1. Who We Are

SeaMystics.com is an independent educational blog dedicated to ocean mysteries, deep-sea creatures, and marine biology. The website is operated by Dr. Rabica under the brand SeaMystics.

If you have any questions about this policy or how your data is handled, you can contact us directly at seamystics5@gmail.com.

2. Information We Collect

Information You Provide

We only collect personal information you voluntarily give us, which may include:

• Your name and email address when you submit a contact form or subscribe to updates
• Comments you post on blog articles
• Messages you send to us via email

Information Collected Automatically

When you visit SeaMystics.com, certain technical data is collected automatically by our hosting provider and analytics tools, including:

• IP address and approximate geographic location
• Browser type, device type, and operating system
• Pages visited, time spent on each page, and referring URL
• Date and time of your visit

Cookies

This website uses cookies — small text files stored on your device — to improve your browsing experience. Cookies help us understand how visitors use our site and remember your preferences. You can disable cookies in your browser settings at any time, though some features of the site may not function correctly as a result.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect solely to:

• Respond to your enquiries and messages
• Send newsletters or content updates — only if you have opted in
• Moderate and publish comments on our articles
• Analyse site traffic to improve content quality and user experience
• Detect and prevent spam, fraud, or abuse

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to any third party for marketing purposes.

4. Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), we process your personal data under the following legal bases:

• Consent — when you subscribe to our newsletter or submit a contact form
• Legitimate interests — for site analytics and security monitoring
• Legal obligation — where required by applicable law

5. Third-Party Services

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors interact with our content. Google Analytics collects anonymised usage data via cookies. You can opt out by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

WordPress & Hosting

SeaMystics.com runs on WordPress. Our hosting provider may log server-level data including IP addresses for security and performance purposes. This data is governed by the hosting provider's own privacy policy.

Embedded Content

Articles on this site may include embedded videos or content from third-party platforms such as YouTube. Visiting pages with embedded content may result in those platforms collecting data about you, even if you do not interact with the embed. Please refer to those platforms' privacy policies for details.

Affiliate Links

Some posts contain affiliate links. Clicking an affiliate link may allow the partner to set cookies on your device. We do not share your personal information with affiliate partners.

6. Data Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was collected:

• Contact form submissions — kept for up to 12 months, then deleted
• Email subscribers — retained until you unsubscribe
• Comments — retained indefinitely unless you request removal
• Analytics data — retained in anonymised form per Google's data retention settings

7. Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Access — request a copy of the data we hold about you
• Correction — ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data
• Deletion — request that we delete your personal data
• Objection — object to how we process your data
• Portability — receive your data in a portable format
• Withdraw consent — opt out of any processing you previously consented to

To exercise any of these rights, email us at seamystics5@gmail.com. We will respond within 30 days.

8. Children's Privacy

SeaMystics.com is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us at seamystics5@gmail.com and we will delete it promptly.

9. Data Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, or misuse. However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security of data transmitted to or from this website.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or applicable law. Any updates will be published on this page with a revised "Last updated" date. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

Continued use of SeaMystics.com after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.

11. Contact Us

For any privacy-related questions, data requests, or concerns, please get in touch:

• Email: seamystics5@gmail.com
• Website: www.seamystics.com

We aim to respond to all enquiries within 2 business days.