[2] The program's first Executive Director Dan Haifley has argued O'Neill Sea Odyssey's position that ocean concepts should be adopted in formal education standards and made more widely available to youth from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

[4] The core program takes place over a three-hour period on board a 65-foot (20 m) catamaran owned by Team O'Neill, and covers three areas; marine biology, ecology and navigation.

[10] In 2012 Crystal Birns, Arts Program Manager in Santa Cruz, California and Doug Ross launched a Kickstarter project entitled "Seasons in the Sanctuary"[11] consists of a beautifully poster and pocketbook[clarification needed] of migratory species that travel through the Monterey Bay, and the times of year when they can be seen, for OSO to distribute to local teachers to put up in their classrooms.

In the early 2000s, OSO staff began bilingual instruction using funds from Community Foundation – Santa Cruz County, and curriculum published in Spanish and English.

Students are encouraged to conceptualize solutions to current environmental problems including landfill diversion, organic farming, reducing, reusing, recycling and alternate forms of transportation and energy.

[1] The Adam Webster Memorial Fund enables individuals with special needs to participate in O'Neill Sea Odyssey's ocean-based, hands-on education program.

The vision of the Adam Webster Fund of the O'Neill Sea Odyssey is to provide a successful but not purely intellectual or academic learning experience for individuals with special needs in the context of the ocean environment.

Special needs individuals may benefit from learning about navigation but perhaps just as much from feeling the rolling motion of the ocean as the wave movement stimulates the body and a sensory system that has been immobile and using a wheelchair for years.

[needs update] Among the ASR report's findings: A study of the long-term impact of the program was conducted by San Jose State Master's candidate Lauren Hanneman, and was finished in Fall 2010.

The report will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences [5] and was summarized by the author: The OSO Education Center is located upstairs in what is known as the O'Neill Building at the Santa Cruz Harbor.

The historic building is where legendary suspense Film director Alfred Hitchcock sailed from, where Jack O’Neill's hot air balloons were prepared for flight and brought back for repairs.

OSO got an education center to serve thousands of kids per year with the award-winning program, and comfortable private tenant spaces with sweeping views of the Santa Cruz Harbor Channel and the Monterey Bay.

Donors supporting OSO's building renovation included the California Wildlife Conservation Board, Jack O’Neill, Harry Hind, the California Coastal Conservancy, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Balance Vector Inc., Robert Stephens and Julie Packard, Charles and Ann Walton, Jim and Debbie Thoits, Coast Commercial Bank, Tim and Bridget O’Neill, West Marine, Merrill and Lee Newman, Russ Rolfe Sr., Westcliff Foundation, Dan and Rebecca Haifley, Michael and Ann McCabe, Rob and Nancy Bremner, Nick Petredis, Jack McLaughlin, Shannon Brady and Donna Blitzer.

The O'Neill Sea Odyssey building is equipped with the most accurate weather report system, updating temperature, wind speed and direction, humidity and rain-fall.