National Geographic and Rolex Present a New Documentary Following Ocean Explorers and Scientific Research Across Five Ocean Basins
Narrated by Ocean Conservationist Auliʻi Cravalho (“Moana”), the One-Hour Special Is Presented by National Geographic Society in Partnership With Rolex and Produced by Offspring Films
Johannesburg — 3 November 2026: National Geographic has released the trailer and premiere date for EXPEDITION: SAVING OUR SEAS, a one-hour documentary following the National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Ocean Expeditions. The multi-year research project spans all five Ocean basins, examining how rapid environmental change is affecting marine ecosystems.
The special follows National Geographic Explorers as they investigate the Ocean from coastlines to the deep sea, combining advanced technology with knowledge shared by coastal communities. Their work aims to uncover new discoveries and possible solutions to help protect the Ocean.
EXPEDITION: SAVING OUR SEAS premieres Monday, 16 November at 18:50 on National Geographic (DStv 181, StarTimes 220) across Africa. South African viewers can also stream it on Disney+.
Observing the Ocean’s depths nearly 13,000 feet below the surface through the remotely operated vehicle SuBastian aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel Falkor (too), a cohort of Explorers in the Southern Ocean, including oceanographer Dr. Andrew Thurber, biological oceanographer Dr. Kim Bernard and microbial oceanographer Dr. Allison Fong, surveys the basin’s depths and its icy surface. The team surfaces three first-time discoveries: the most southerly deep-sea hydrothermal vent known on the planet, swarms of egg-carrying Antarctic krill at a depth of 3,000 feet, and the first-known live sighting of a giant Antarctic gonate squid.
Tracking blue whales and their krill prey, Dr. Bernard returns alongside Explorer and marine ecologist Dr. Leigh Torres and the local Māori community to canvas New Zealand’s South Taranaki Bight, while fellow Explorer Dr. Anya Brown stress-tests coral for heat tolerance in the Cook Islands. Both teams are racing to understand how rising temperatures are reshaping Pacific Ocean ecosystems. “If we lose them, we’re going to care a lot,” says Brown. “So, we need to care now.”
More than 10,000 feet below the Indian Ocean’s surface, the first deep-sea scientist from the Seychelles, Explorer Sheena Talma, and her Seychellois team train on deep-ocean camera lander systems off the coast of South Africa. They will deploy similar landers in the Seychelles to gather data to support fisheries and marine protected area management and strengthen Seychellois capacity to monitor the country’s deep-ocean habitats.
Nearly half a million people live along a stretch of the Gambian coastline threatened by the rising seas of the Atlantic Ocean. Leading coastal researcher, marine ecologist, and Explorer Maiyai Taal Hocheimy trains local students to measure Ocean depth and currents and works with Explorer Dr. Angelo Bernardino to map and assess the mangrove forests standing between the capital, Banjul, and the encroaching water.
In the Arctic Ocean, warming at four times the rate as the rest of the planet, marine biogeochemist Dr. Kristina Brown is invited by the Inuit community of Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, to conduct the first-known scientific study of a secluded marine bay called the Sherman Basin, working in partnership with Inuk elder Saul Aksalook Qirqniq (ᐊᒃᓴᓗᒃ) and community members to chart a seafloor no one has ever seen.
Tying the expeditions together, deep-ocean scientist Dr. Katy Croff Bell, founder of the Ocean Discovery League, is developing a Deep Ocean Research and Imaging System (DORIS), a lightweight, low-cost device designed to open up deep-sea exploration to communities that have not previously had access to their deep-ocean waters. “We’ve only seen about 0.001% of the deep Ocean, which covers about two-thirds of our planet,” says Bell. “Just imagine what we’re going to find in the other 99.999%.”
National Geographic magazine’s single-topic November issue explores Earth’s one connected Ocean. Anchored by a pull-out poster map of the planet’s five Ocean basins, the issue takes readers inside the National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Ocean Expeditions, following Explorers and scientists around the globe, chronicling their discoveries and revealing what those findings mean for our understanding of how deeply humanity depends on the Ocean, and how profoundly we shape its future. An immersive companion experience on natgeo.com will bring the Ocean to life through stunning 3D cartographic visualizations, letting users navigate currents, the Ocean floor, human impact, and protected waters worldwide, uncovering countless stories within one single throughline: one Ocean.
EXPEDITION: SAVING OUR SEAS is presented by the National Geographic Society in partnership with Rolex and produced by Offspring Films for National Geographic. The special is part of the National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Ocean Expeditions, a multiyear initiative focused on Ocean exploration and research. Directed by Katharine Arthy. Executive produced by Sam Hodgson for Offspring Films, Vanessa Serrao and Kaitlin Yarnall for National Geographic Society, and Tracy Rudolph Jackson for National Geographic. It is narrated by ocean conservationist Auliʻi Cravalho (“Moana”).
