All Stories | Caro Santamaria Ocean

Below the Surface

Scuba Diving Verde Island: The Philippines' Best Reef

More marine life per square metre than the Caribbean or the Great Barrier Reef, dived with the operator working to protect it.

Conservation

World Sea Turtle Day 2026: The Year the Green Turtle Came Back

The green turtle just came off the threatened list, the first comeback of its kind in four decades. Two species are still waiting.

Conservation

Coral Triangle Day 2026: Protecting the Amazon of the Seas

Coral Triangle Day is 9 June. The Amazon of the Seas spans six nations and holds more marine life than anywhere on earth.

Conservation

World Oceans Day 2026: The Year the Map Changed

The first World Oceans Day under the High Seas Treaty. Ten days to Mombasa. The state of the ocean and what divers can do about it.

Conservation

Celebrating World Reef Day 2026: The 84% Year

Year four of the fourth global bleaching event, 84% of reefs hit. What conscious people and divers can actually do about it.

Conservation

The First Biodiversity Day Under the High Seas Treaty

Sixty-six percent of the ocean has been significantly altered. Today is the first biodiversity day under the new High Seas Treaty.

Below the Surface

How to Find Nudibranchs, Underwater Photography

Sea slugs that look like alien spacecraft. Most divers swim past hundreds. How to find and photograph them properly.

Scuba Diving Destinations

Playa del Carmen 🇲🇽

Cenotes, Caribbean reefs and a winter bull shark season.

Conservation

The Ocean Cleanup: The Largest Plastic Removal Operation

About 1,000 rivers carry 80% of ocean plastic. The Ocean Cleanup has now intercepted 29 million kilograms before any of it reached the sea.

Conservation

The 'Protected' EU Waters Still Being Bottom-Trawled

Sixty percent of EU Marine Protected Areas are still being bottom-trawled. A 250,000-signature petition just landed in Brussels.

Conservation

Papua New Guinea: A Marine Highway the Size of the UK

Papua New Guinea's new Western Manus MPA covers 214,000 km² of the Bismarck Sea, the largest no-take reserve in Melanesia's history.

Conservation

Iceland's 318 Whales in 2026, the Faroes Still Hunting

Forty years after the moratorium, two North Atlantic nations are still killing whales. What 2026 looks like, and why it still matters.

Conservation

The 2026 Fight to Protect the Verde Island Passage

A 2026 Filipino coalition is pushing Congress to give the world's most biodiverse marine corridor full ENIPAS protection.

Scuba Diving Destinations

Puerto Galera 🇵🇭

Sabang sits inside the Verde Island Passage, the centre of marine biodiversity.

Below the Surface

Best Ocean Documentaries NOT on Netflix

Blue Planet, Becoming Cousteau, Fathom, the ocean films worth chasing on Apple TV+, Disney+ and BBC iPlayer.

Scuba Diving Destinations

Marsa Alam 🇪🇬

Shore-entry cave dives, dugongs, and the long road to Daedalus.

Conservation

Five Weeks to Mombasa: Why Our Ocean 2026 Matters

The 11th Our Ocean Conference lands in Mombasa on 16 June, the first time on African soil. What divers should watch.

Scuba Diving Destinations

Malpelo 🇨🇴

One of the most remote, shark-dense dive sites on earth.

Scuba Diving Destinations

Hurghada 🇪🇬

Forty-five days of boat diving on Egypt's most developed coast.

Below the Surface

Scuba Diving in Colombia Is Massively Underrated.

Two coasts, two oceans, and every level of diver. From Santa Marta's reefs to Malpelo's hammerhead schools, the world's most underrated dive country.

Dive Gear

Underwater Macro Photography with the Olympus TG-6

The TG-6 with video lights is a macro setup most photographers underestimate. Why buoyancy is the real skill and how to stop taking record shots.

Below the Surface

The Best Ocean Documentaries on Netflix, Ranked (2026)

Netflix's ocean documentary catalogue, ranked: Mission Blue, My Octopus Teacher, Our Oceans, and four more.

Dive Gear

Buying Your Own Scuba Gear: The Ultimate Guide

The six pieces of dive gear worth owning, what to look for and how to avoid mistakes by a dive professional

Conservation

David Attenborough at 100: What He Did for the Ocean

Today David Attenborough turns 100. Over seven decades of filmmaking he changed how the world sees the sea. This is what he specifically did for it.

Conservation

The People Who Guard Malpelo's Shark Sanctuary Year-Round

A small crew lives permanently on a catamaran off Colombia to keep illegal fishing vessels away from the world's most important shark sanctuary.

Conservation

Mission Blue Unites the Ocean Champions of Southern Africa

From Mozambique's manta rays to South Africa's whale routes, Mission Blue united Hope Spot Champions across the continent.

Below the Surface

The Experience of Diving Malpelo with DivingLife

Eight days at sea on the Sea Wolf with DivingLife: the dives, the orcas that made Colombian national news, and why we recommend them for Malpelo.

Dive Gear

Preventing Ear Infections while Scuba Diving

I was the kid who got ear infections from a swimming pool. After 18 months on SurfEars 4.0, here is my honest verdict.

Conservation

Egypt's Great Fringing Reef Is Now Officially Protected

Egypt's Red Sea reef has received formal government protection. At 2,000 kilometres, scientists call it earth's most climate-resilient coral system.

Conservation

Why Ghana's First Marine Reserve Matters for the Ocean

Ghana declared its first marine protected area in 2026, covering fish spawning grounds and sea turtle nesting sites along West Africa's coast.

Conservation

Rapa Nui's Sacred Sea Becomes a Mission Blue Hope Spot

The waters around Easter Island are now a Mission Blue Hope Spot. Indigenous-led governance has been protecting this stretch of ocean for generations.

Dive Gear

How to Choose a BCD: Jacket vs Wing vs Travel

Your BCD controls buoyancy, holds your tank, and shapes your trim on every dive. Here is how to choose the right design for the diving you actually do.

Conservation

The High Seas Treaty Just Entered Force. What Now?

The High Seas Treaty has entered force, opening the door to protected areas in international waters. The hard work of implementation is only beginning.

Dive Gear

How to Choose a Dive Computer

Your dive computer tracks depth, time, and nitrogen loading on every dive. Here is how to pick the right one without paying for features you will never use.

Conservation

Deep-Sea Mining Is Much Closer Than Most People Realise

The International Seabed Authority is moving to greenlight mining the deep ocean floor. The science says we have no idea what we are about to destroy.

Conservation

Cabo Pulmo: Where Fish Biomass Climbed 460% in a Decade

Cabo Pulmo's fish biomass climbed 460% after the community closed it to fishing. It is the strongest case ever made for no-take marine reserves.

Conservation

The Fourth Global Coral Bleaching Event

The fourth global bleaching event is the longest and most severe ever recorded. Recovery windows are closing faster than reefs can use them.

Conservation

The Shark Fin Trade Has Not Stopped

Around 11,000 sharks are killed every hour for the global fin trade. New reef surveys show the ecological toll is growing with every passing year.

Conservation

What Sunscreen Does to Coral

Common sunscreen ingredients damage coral DNA at concentrations of parts per trillion. Most jurisdictions still have no rules limiting their use.

Conservation

Seagrass Is Disappearing Faster Than Coral

Seagrass captures carbon faster than rainforest and shelters most reef fish as juveniles. It has lost nearly half its global coverage in under a century.

Dive Gear

How to Choose a Dive Torch

A good dive torch reveals colour, marine life, and reef detail that daylight never shows you. Here is what to look for and what to avoid buying first.

Conservation

Ghost Gear: The Nets That Keep on Killing

Abandoned fishing gear traps sharks, turtles, and rays for decades on the reef. It makes up 10% of ocean plastic and most of it is never retrieved.

Conservation

How Coral Gardening Is Bringing Reefs Back from the Brink

Coral nurseries grow fragments from resilient colonies and replant them on dying reefs. Survival rates are high and the field is advancing fast.

Conservation

Ocean Plastic: The Scale and the Solutions

Eight million tonnes of plastic enters the ocean every year, most from ten rivers. An honest look at the projects actually making a difference.

Conservation

Why Marine Protected Areas Are the Ocean's Best Chance

Where fishing stops, life returns. Marine protected areas produce more fish and healthier reefs, and they improve outcomes for local fishing communities.

Below the Surface

Diving with Whale Sharks in Koh Tao, Thailand

A close encounter with whale sharks on the dive sites of Koh Tao, one of the best places in the world to dive with the ocean's gentle giants.

Dive Gear

Building Your First Underwater Camera Setup

A camera underwater transforms the way you dive. You slow down, look harder, and notice what was always there. Here is how to build your first setup.

Scuba Diving Destinations

Koh Tao 🇹🇭

Whale sharks at the pinnacles of Thailand's busiest dive island.

Below the Surface

Diving with Bull Sharks in Playa del Carmen

Every winter, large female bull sharks gather off the coast of Playa del Carmen in one of the most accessible big-animal encounters in the diving world.

Dive Gear

How to Choose a Wetsuit for Scuba Diving

Water steals heat 25 times faster than air. The right wetsuit thickness makes the difference between a dive you enjoy and one you endure.

Scuba Diving Destinations

Santa Marta 🇨🇴

Wall dives and coral gardens inside Tayrona National Park.

Below the Surface

Getting Into Freediving: A Beginner's Guide

Everything you need to start freediving: what it is, the gear required, which certification to pursue, and how to find your underwater calm.

Dive Gear

Buy Your Regulator Once

Your regulator is the most critical piece of dive gear you own. Here is what to look for, what to avoid, and why it is worth investing in properly.

Below the Surface

Diving the Salem Express

A passenger ferry that sank off Safaga in 1991, the Salem Express lies intact on the reef floor. One of the most haunting wreck dives in the world.

Below the Surface

How to Become a Certified Scuba Diver

A complete step-by-step guide to becoming a certified scuba diver, from your first Discover Scuba session through to your Open Water certification.