Ocean Rebels

05/18/2025

I LIVEEEE for collaborations like this!

We spent three days this week filming a new 360° experience for that takes you on a dive to learn why this work matters 🪸

We started with some ace acting by and Mike Goldberg to set the story at the new I.CARE education center 👍🏻👍🏻

Voiceover recording brought us into very professional underwater recording studio 😏

Day two brought us to to visit some coral babies!

And, we ended with a STUNNER of a dive day, showcasing I.CARE's novel coral transplanting methods for O.Fav and A.Cer corals at Rocky Top reef.

As the icing on the cake, Mike took us Ancient Mariner, a site he calls his "Garden of Eden." We were greeted with the most beautiful ocean scene I've witnessed in a long time. Structure, corals, fish, colors... And I floated there in awe at the beauty of our oceans 🌊. It's special and important to have days like this that remind us why we do what we do, and I am so excited to be building a project that helps create connections like this for people regardless of whether they dive or not.

More to come!!!

10/22/2024

🎥 HELP US MAKE A MOVIE!!! My nonprofit Tela Coral (www.telacoral.org) is up for a big documentary prize tomorrow evening!!! We're top two and pitching live "Shark Tank" style against the other team 😱. I'm including the details below if you want to come watch us pitch live & vote for our project!

** The Details **
(1) The Live Pitch will happen on Zoom on Tues, Oct 22, 2024 at 6pm PT.
Watch the Live Pitch (Free, but must register): https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_9BtzPuVoR-6y36e6dtS_Bw #/registration

(2) Voting stays open Oct 22-30
Become a Hidden Compass Ally to VOTE for us!! ($5/month for 5 votes as a Nerd Herd, $13/month for 15 votes as an Ally) Ally): https://hiddencompass.net/alliance/

The Pathfinder Prize is given by Hidden Compass Media. The winner will be chosen by Hidden Compass' Allies, who are their subscribed members. The winner gets $18,000 and guidance and resources throughout the year to bring their film to reality. We've pitched to make a mini-documentary and "Virtual Reality field trips" about the amazing coral reef in Tela Bay. This would be so epic.

For the past 2 years, I've been going on expeditions to Tela to study the corals there. They defy what we currently know in coral science, thriving despite the hot, silty, polluted conditions. Nobody knows why, but we're trying to figure it out! This documentary will be the next step in getting our message out widely about how special this place is.

The team we're pitching against is Scorched Earth -- a story about the bushfires and prescribed fire in Australia. It's a classic 🌊 Water vs. 🔥 Fire battle, and we're so here for it!!

Thanks in advance for allowing me to share my excitement here, and would truly love to see you there ❤️ . Let's go!!!!

We’re a global community of like-minded humans who not only celebrate storytellers and explorers, but connect with and support them. We have a voice in modern exploration. We stand by journalism, science, and history. We are more than members of an audience — together, we are Allies. Join us!

07/20/2024

🤿 I've had the best time creating my life based around and . Some of my favorites are from Sandals Resorts -- which have been wonderful partners in and around the world.

What an honor to be celebrated for PADI along with these other dive legends and badasses!! THANK YOU Sophia Zayas and Sandals 🫶🌊💙

Women all over the world are diving head-first into new adventures, and today, we celebrate the ones descending into the silent world beneath the surface. July 20, 2024, marks the tenth anniversary of PADI Women's Dive Day, a holiday established by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors....

11/01/2022

🤿 has changed my entire life. It's given me freedom, purpose, voice and belonging. As a diverse diver, that last bit -- about feeling at home in a place and in myself -- is particularly important.
🫶 In my latest piece for PADI, I explore how this sport has helped other divers from minority and underrepresented groups find and -- even in a place as wide and vast as the . https://bit.ly/DEICommunity
It is a pure joy to live and speak at the intersection of people and our wild places.

Diverse PADI Divers from around the world have found their community and their purpose through scuba diving.