APPROACH
APPROACH

WAITT
EXPEDITIONS
We are proud to support cutting edge marine science around the world that strives for scientific discovery in order to bring awareness and policy protections. We embark on a wide range of projects that support topics from conservation biology and marine protected areas (MPAs) with a legacy of work in historical discovery through archeology.
4,724 SCIENCE DIVES
214,000 MILES TRAVELED
56 COUNTRIES
39 SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITIONS
We maintain a strict open-data policy.
PAST
EXPEDITIONS

Maldives
January 2020
Led by the Maldives Marine Research Institute, the Waitt Institute, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, this expedition worked to better understand the health of the ocean environment across the archipelago.

Galapagos to Cocos Island
March 2018
We teamed up with a coalition of partners from several countries to study an international high seas zone of special concern.

Juan Fernandez
March 2017
The Waitt Foundation and National Geographic Pristine Seas conducted a scientific expedition to Chile’s Juan Fernández archipelago, focusing on Alejandro Selkirk Island and making dives at several sites near Robinson Crusoe Islands.

Eastern Azores
September 2016
The Waitt Foundation teamed up with the Ocean Azul Foundation to conduct scientific dive surveys in the islands of the Azores.

Curaçao
November 2015
The Waitt Foundation and the Waitt Institute supported an expedition to a potential new Blue Halo Initiative site, Curaçao, in the Lesser Antilles Islands.

Albania
June 2015
We supported an expedition to collect and provide baseline survey information to the government of Albania in the hopes of advancing the creation of Marine Protected Areas

Great Barrier Reef
December 2014
The Waitt Foundation partnered with the University of Queensland's Global Change Institute and Catlin Seaview Survey to survey areas on the Great Barrier Reef.

Fiji Vatu-i-ra
March 2014
This Waitt Expedition with Wildlife Conservation Society’s Dr. Stacy Jupiter was a culmination of several previous expeditions studying the Vatu-i-Ra Seascape.

Cook Islands
August 2013
Working with Oceans 5, the Waitt Foundation conducted an expedition in the Cook Islands in order to conduct dive surveys and inform the local government in the creation of Marine Protected Areas.

The Arctic
July 2012
The Waitt Foundation worked with Greenpeace USA during the Summer of 2012 to help inform the science of the Arctic.

Western Azores
June 2018
Working with the Oceano Azul Foundation, the University of the Azores, National Geographic’s Pristine Seas, we explored the islands of Faial, Pico, Sao Jorge, Flores and Corvo in the Azores.

French Polynesia & Kiribati
August 2017
The challenge for this international team of volunteers was to survey coral reefs at a subset of atolls in the Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia, and revisit several islands in the Southern Line Islands, Republic of Kiribati.

Cape Horn
February 2017
The Waitt Foundation and National Geographic Pristine Seas carried out a scientific expedition to the Magallanes region to study the marine ecosystems in its fjords and remote islands, and making recommendations to the government of Chile for their conservation and sustainable use.

Cashes Ledge
June 2016
We continued our Blue Parks expedition, again hosting a team of scientists and photographer Brian Skerry aboard our expedition ship.

Montserrat
October 2015
The Waitt Foundation and Waitt Institute supported an expedition to a new Blue Halo Initiative site, the Emerald of the Caribbean: Montserrat.

Seychelles
March 2015
The Waitt Foundation and National Geographic’s Pristine Seas undertook an expedition to Seychelles to investigate, survey and explore these rare island gems.

Solomon Islands
June 2014
We partnered with the Solomon Islands Community Conservation partnership to conduct scientific assessments in the Western Province.

Vava'u, Tonga
February 2014
The Waitt Foundation joined with Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) to conduct BIORAP scientific surveys of the island group of Vava’u in the Kingdom of Tonga.

Gabon
October 2012
The Waitt Foundation, in conjunction with National Geographic’s Pristine Seas program, conducted an expedition in Gabon in order to inform the government on ocean conditions and to work towards extension of land based Protected Areas into marine spaces.

Gulf of Mexico
October 2010
We partnered with Greenpeace in order to assist in a study of the ongoing disaster of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Santa Elena
May 2018
Working with Mar Viva and scientists from the University of Costa Rica, Equipo Tora Carey, University Vèritas and Misión Tiburón, we conducted scientific surveys in support of filling protection gaps in both land and water based nature preserves.

Tonga
June 2017
A team from the 100 Island Challenge joined our surveyors with one of their signature cameras; they will put together 3D datasets of photographic mosaics that will give researchers an unparalleled view into just exactly what life is on the reefs.

Lesser Antilles
November 2016
The Waitt Institute and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography conducted a rapid scientific assessment of the coral reefs around the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean.

Pulley Ridge
May 2016
Our research ship headed toward Dry Tortugas in the Florida Keys with the goal of documenting the fauna and flora in the region in order to support recommendations for protections.

Selvagens Islands
September 2015
The Waitt Foundation partnered with National Geographic’s Pristine Seas and their team headed up by explorer Paul Rose, for a 10-day expedition to the Selvagens Islands, south of Madeira in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean.

Andaman Sea
January 2015
We teamed up with the Wildlife Conservation Society to work in Myanmar and the Andaman Sea in order to increase local capacity and establish baseline data collection.

Fiji Sharks
April 2014
This Waitt Expedition's goals were to deploy Research Objective Cameras for insights on local populations and then attach satellite transponders to several sharks.

New Caledonia
November 2013
This expedition was able to accomplish that most difficult of goals for this program, to study a reef free of the impact of man.

Atlantic Seamounts
October 2012
We sent two Autonomous Underwater Vehicles onto an expedition to study seamounts and submerged canyons off the north eastern United States.

Titanic
September 2010
In September of 2010 the Waitt Foundation teamed up with RMS Titanic, WHOI and NOAA to work together to produce the first ever mosaic of the entire debris field of the Titanic.