On boxing day 2004 I unfriended the ocean on a beach in Thailand, when the tsunami hit. Unlike what can be seen in various movie productions from this dreadful day, the tsunami did not look like a normal wave with swell and foam tips.

Viewed from the ground, staring right into it, was a very different view. First, there was an almost one meter high liquid shelf of water with round edges, like mercury. It sept its way forward, around corners, into doors, down in basements, moving rapidly up the streets. Behind it came a 10-12 meters high black wall. Not shaped as a wave. Just a high dark wall moving inland, following the mercury-like shelf.

It wasn’t only the size and speed of this dark wall of water that was terrifying, but the sight of everything it was carrying. Cars, debris, cats, dogs and humans. A black, liquid wall of death.

I only had one choice; to carry my 3 year old daughter Cordelia and fight our way out of the first part of knee high water and run. And run. And run.We made it to safety in the hills.

For 24 hours we were disconnected from the rest of the family who had found safety on the roof top of the hotel. All five of us survived and made it through this disaster with much more luck than so many others.

In the aftermath of this tragedy I felt deeply let down by my beloved ocean. I was scared to go close to it. I had no desire to go back to a beach. We no longer spoke.

A little more than a year later we decided to go to Hawaii and heal. I was building sand castles with my daughter at Poipu beach, Kauai Island, constantly looking over my shoulder, keeping an eye on the horizon. Then suddenly Cordelia pointed to the ocean and said “look dad, a whale”.

And there they were. These magnificent animals playing in the water. Flipping on their back. Waving their tails. Showing their fins. In that moment I became at peace. The ocean spoke to us, and we answered, in silence. Friends again.

I made a promise to Cordelia that I would save a whale for her, as fathers do. When whales are hunting together in pairs, and release air bubbles there is a pattern of ocean bubbles bursting at the surface. It’s a perfect pattern in Nature. One of the magic views whales leaves us humans to observe.

Our logo was born through our artistic expression inspired by this pattern: something unifying, healing and magnificent. Today I am more than a friend of the ocean. I am an ocean keeper. And yes, Cordelia, I still promise to save a whale for you…

Robert Kornfeld, Founder