One of the skippers of our first Ocean Nomads flotilla, in Croatia in 2019: Momo, the freediver and sailor behind OceanMinded. We asked him a few ocean questions.
Markus! What’s your story?
Hola, I am Momo. Began checking this world out 35 years ago in Paris, France, then moved to Germany where I lived until my 20ies. I guess a healthy “unrest” was always part of me, so I went to travel and work in Chile for 1 year, then moved to Madrid and studied, then to Hamburg where I started sailing and racing Lasers and 470s EVERY SINGLE DAY on the Alster in the middle of the city. During that time I also heavily trained martial arts and yoga, which connected me deeply to my body and senses (and the feeling of flow). What more did I discover? That I can never seem to stay in one place longer than 3 years 😉 After quitting my job in Hamburg I moved to the island of the old zero meridian (El Hierro), where I organized yoga retreats and really really slowed life down big time in every conceivable way. Then one day got called up if I want to join a delivery from Barcelona to Lanzarote. JJJEP, why not? Through that delivery, I gained a new job as sales manager for a charter company on Lanzarote, did more deliveries, but also spent an unhealthy amount of time in the office. So, easy solution: QUIT JOB, start up your heart project!!
In my passions (freediving, sailing, photography) and places (ocean and rural land off the beaten path) I discovered new ways of understanding myself, my way of seeing the world and the ways in which I connect to my surroundings. OceanMinded (the mentioned heart project) was born out of a passion for the sea, lives through the activities I intend to create (adventure sailing expeditions, freediving retreats) and grows via connecting and sharing beautiful ideas like waves.
Why are you excited about joining the Ocean Nomads flotilla?
The term “nomad” is usually equated with wanderer, drifter, a person who doesn’t stay long in one place, for whom change is the only constant. I would call myself a nomad in so far as I firmly believe that in yourself, right here, right now is all the place you’ve got. An attachment to places, in the end, is no different from an attachment to our material world. It sequesters you into a state where you cease to live with the natural flow. I love to join the Ocean Nomads flotilla to connect with likeminded “nomads”, to feel that our bunch of eco-positive people is huge (and growing), to dive, to sail, to laugh, to enjoy all the little marvelous moments which in the end is the purpose of life for me.
Why are you passionate about sailing?
Sailing is for me the most beautiful and magic way to travel: let the wind show you around. Furthermore, it is an activity that takes us outside our comfort zone, disrupting our pre-conceptions and the value we place on things around us. We are obliged to be aware of our surroundings; constantly assessing our location, our heading and the risks associated with being out at sea, in this immense endless blue. Sailing reduces life to its bare essentials: our collective well-being and capacity to achieve goals depend on the strength and cohesiveness of the team.
What’s your wildest ocean-related dream that you would love to experience in your lifetime?
- Freediving: get to 100m deep in freediving and dive with whales one day!
- Sailing: own a sailboat on which I live and sail from place to place
- Other: to read “Breaking news: global fishing fleet stops plundering the oceans, oil drilling and seismic testing prohibited, majority of plastics in the oceans seem to have disappeared, all oceans declared as a holy heritage of mankind, marine protected areas spread like crazy!”
Where Momo is now
Seven years on, Momo teaches freediving and breathwork from Lanzarote with OceanMinded, and in 2026 OceanMinded became the first partner trip in the Ocean Nomads network: six days of freediving and breathwork in a villa above the ocean, open to members with a member discount. Have a look at the Deep Dive trip. His profile is inside the network.
Come and meet Momo and his abundance of energy, ocean dedication and ocean love in the Ocean Nomads community!
Come sail with us. 💙
Dive with people like Momo? Come meet your people
Momo’s profile lives inside the Ocean Nomads network, next to the skippers, the freedivers, the crew looking for boats, the map and the new moon meetups. Members reach each other directly.
More tips and tales to live a little wilder
- Member spotlight: Nicole, yoga teacher and freediver
- Ocean Nomads skipper Blair: world sailor, surfer and marine biologist
- Member spotlight: Eoin Keyes, boat owner, surfer and skipper
- Member spotlight: Keith, liveaboard sailor welcoming crew
- 5 women sailing the world: female Ocean Nomads spotlight
- Why we created Ocean Nomads
