Our Blog

Date: November 11, 2025
Location: The Arctic Fjords
Weather: Crisp cold, epic orange sunrise, pulsing auroras
State of Mind: Pure, unadulterated joy

There are days in life that you know, even as you’re living them, will be etched into your soul forever. Days you don’t experience as minutes or hours, but rather as a collection of perfect, profound moments strung together by a thread of pure magic. November 11, 2025, in the fjords of Arctic Norway, was one of those days for our Seabirds squad.

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Sunrise and the Spirit of Matriarchs

The day began in the most Arctic way possible: with that otherworldly, orangey-glowy light that etches into your soul. We were up before the sun to film scenes for our upcoming documentary, Matriarchs, produced by the fantastic team at Reel Earth Films.

Our director, the brilliant Katie Wardle, was there, camera in hand, guiding Ashley and I through the absurd and hilarious process of getting into drysuits with some semblance of grace. She’s wildly talented, and I have faith that she helped us look the least sausage-stuck-in-its-casing as possible. 

The film, Matriarchs, features our motley crew of badass women and the whales we follow and love. It also goes beyond that, showcasing powerful connections, shared grief, and resilient communities—themes that resonate as deeply for humans as they do for orcas. 

To my delight, as the rest of our team came up to the deck, a few started a spontaneous Cha Cha Slide! All we needed were maracas and a conga line to make my drysuit dancing dreams complete. Others took badass expedition pictures to showcase what a gorgeous place we get to explore in.

The Baitball Drop: When the Ocean Lifts Its Veil

Fueled by that sunrise energy, we rushed to the zodiacs (somehow, we’re always a little bit late, even with an hour head start). On the water, the fjords were quiet. Our incredible guides, Rinie and Szymon, watched the water with expert patience. 

It paid off. 

First, the birds started diving more erratically. Then, the water started jumping–the herring. A baitball! 

Our guides positioned us right in the heart of the action. Herring swirled in a shimmering silver vortex beneath our fins. Ashley deployed the hydrophone—a "once-in-a-lifetime capture" for our Blue Echo acoustic database. Those of us in the water glued our masks to the surface, watching orca work in magnificent synchrony, herding the fish with their white bellies and the fjord walls in a breathtaking display called carousel feeding.

And then, the impossible happened.

A jagged, huge white shape emerged from the deep. It wasn't the familiar rounded white of an orca’s eyepatch or saddlepatch. It was bigger, longer, and coming right at us. Before my brain could form the word, it was there: a massive HUMPBACK WHALE, lunging up through the herring ball, mouth agape, benefiting from the orcas' hard work!

The screams behind me—pure, unfiltered shock and joy—echoed in the water. “OH MY GOD! HOLY F*CK!” My head darted up and down with this gentle giant as it descended for another gulp. It wasn’t done! It swam off and lunged again, to more screams of jubilation. Later, a teammate would confess she “definitely used her diaper” in that moment. I get it. It was that monumental.

My friend Ambar Wortham, with whom I’d shared that whale magic, later described it perfectly: “You are lifting the veil of the divine right here.” She’s right. We were witnessing the raw, unfiltered dance and beauty of nature, a privilege so few ever experience.

Deploying a hydrophone in Arctic waters for the first time felt a little like sending a message in a bottle—except this bottle was expensive, carefully engineered, and had to survive the crushing weight of 10 meters of water. The team peered off the side of the zodiac; anxious, excited, and curious, straining our ears against the biting cold of the wind for that first telltale crackle of noise as the hydrophone broke the surface of the water. Slowly and deliberately, hand over hand, meter over meter, we called out to each other as it was lowered into the sea: “One, two, three . . . let’s go to eight on this first drop and see what we get.”

Almost immediately, there was a hush among us. We were no longer casual observers, explorers out on expeditions on the water’s surface. We were scientists, capturing data by connecting to the world below it.

My internal compass guides me to water. Perhaps this is why I have formed such a deep connection to scuba diving and ocean exploration. This summer, I traveled to the Arctic to participate in a Citizen Scientist Expedition. An enthusiastic team of women, The Seabirds, were onboard and welcomed volunteers to join their hydrophone studies in the icy cold waters surrounding Svalbard and Greenland. The land of the midnight sun.

As Seabirds, we love being out on expeditions. New places, people, activities, it’s all incredible, beautiful, and awe-inspiring. But so much newness and challenge can also be daunting, scary, and overwhelming. Even the most intrepid explorers experience what we call the mid-expedition blues: usually just before the midway point, when everyone starts to feel a little homesick or over-socialized.

I was asked to recap our recent expedition to the Arctic with Blue Green Expeditions. It  seemed as every day could’ve not only been its own chapter but its own story. How can you summarize the varying interpersonal connections, impactful conversations, presentations given from other scientists and artists, research successes and challenges, descriptions of the otherworldly views, joyful moments, etc., that not only varied from day to day but hour to hour? It is a difficult task, but not an impossible one.  On our recent Arctic expedition with Blue Green Expeditions, we all became witnesses to experiences and emotions we hadn't even known existed-yet we embraced them fully, reveling in the sensation of the unknown. That, at its core, is the essence of adventure. We all had this shared sense of adventure and deep appreciation for our oceans, despite what your “role on board” was. Whether you were one of the researchers, filmmakers, divers, staff, or crew, we were all there for a reason. I don’t think that reason was to idly just watch the view go by. Somehow, we all found our own place on the expedition, and I believe it was based on that shared sense of adventure and care for our planet.

A Seabirds love letter Written by Katie Wardle,  Filmmaker and fellow explorer

After meeting Seabirds’ co-founders Tiffany Duong and Ashley Bugge over Zoom, I knew I was in for a treat when I finally met the Seabirds team. The beauty of this group lies in how, no matter the route that brought us here, we were all kindred spirits; ocean lovers, do-ers, and believers in the Seabirds’ future.

As filmmakers, we often take on the quiet role of observer, watching from the edges of another’s story. But with the Seabirds, Felicity (our camerawoman) and I (Director) were pulled right into the heart of things. It was impossible to stay detached; we found ourselves invested in every moment of the San Juans retreat, every conversation about the future.

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Empowering Underrepresented Voices in STEM and Exploration

Many Seabirds have taken nontraditional paths to fulfill their passion for whales and the ocean. Therefore, we know intimately how the struggle to achieve our wildest dreams can silence many along the way. It’s really hard! 

Our New Explorers Scholarship aims to level the playing field and uplift future leaders. Our goal is straightforward but meaningful: we aim to lift up those who haven’t always had access to resources by offering mentorship, new opportunities, and the financial support that can turn big dreams into reality.

Who are these “new explorers”? They are the visionaries whose stories don’t always match the traditional mold—the moms balancing family and ambition, the teachers sparking curiosity in young minds, youth yearning for a chance to shine, retirees embarking on new adventures, mid-career professionals seeking more meaningful work, and artists weaving creativity into the fabric of science. They are BIPOC or people whose abilities are different from the norm, LGBTQ+ or those from under-resourced communities struggling to make ends meet but who have big ocean dreams. They may not have “the right” college degree or any degrees, or are younger/older and not taken seriously as a scientist. 

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Citizen Science and Diversity Are Creating Healthier Oceans

Imagine the ocean as a giant concert hall, filled with the mysterious songs of whales. These incredible creatures use sound for everything—chatting, exploring, and finding food. But lately, their music is getting drowned out. Ships, sonar, and other human activities have cranked up the underwater noise, making it difficult for whales to live their lives.

This is where Project Matriarch comes into play. Taking lessons from our foremothers, we’re not just watching from the sidelines. Through a generous agreement with Evin Rose—a Scripps Institution of Oceanography master’s student and a Seabird on our science team—the Seabirds picked up a hydrophone (an underwater microphone) to record the sounds bouncing around below the waves. We’re uploading what we hear straight to NOAA’s sound database and our own ArcGIS StoryMap (an interactive, open source storytelling and data platform) that Evin is building as part of our Blue Echo initiative. And there’s more to come: another hydrophone is on our wish list for 2026, which means even more data and better insights as we work with researchers worldwide to uncover how all this noise is affecting whale behavior and their futures.

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Coming Together

Underneath the bright blue skies of San Juan Island and surrounded by the ocean waters of the Salish Sea, the Seabirds Foundation gathered for our very first retreat, to revel in fostering ocean exploration and building community. 

Team members flew or drove in from across the United States and Canada, along with a film crew from England, there to capture video footage for the Matriarchs movie project. Everyone arrived between Wednesday, August 23, and Thursday, August 24. The retreat gathered to create in-person connections between the widely dispersed members of the team and to align our mission, vision, and strategy for all we want to accomplish in the next few years. 

During my time at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, I used ArcGIS StoryMaps as a way to pull back the curtain on the process of marine mammal research, specifically, the elusive world of beaked whales and the acoustic tools we use to study them. We wanted to do more than present data; we wanted to tell a story. A story of deep-sea expeditions, unexpected challenges, and what the science behind the scenes looks like while studying whales in the dark. https://arcg.is/0HWfPW2

During my time in the US Army, I helped save lives during a revolution in Haiti, led men in combat as an infantry squad leader in Iraq, and commanded a platoon of men in New Orleans during life-saving operations during Hurricane Katrina. After leaving the service, I spent ten years fighting some of the largest wildfires our country has ever seen. I tell you all of this because none of my experiences before were as terrifying as what I’ll be going through very soon. Jackie Juniper Davis, my sixteen-year-old baby girl, is heading out to explore the arctic. 

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I’m scared, but I believe that if you want to raise an extraordinary human being, you have to encourage them to do extraordinary things. That is what Seabirds is all about. I don’t know Ashley or Tiff – the co-founders of the Seabirds – too well, but I can see that they formed this organization against some tall odds. They’ve overcome so much, and their mission is amazing and commendable. By going on this trip, Jackie (16) and Amelia (17, the other youth advisor) will be showing other girls their age, and the world, that women can excel in science. They can overcome the hardships of being on a ship at sea for two weeks, can dog sled, and can tag Greenland sharks. In short, they can do extraordinary things, and I’m all for it.

This expedition holds both personal and broader significance for me. To start, I've felt deeply unfulfilled in my previous career in the legal field. I always knew, intuitively, that I wanted to do something more—something that allowed me to advocate for our world on a larger scale, beyond the confines of an office. While the legal profession is important and noble, it often feels constrained by too many factors, hindrances, and nuances to create real change from just that perspective.

Earlier this year the Seabirds went on their first official expedition! We embarked on an exciting adventure to the Silver Bank, a shelf located about 80nm off the coast of the Dominican Republic.

Why, you may ask? It is one of the most important breeding grounds for North Atlantic Humpback Whales and in this protected area you get the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to share encounters with these sentient beings up close! 

There are only three operators licensed to operate on the Silver Bank and we chose to go with Conscious Breath Adventures after one of the Seabirds had already had a fantastic experience with them before. Captain Gene is well respected and has been running tours for many years. This trip is a Liveaboard expedition, meaning you get live on the boat for the duration of your trip. The MV Sea Hunter is a beautiful vessel that operates diving trips in Costa Rica when not in the Dominican Republic. She can carry up to twenty guests and is very spacious (for a boat; don’t think hotel-room spacious!)

In honor of Mother’s Day and our upcoming Project Matriarch, the Seabirds discuss the Matriarch’s in their lives that provide endless inspiration

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‍Mama, Kim Thoa Duong (Seabird: Tiff Duong)
‍My mom is my favorite person in the world. She is joy, above all else… not the naive kind, but a joy that has known pain and chooses to light the world up anyways. She is play, and generosity, and love for each and every person. She’s the best person I know and the strongest and most resilient, and I’ll live my life always trying to honor her legacy.

Scuba diving is about as immersive of an experience as you can get; you’re literally diving into another world! The feel of the water, the bubbles, the sounds of the ocean – the entire experience is beyond what words can convey, which is part of its appeal: it’s something to be felt, not seen.

It started with a simple connection - and the willingness to follow where that might lead. I was introduced to The Seabirds by a good friend, Daphne DeCelles. Daph and I worked together doing environmental consulting work in Florida, but she knew my background in marine mammal acoustics and research. She reached out one day and asked if I wanted to go on an Arctic expedition to do research on orcas. There’s only one answer to a question like that. Months later I found myself in Zoom calls and meet-ups with The Seabirds as we prepped for our upcoming Arctic adventure.

When it comes to marine conservation, my biggest passion are cetaceans (a fancy name for all whales, dolphins and porpoises). I openly admit that I am the whale nerd on the Seabirds team! It goes without saying that I was VERY excited about our expedition to the Silver Bank this past February. I had high expectations and let me start by saying that they were met, without a doubt.

What matters most to me when it comes to whale watching tours, swim with whale encounters and other experiences involving marine mammals is that the animals always come first. Many places around the world offer encounters with wildlife and more often than not, the focus is on giving paying customers an experience of a lifetime, something to brag about on social media, without any regard for the animals. It is unfortunate, but we often have to protect animals, nature and the planet from ourselves.

As I went down a rabbit hole of determining if “ethical” tourism experiences, including in-water encounters with marine mammals, do indeed exist, I learned more and more about the different laws, regulations or lack thereof in many countries around the world.

Carol, one of our team members, had been to the Silver Bank before and spoke very highly of it, so of course I had to look into it and do some research. To my surprise, I learned that the Dominican Republic had created a protected area for marine mammals called The Sanctuary for the Marine Mammals of the Dominican Republic and in 1986 designated the Silver Bank the world’s first sanctuary for marine mammals, all the while having special laws permitting in-water encounters with humpback whales! I was thrilled — and nervous. Everything looked good on paper, but would it hold true in real-life?

Based on Carol’s recommendation, we chose Conscious Breath Adventures, one of three operators permitted to run tours on the Silver Bank. I was excited and nervous to go on this trip and did not know what to expect, but my mind was put at ease as soon as we did our first briefing with the group!

I first learned to dive in 2003 while on a university internship in California. I was immediately enamored with the tranquility and otherworldliness of this underwater world and eager to unlock its secrets, but it wasn’t an activity that came easily to me (something I found very frustrating). I persisted, however, and completed both my Open Water and Advanced Open Water certifications within two years, hoping to find comfort through experience and training. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time or the finances to dive often and on the few occasions that I did, I found myself with people who didn’t necessarily treat the activity or the people with the respect they deserved. So instead of getting more confident, I found myself getting more anxious, finding reasons not to get in the water. Over time, my gear got dusty, and I slipped back into a terrestrial life.

Fast forward almost 20 years, an expedition to study orca in Norway reignited my passion for the ocean. Then a couple of years later, I found myself on an exciting project that would require me to don a BCD and venture under the waves. As the reality of this began to sink in there were so many things swirling around my head — After so many years, would I still be able to do this? Would I be able to trust the people around me? Would I panic in the water and injure myself? Would I enjoy it? Would I get horribly seasick on the boat? Is it even worth it?

Many of those questions I knew I wouldn’t be able to answer until I jumped into the ocean again, but as someone who likes to be in control, I was desperate to find something, ANYTHING, I could do beforehand to start rebuilding my confidence. The first thing I did was sign up for a refresher course. I worked through the online training diligently, making checklists and visualizing setting up gear, and then went to my local dive shop and went diving in their pool until I felt as comfortable as possible descending, ascending, and controlling buoyancy. I even tried to master juggling underwater (I failed).

I, a 16-year-old girl from Washington State, am less than a year away from becoming a polar explorer. With a name like Amelia, how could I do anything else? That idea sounds insane; I’m on the brink of an extraordinary adventure to Greenland—and I'm still in high school. This concept keeps rolling around in my head, and I can’t help but ask myself: Why am I doing this?

Ever since I was little, I have loved two things: learning and science. As I’ve grown older those things have evolved but the cores remain. While growing up, I’ve aged into the idea of marine science because it contributes to my love of the ocean, exploring, and my desire to help with our planet's climate crisis. The longing for adventure and meaning has always been prevalent in my life and that is a huge reason why I want to go on this Polar Expedition to Greenland. Not only does it launch my career as I go into college, but thanks to The Seabirds I have the incredible opportunity to gain this experience when I’m only 17. What shows living rather than just surviving more than following your dreams? 

Rossella is a fourth grader on a mission: to study the effects of ocean acidification on shells for her school science project. Follow her progress through our newsletters and blogs as she shares her findings on this crucial topic.

Reel Earth Films is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the creation of nature-oriented films. One of the biggest reasons we do what we do here at Reel Earth Films is to not just create awareness for nature, but to facilitate change for the greater good of this planet through impact. Every one of our original films is accompanied by an impact campaign that is designed to give back to nature. We give back by providing resources that help the organizations we partner with continue doing their vital work to protect this planet. We believe that our films can do more than just create awareness; they can create measurable impact that will facilitate a healthier future for nature. For example, we recently produced a short film about southern resident killer whales in the Salish Sea–which you can watch here: https://reelearthfilms.org/southern-residents/ Over the years, we have not only produced our own films, but have collectively worked on films for PBS Nature, National Geographic, BBC One, and Disney+.

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“This is so much bigger than you,” Samantha Gomolka, national guard spouse, told her husband, Michael. It was Memorial Day weekend 2017, a beautiful day of Spring in New York, where the family was stationed. Michael, who had been serving in special operations for seventeen years by then, decided that he was going to pay homage to his fallen brothers-in-arms the next Memorial Day by running from the beach to his favorite brewery, which was close to seven miles away. “I want to take part in it as well,” Samantha said. “And you know that the people of Hamburg will want to participate too.”

United States Army Major Christine Keating comes from a family with a strong history of military service, which inspired her to also raise her hand and join the peacekeeping military of pre-September 11. “What attracted me to it was this idea that I could travel the world and have an impact on maintaining peace,” she says candidly during our interview. “That changed really quickly during my freshman year of college when the towers came down. Though it wasn’t the life that I had envisioned when I was eighteen, it turned into a good life for me and my family.”

And this, in a nutshell, sums up the major’s career. Now, let’s meet the woman behind the uniform.

Have you ever wondered what the deep sea is really like? The deep dark parts that we haven't reached yet but we know are there, with creatures and ecosystems we can only dream of? Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) Benthic Rover is looking to answer some of those unknowns and deepen our understanding of our beautiful planet.