OceanX

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OceanX is an ocean exploration initiative founded by Ray Dalio, founder of investment firm Bridgewater Associates, and his son, Mark Dalio.^[1] OceanX utilizes various methods^[2] to engage in public awareness activities and promotion efforts for the oceans and marine conservation efforts.^[3] The company claims to aid and facilitate ocean research for scientists, media companies, and philanthropy partners.^[4]

OceanX's first vessel was the MV Alucia, a 56-meter research and exploration vessel purchased in 2011.^[5] The ship was outfitted with two deep-sea submersibles, a helipad, laboratories, and media facilities.

In 2021, the Alucia was sold and replaced^[6] by the 87-meter OceanXplorer, a former oil exploration ship previously named Volstad Surveyor. It carries 4 submersibles and hosts a dive centre, a media centre, and 4 laboratories.^[7]

OceanX Media (formerly Alucia Productions) is the media production arm of OceanX.^[8] OceanX Media worked with BBC Earth on the nature documentary series Blue Planet II, taking BBC Studios on nine missions that contributed to four episodes of the series,^[9][10] including Episode 2, The Deep, in which OceanX and the BBC conducted the first ever deep-sea submersible dives to the Antarctic seafloor.^[11][12] The episode was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program.^[13] A video from the dive won the Webby Award in Social: Education and Discovery in 2019.^[14] This video was directed by OceanX Media Creative Director Mark Dalio.^[15]

Alongside BBC Earth, OceanX Media co-produced Oceans: Our Blue Planet, the Giant Screen companion film to Blue Planet II.^[16][17] The film is sponsored by Microsoft.^[18]

OceanX Media content has also been featured in media outlets including Mashable,^[12] Business Insider,^[19] Scientific American,^[20] Earther,^[21] Discovery Channel Canada^[22], and National Geographic.

OceanX missions and missions aboard the MV Alucia have been responsible for:

• Exploring the Great Barrier Reef with Sir David Attenborough for the series Great Barrier Reef (2015). ^[23]
• Exploring the ocean’s blue holes for the National Geographic channel series Years of Living Dangerously (2014-2016).^[24]
• Discovery of the Baltic Sea anomaly in the Gulf of Bothnia (June 2011).
• The first-ever open-water test of Orpheus, a deep-seadrone prototype developed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), to explore the deep water hadal zone.^[19][25] 

In addition to its internal science and media operations, OceanX partners with several media, science and philanthropy organizations to facilitate and support their ocean research.^[26] Its partners include the American Museum of Natural History, BBC Studios, filmmaker James Cameron, photographer Paul Nicklen, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, explorer Sylvia Earle,^[4] and scientists Edith Widder^[20] and Samantha Joye.^[21]

OceanX co-created the #OurBluePlanet digital initiative with BBC Earth with the goal of getting 1 billion people talking about the oceans.^[27][28]

In 2018, OceanX partnered with Bloomberg Philanthropies to commit $185 million over four years to ocean exploration and protection efforts.^[29]