What We Do

O’Neill Sea Odyssey provides free and transformative ocean-going educational experiences to students from diverse backgrounds, igniting their scientific curiosity and empowering them to take action to protect our oceans and watersheds.

O’Neill Sea Odyssey (OSO) is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization founded in 1996 by wetsuit innovator and surfer Jack O’Neill. A living classroom was created on board a 65-foot catamaran sailing the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. OSO offers a three-hour program where 4th through 6th-grade and special education students from schools throughout Central California receive hands-on lessons in marine biology, marine ecology, and navigation. The program is conducted on board the Team O’Neill catamaran with follow-up lessons at the shoreside Jack O’Neill and Harry Hind Education Center at the Santa Cruz Harbor.

OSO serves 5,000 students annually, a majority of whom are multilingual learners, underrepresented minorities, and socioeconomically disadvantaged. For many students, this is their first experience being out on the water.

Guiding principles of O’Neill Sea Odyssey

Provide free experiential ocean education on the Monterey Bay.

Recognize the cultural and financial barriers that prevent many from regularly accessing the Monterey Bay.

Create life-long impactful memories and spark a new generation of ocean-minded stewards.

Show that healthy ocean activities start at home, within watersheds, and along our coasts.

Thanks to the generous support of our donors, OSO is free of charge. Students earn their way into the program by completing a Student Action Project. This project is intended to build on the OSO curriculum and encourage students to take actionable steps toward protecting the coastal environment. OSO also offers a limited number of transportation scholarships to socioeconomically disadvantaged schools.

2019 – 2023 Five Year Strategic Plan

See our program outcomes and the results of our applied research surveys.