From the creators of the Academy Award-winning documentary My Octopus Teacher, featuring an introduction by Jane Goodall

An immersive journey into the underwater world that holds transformative lessons for us all

Craig Foster and Ross Frylinck regularly dive together in the awe-inspiring kelp forests off South Africa, without wetsuits or oxygen tanks. Craig had dived this way for years, including alongside the octopus that inspired My Octopus Teacher. In Ross, he found a kindred spirit, someone who also embraced the ancient methods of acclimating his body to frigid waters, but whose eyes had not yet adjusted to the transcendent wonder Craig saw each time they dove.

In the heart-wrenching stories that make up this unforgettable book, we swim alongside Ross as he grows from sceptic to student of the underwater wild. And in the revelatory marine science behind the stunning photos, we learn how to track sea hares, cuttlefish and limpets, and we witness strange new behaviours never before documented in marine biology. We realise that a whole world of wonder, and an innate wildness within us all, emerges anew when we simply observe.

My Octopus Teacher has captivated millions who long to connect with the natural world. Now, with Underwater Wild, the divers behind the film reveal a new vision of the sea – one full of wonder, new insights into marine biology and life-changing teachings for even the most land-bound of us.

CRAIG FOSTER is one of the world’s leading natural history filmmakers and co-founder of the Sea Change Project. His Academy Award-winning film, My Octopus Teacher, follows the story of his year with a wild octopus, at the same time honouring his pact to dive every day for a year. This is his fourth book.

ROSS FRYLINCK is a writer and photographer, and a former commissioning editor at Cambridge University Press. He has been working for ocean conservation for the past fifteen years, and is co-founder of the Sea Change Project.