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Emily 🏴‍☠️ Ocean Storyteller & Freedive Adventures

@emgonewild

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𓆟 filipina-italian roots in Baja 🇲🇽
𓆝 rewilding from lessons from the sea
𓆞 ocean adventure & freedive instructor
🧂founder @saltysoulsfreediving

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10 DAYS OF ADVENTURE, WHALES SHARK SCIENCE & OCEAN CONSERVATION

Wow I am jumping up and down to release this expedition and already 2/10 spots are gone before I had a chance to release it 😱😅

This is more than an expedition, it is an adventure rooted in an opportunity to become part of something bigger than ourselves, the ocean.

On one of Tanzania’s most remote islands, we’ll spend ten unforgettable days immersed in the ocean, contributing to real citizen science while swimming alongside the world’s largest fish during peak whale shark season.

Working with local conservation initiatives, you’ll help collect valuable data that supports ongoing whale shark and coral reef research, transforming an incredible wildlife encounter into one that leaves a lasting impact.

No science background is required.
Just curiosity, respect for the ocean, and a love of adventure. taken in Tanzania, Africa by @emgonewild

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3 months ago

I am someone who lives in extreme highs and lows.

There are moments when I feel soooo intensely for the ocean with a mission burning so fiercely inside me that I would die for the cause. The goal has always been to create and do in hopes to connect and inspire others to care more deeply to the ocean.

And then there are moments when the lump in my throat leaves me completely paralyzed, unsure of how to use my voice on this platform.

Not because I have nothing to say.

But because as I’ve evolved as a creator, I don’t want just silly little brain rot videos. I want to be a voice for the ocean, share stories and messages of things that matter and that are genuinely impactful.

Some days, I wake up feeling like I am swimming directly against the current.

I hear stories of people who call themselves ocean lovers criticizing others for being “too conservation-y,” (this was really said by someone on a tour) and those words burn in my soul as I swim over a reef that is bleach white.

How can we claim to love the ocean while resenting the responsibility that comes with loving it?

Maybe I am intense in that way.

Or maybe I am simply so fucking aware of the dystopian reality we are living in that I cannot pretend our connection to the natural world is optional.

Isn’t it naive to believe we are separate?

For me, it has always been crystal clear…
This is us.

We have never been separate from the earth or the sea. We are not observers standing outside of nature. We are part of it.

And what the ocean needs is for us to remember. by @emgonewild

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17 days ago

my first encounter with spirits was in the forest behind my childhood home

there (as my 7 year old brain remembers it) lived witches, trolls and fairies living somewhere hidden in the thick greenery

forest spirits… I never saw them, but I felt them watching me

when I first came to French Polynesia last year, a Tahitian woman I met told me a story of her experience with a forest spirit

she told me that she heard whispers in the voice of her daughter in law that had passed the year before

she reminded me that all energy is borrowed and one day it must return

I find it funny how almost every culture I’ve ever learned about has stories of spirits in the forest

perhaps they are just trees, or perhaps they are life as it lives, breathes, comes and goes

energy forever rooted

maybe one day I will come back as a tree taken in Moorea, French Polynesia by @emgonewild

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7 days ago

Growing up half-Filipina and away from the Philippines, Emily Javier Marzilli often felt caught between worlds. It was through the ocean—and eventually freediving, storytelling, and Filipino mythology—that she began finding her way back to her roots. taken in Mexico by @emgonewild

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16 days ago

2 SPOTS LEFT on the Humpback Whale Expedition 🐋✨

Send me a DM or check the link in my bio for full details and to place your deposit to secure your spot

Choosing NOT to operate in Moorea, and instead host this expedition in a secret location far from crowds and tourist-heavy areas, was one of the best decisions I’ve made as a trip leader

To share a moment of intimacy with a humpback whale, uninterrupted with no crowds, no chaos, no one swimming in front of you with a GoPro stick, is the kind of thing that becomes a core memory

During our entire week together, we had only one drop where we shared the water with another boat. Every other encounter was just us, the whales, and the wide open sea

People often ask me, “How are these interactions even possible?” and I could tell you it’s pure energy, or humbly say that part of it is luck

But the real truth is this: these moments happen because we make choices that potentiate intimacy and magic

We choose the kind of place, pace, and presence that create space for moments like this to find us

And in return, we’re rewarded with the kind of connection that stays with you forever

A local homestay with a private beach and waterfall, accessible only by boat, tucked into the heart of French Polynesia, and an ocean full of whales ready to dance with us

If this sounds like your kind of magic, hit me up ✨🪩

The whales are waiting for youuUuUuuuuew by @emgonewild

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3 months ago

The 3 most bold things I have done that have evolved me as an ocean person, creator, and shaped the core of my spirit:

1 - to truly see myself and the mess that is mine to hold
2 - to alchemize experience into something visceral
3 - to tell stories

In many ways the legends from the original storytellers of my mother’s culture of pre-colonial Filipino mythology have shaped a lot of how I see the world and learn lessons in life.

Aman Sinaya, the deity of the sea,
in one story she is the force who raged at the god of the sky thrashing waves as high as the heavens that boulders from her storms created the islands of the Philippines.
A reminder that we can transform pain and breathe life.

Anagolay, the goddess of lost things,
she is the mysterious force that brings lost things, and people to where they are meant to be.
A reminder that there are no coincidences in this world, just omens that guide us if we know how to pay attention.

I don’t believe stories are ever JUST stories.

They are oral relics… portals into experiencing life.

Without them, I wouldn’t know how to look at the stripes of a tiger shark and search for pieces of myself.

I wouldn’t have learned to look at another living thing and ask:
what can you teach me about being alive?
how do we to connect? feel? how do we recognize ourselves in something other than ourselves?

Maybe that is what storytelling has always been

see the mess that is you
alchemize the experience into something real
and tell the story by @emgonewild

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a month ago

One of the things I love most about filming these encounters is being able to stay present with the moment without disrupting it and the @Insta360 X5 has become one of my favorite ways to do that.

If you’ve been wanting to upgrade your setup for ocean adventures, Insta360’s Prime Day Sale is running June 23rd – July 6th:
• 20% off the X5 (up to $120 off)
• Free X5 Ultra Battery

✨use my code INRFBRH for an extra discount🪩

For me, it’s one of the easiest ways to document these wild moments while still letting the ocean experience unfold naturally 🌊

#insta360 #insta360diving #insta360x5 by @emgonewild

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3 months ago

wtf? today I woke up to 100000 souls following my journey

I feel so humbled to the point it has me asking myself “who I am now?”

well… as an honest answer (firstly) I am a human… storyteller of life 😵‍💫?
or or or, (my identity I’d describe in the rat race of society) I’m a freediving instructor and founder of @saltysoulsfreediving

while teaching and freediving as a sport have been such an anchor for me, and have fuelled so much of my passion, this little corner of my personal page on IG world has always been something different

I know deep down I am not the same woman who I was when I first started as I’m sure many of you can relate

this “identity” of “em gone wild” was always rooted to inspire people to be their more raw and feral selves - in my beliefs, the most alive and human we can be (our most connected selves)

for me, that naturally came through intimacy with the ocean, wildlife, and other water people that have rippled, collided and evolved into this monstrous mosaic of life that is… me?

to all of you, wow, this more of a love letter than a reflection because I wouldn’t be half the woman I am if it wasn’t for you

thank you thank you thank you for witnessing me, the little girl in the last slide is who you speak to

her and I are forever grateful by @emgonewild

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2 months ago

odd creatures have always fascinated me

I remember moments from my childhood on remote beaches in the Philippines, peering into little holes in the reef to find octopus tucked away inside them

even then, I was drawn to things that felt slightly otherworldly
curious eyes peering back from impossible camouflage
shapes hidden among coral

as I’ve grown and evolved as a creature myself, that fascination has never left

and somewhere in these interactions I’ve been feeling this growing sense “that we attract what we are”

recently, while alone on the beach I spotted a small crab crawling and shrinking suspiciously through a cracks in the rocks

in a split moment, it realized I was holding its eye contact and I watched its pupil widen in what I can only describe as disbelief before it suddenly scurried away

a curious interaction that reconfirmed an old belief:
while we spend so much of our lives observing nature, we often forget that we too are being seen

sometimes I wonder if these beings look at me the same way I look at them

if somewhere in the strange workings of a crab’s mind, or a shark’s, or an octopus hidden in a reef, there is a fleeting moment of curiosity

that they too, held in the moments of gaze think
“hmm what a bizarre and interesting creature”

photo # 6 by @nomadoftheblue capturing the creature in me 💧 by @emgonewild

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4 months ago

I remember the first time I ever saw a pilot whale, I felt a sense of jealousy in the way they intertwined and serenaded each other

you could feel the depth of their souls and the intimacy they share with one another

it reminded me of moments I’ve sat on park benches admiring strangers in love, wrapped up in their own world of connection

I learned later that pilot whales view their pods as a single entity, rather than individuals that make up a group

they protect their elderly
and in moments of sickness or situations where family members are beached, they refuse to leave and abandon them and even put themselves in danger to save them

a collective vulnerability
a kind of selflessness that makes me wonder if we as humans have ever truly understood what it means to belong to one another

at the very least, we can witness their bonds the way we do lovers on park benches

as outsiders to a language of devotion, quietly admiring something tender enough to make us ache for it too

captured by @nomadoftheblue by @emgonewild

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3 months ago

day 1/5 final days of 2025

I have been thinking a lot about the things that I have learned from the sea this year

If freediving has taught me anything over the years, it is that the ocean is my greatest teacher
a theme I continue to write about over and over again

the water, the greatest spirit of life that moves with the seasons, migration, life, and death
always reminds me that change is the only constant

I’ve learned through time and time again
nature owes us nothing
absolutely nothing

no amount of money in the world that can guarantee experience, encounters, conditions, and above all expectations

and maybe that’s a harsh to hear… but I think it’s important we learn to approach nature with humility
to find gratitude in all that we are given and shown
shifting frustration moved and evolved into acceptance

even if we are owed nothing, perhaps we need moments of nothingness to remind us luck is real when they do take you by surprise

a magic in the moment knowing you may never get a chance like this ever again ✨🤍

🦈 with @pelagicdivefuvahmulah @dexterfreediver @ariana_adair by @emgonewild

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9 months ago

my relationship with the ocean has always been a bit of a yin-yang ࿊

I shift between (the spiritual) believing that I am part of the water and feeling a deep ache (physical reality) that I am a terrestrial mammal

the water has changed my life. hard stop. period.
and I remember vowing to myself that I could never be with someone who wasn’t a water person because that would be such a great disservice to myself

when I dive I embody
I try to soften so much that I wonder maybe if I surrender enough I’ll dissolve into the salt

I think that’s why as a natural progression in my ocean journey over the past 2 years, I have been more and more attracted to sharks

it isn’t an adrenaline kick or proof that I am brave

I just get it, I see them
tenacity, yet graceful at the same time
with them, I understand myself a little more and the kind of animal I want to be (lol)

or maybe it’s what I’m still trying to learn

how to belong somewhere so completely that you stop questioning whether you were ever separate from it by @emgonewild

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2 months ago