Welcome to
Coastal Connections
with
Wayne Justice

I am a naturalist and marine biologist, blessed to live and work along North Carolina’s Crystal Coast.  

I grew up a river rat along the banks of the Pamlico River where my love of all things aquatic developed and flourished thanks to regular trips to the Outer Banks as a child. 

I further cultivated my love for our ocean as I earned my degree studying corals and estuaries at the University Of NC at Wilmington and then took off to San Diego, California to explore the Pacific Coast and to build up my resume.  

Over the past 20 years I have been blessed to develop a career as a marine educator and naturalist working with Florida State Parks, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and  all three NC Aquariums.  I have been fortunate to spend time up close and personal with whales in Mexico, coral reefs in Puerto Rico and Sea Turtles and Sand Tiger sharks back home in North Carolina.  

I am an avid saltwater angler dedicating on average 75 days each year primarily pursuing saltwater species such as sea trout and red drum but I truly live by the mantra “any fish, any water”.  

I am also a certified divemaster who loves to explore beneath the waves. With the graveyard of the Atlantic right off our coast, there are so many amazing shipwrecks and hard bottom shoals to the enjoy, the NC coast really is paradise for anyone who enjoys SCUBA.   

As my passions have developed into a career I learned that I love to share my experiences with others through photography, videography and the written word.  I would like invite you to explore my site, learn about my passions and hopefully allow me to motivate you to spend more time outdoors enjoying and conserving our natural world.  

I hope you enjoy, thanks so much for taking the time to explore.