South Pacific Expedition 2026: Beneath the Surface of a Bluewater Corridor
- 17 hours ago
- 3 min read
We’ve spent the past 20 months sailing across the Pacific aboard sv FREERANGER with a simple idea at the heart of what we do: the ocean is vast, dynamic, and still deeply under-observed — and the more of us who are paying attention, the more we can understand and protect it.
We’ve come to learn that oceanic manta rays sit right at the centre of that story.
These extraordinary animals — reaching up to seven metres across — move vast distances each year, linking ecosystems, coastlines and communities. They are part of a much bigger Pacific story — moving through vast bluewater corridors that connect ecosystems, coastlines and communities. And yet, people still know remarkably little about oceanic manta rays — globally, and here in Aotearoa New Zealand, one of the most important parts of their migratory corridor. That gap in knowledge remains one of the biggest barriers to protecting them effectively.
This is exactly the work of Manta Watch New Zealand — a small, deeply committed team building the country’s only dedicated oceanic manta ray research programme. Alongside their scientific work, they run a national citizen science observation programme (that you’ll find in our directory!), enabling sailors, fishers, divers and coastal communities to contribute sightings that form the backbone of what we know about these animals.
From just a handful of records to now recording hundreds of sightings in a single season, that collective effort is beginning to reveal where oceanic manta rays travel, how they use these waters, and what protections they need.
Expanding the Picture: Citizens of the Sea
Alongside this, we’ll also be contributing to Citizens of the Sea — an initiative rethinking how we observe life in the ocean at scale.
For decades, the challenge has been simple: the ocean is too vast, and traditional research vessels too expensive to monitor at scale. But there are already thousands of vessels moving across it every day.
Citizens of the Sea turns that reality into an opportunity.
Using a small, custom-designed torpedo-shaped device towed behind the boat, we can collect environmental DNA samples in just a few minutes. Every litre of seawater contains traces of thousands of species — from microscopic plankton to whales — allowing scientists to detect life that is never seen.
It’s a small act, but a powerful one.
By equipping sailing vessels already crossing the Pacific, the project is building one of the largest distributed ocean monitoring networks in the world — turning passages at sea into opportunities for discovery.
Taking It Offshore
In May and June 2026, we’ll be bringing these ideas together at sea.
As Freeranger sails north from New Zealand towards Tonga, we’ll be:
joined on board by Lydia Green, founder and project director of Manta Watch Aotearoa New Zealand (MWNZ), as we follow and contribute to research along part of the oceanic manta ray migratory corridor in real time
collecting eDNA samples as part of Citizens of the Sea — contributing to a global catalogue and deeper understanding of the marine life moving through this region
continuing to contribute depth readings to SeaBed2030’s global effort to map the seabed
reporting marine and birdlife sightings to global open-source databases using tools such as iNaturalist and Happy Whale and others.
Together, we’ll explore how this corridor connects Aotearoa to the wider South Pacific — part of a much larger system shaped by species moving through vast bluewater corridors.
Why It Matters
This is what Free Range Ocean is here to do: connect people with credible, meaningful ways to contribute to ocean science — and to make that participation part of real journeys.
Science doesn’t only happen on research vessels or in laboratories. It can also happen on passage — between sail changes, watch systems and the everyday routines of life at sea.
Understanding the ocean depends on both dedicated expeditions and many people, in many places, contributing over time.
It’s those combined observations that help us join the dots.
And every observation counts.
You can find all of these brilliant citizen science projects in our free, open-access Ocean Citizen Science Directory — alongside many more that you can take part in yourself, whether you’re on the beach, inshore, or offshore.
Follow along as we share the journey, the science, and what we’re learning along the way.
Free Range Ocean (our new official Instagram channel)
Behind the scenes with the Free Range Crew on Instagram
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