into being—how nature became aware of itself. As Godfrey-Smith stresses, it is a story that largely occurs in the ocean, where animals first appeared.”
“More often feared than revered, their role as predators of the deep have earned them a reputation as a major threat to humans. But the truth is that sharks are not a danger to us—they're in danger from us. Dr. David Shiffman explains why it's crucial that we overcome our misconceptions and rise above cinematic jump scares to embrace sharks as the imperiled and elegant ocean guardians they really are.”
“Cephalopods, Earth’s first truly substantial animals, are still among us: Their fascinating family tree features squid, octopuses, nautiluses, and more. The inventors of swimming, cephs presided over the sea for millions of years. Marine biologist Danna Staaf unspools how these otherworldly creatures once ruled the deep—and why they still captivate us today.”
“Best known for finding the wreck of the Titanic, celebrated adventurer Robert Ballard has a lifetime of stories about exploring the ocean depths…Here is the definitive story of the danger and discovery, conflict and triumph that make up his remarkable life.”
“Since Jaws scared a nation of moviegoers out of the water three decades ago, great white sharks have attained a mythic status as the most frightening and mysterious monsters to still live among us. Each fall, just twenty-seven miles off the San Francisco coast, in the waters surrounding a desolate rocky island chain, the world’s largest congregation of these fearsome predators gathers to feed.”
“A vivid tour of the Earth's last frontier, a remote and mysterious realm that nonetheless lies close to the heart of even the most land-locked reader."
“Before Marie Tharp's groundbreaking work in the 1950s, the ocean floor was a mystery—then, as now, we knew less about the bottom of the sea than we did about outer space. In a time when women were held back by the casually sexist atmosphere of mid-twentieth-century academia—a time when trained geologists and scientists like Tharp were routinely relegated to the role of secretary or assistant—Tharp's work would completely change the world's understanding of our planet's evolution.”
“Why are we drawn to the ocean each summer? Why does being near water set our minds and bodies at ease? In Blue Mind, Wallace J. Nichols revolutionizes how we think about these questions, revealing the remarkable truth about the benefits of being in, on, under, or simply near water.”
“One of the great scientific and archaeological feats of our time has been finally to cast light on the “eternal darkness” of the deep sea. This is the story of that achievement, told by the man who has done more than any other to make it possible: Robert Ballard.”
“Marine scientist Ellen Prager takes us deep into the sea to introduce an astonishing cast of fascinating and bizarre creatures that make the salty depths their home…Written with a diver’s love of the ocean, a novelist’s skill at storytelling, and a scientist’s deep knowledge, Sex, Drugs, and Sea Slime enchants as it educates, enthralling us with the wealth of life in the sea—and reminding us of the need to protect it.”
“Consider the humble lobster: an unsightly creature from the sea that tastes awfully good with melted butter. But it turns out that this aesthetically-challenged crustacean is so much more—a charming lover, a belligerent fighter, and a snoopy socializer with a nose that lets it track prey and paramour alike with the skill of a bloodhound.”
“n Learning from the Octopus, ecologist and security expert Rafe Sagarin rethinks the seemingly intractable problem of security by drawing inspiration from a surprising source: nature. Biological organisms have been living — and thriving — on a risk-filled planet for billions of years. Remarkably, they have done it without planning, predicting, or trying to perfect their responses to complex threats. Rather, they simply adapt to solve the challenges they continually face.”
“Long regarded as an empty and inhospitable environment, the deep ocean is rapidly emerging as an ecological hot spot with a remarkable diversity of biological life. Yet, the worlds oceans are currently on a dangerous trajectory of decline, threatened by acidification, oil and gas drilling, overfishing, and, in the long term, deep-sea mining, bioprospecting, and geo-engineering.”
“Drawing on his background in oceanic exploration on Jacques Costeau's Calypso, and his success as a businessman, Fonteneau planned a Caribbean sailing adventure, which inspired suggestions for incorporating a bit of science on the side. Through friends and colleagues at the University of Miami, Fonteneau finds himself involved in one project to monitor the tectonics of a tiny, nearly submerged island called Aves, and another to "listen" to fish.”
“In 1820, the whaleship Essex was rammed and sunk by an angry sperm whale, leaving the desperate crew to drift for more than ninety days in three tiny boats. Nathaniel Philbrick uses little-known documents and vivid details about the Nantucket whaling tradition to reveal the chilling facts of this infamous maritime disaster.”
“A Silent Spring for our era, this eloquent, urgent, fascinating book reveals how just 50 years of swift and dangerous oceanic change threatens the very existence of life on Earth. Legendary marine scientist Sylvia Earle portrays a planet teetering on the brink of irreversible environmental crisis. In recent decades we’ve learned more about the ocean than in all previous human history combined. But, even as our knowledge has exploded, so too has our power to upset the delicate balance of this complex organism.
“The worst storm in history seen from the wheelhouse of a doomed fishing trawler; a mesmerisingly vivid account of a natural hell from a perspective that offers no escape.
The ‘perfect storm’ is a once-in-a-hundred-years combination: a high pressure system from the Great Lakes, running into storm winds over an Atlantic island – Sable Island – and colliding with a weather system from the Caribbean: Hurricane Grace.”
I loved this book! And highly recommend it wether you are a deep sea lover or not, I guarantee that after reading this book, you will become one too.
“For The Underworld she traversed the globe, joining scientists and explorers on dives to the deepest places on the planet, interviewing the marine geologists, marine biologists, and oceanographers who are searching for knowledge in this vast unseen realm.”
Games
Beyond Blue
In other waters
“Beyond Blue takes players into the near future, where they will have the opportunity to explore the mysteries of our ocean through the eyes of Mirai, a deep-sea explorer and scientist. She and her newly-formed research team will use groundbreaking technologies to see, hear, and interact with the ocean in a more meaningful way than has ever been attempted. The game features an evocative narrative and exploration of an untouched world.”
“Play as an Artificial Intelligence guiding a stranded xenobiologist through a beautiful and mysterious alien ocean. A non-violent sci-fi story, enter a world of wonder, fear and vulnerability, unraveling the history and ecology of an impossible planet. What will you discover together?”
Abzu
Subnautica
“You have crash-landed on an alien ocean world, and the only way to go is down. Descend into the depths of a vast underwater world filled with wonder and peril. Craft equipment, pilot submarines and out-smart wildlife to explore lush coral reefs, volcanoes, cave systems, and more - all while trying to survive.”
“ABZÛ is an epic descent into the depths of the sea, where players will explore beautifully rendered ocean environments with fluid swimming controls. The experience draws inspiration from the deep innate narrative that we all carry within our subconscious: the story of ABZÛ is a universal myth that resonates across cultures. The name references a concept from the oldest mythologies; it is the combination of the two ancient words AB, meaning ocean, and ZÛ, meaning to know. ABZÛ is the ocean of wisdom.”
FathomNet
subROV: Underwater Discoveries
“subROV is a simulation game that allows you to launch and pilot a submarine ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) and explore the oceans. Transport, deploy, and take control of a full-ocean-depth rated submarine equipped with an array of advanced tools.”
FathomNet is an open-source image database that can be used to train, test, and validate state-of-the-art artificial intelligence algorithms to help us understand our ocean and its inhabitants.
Social media and websites
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Deep Ocean Stewardship Initiative
DOSI is one of my favorite organizations. They are really responsive (I have sent messages with questions via their twitter and instagram accounts) and have started their decade-long program of deep-sea research. Their newsletter is fantastic and they have started including the arts. They had a call to participate on Song of the Ocean.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute has incredible resources. I really love all their programs. Their instagram account showcases creatures, expeditions, news, etc., with really good visuals. Their YouTube channel has a library of all types of resources and their videos of creatures in their habitats are the best! They even have a deep-sea relax ocean playlist!
Marine Applied Research & Exploration
Keep it Weird
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has a campaign to bring awareness tot he twilight zone. They have a creature feature section, food webs explained, all about the twilight zone and a shop to support their efforts.
Based in California, MARE “explores and documents deepwater ecosystems to assist in their conservation and management. MARE works collaboratively with state and federal agencies, academic institutions, and other non-governmental organizations.” I have attended a few of their webinars and they are fun.
Olívia Pereira
Deep Ocean Education Project
This website debuted this year! This project is a partnership between NOAA Ocean Exploration, Nautilus Live and Schmidt Ocean Institute. The goal is to provide a hub that “at provides access to ocean exploration-based learning for educators, students, and anyone else interested in learning more about our deep ocean.”
Diva Amon
Diva Amon is an amazing marine biologist has a great website and social media.
“Dr. Diva Amon is a Caribbean marine biologist focused on the little-known habitats and animals of the deep ocean, and how our actions are impacting them. She works at the nexus of science, policy, and communication and has a deep desire to see greater stewardship of the deep ocean as well as the engagement of a broader group of humankind towards this effort”
Olívia Pereira has a really fun and educational instagram account. She is a PhD candidate sharing her journey. Pereira creates educational infographics about the deep sea and takes us along her studies. I’ve learned a lot from following her!