The field of ocean acoustics is a fascinating discipline that spans a breadth of scientific disciplines, engineering challenges, and dual-use technologies.  From acoustic tomography and seabed characterization to target tracking and classification to long-range acoustic communications, ocean acoustics provides the primary means to sense and explore the majority of the Earth's surface.  Unfortunately, ocean acoustics is not typically viewed as a critical field of scientific research, and the numbers of young scientists and engineers entering the field has been dwindling.  In this presentation, I'll be providing a synopsis of my own professional journey in the field of ocean acoustics and the opportunities that it has provided.  Much of the talk will cover the decades of work done in the area of the acoustic vector field, including modeling, signal processing, and environmental information extraction.