Onze vriendelijke en behulpzame collega's zijn u graag van dienst. Ze kunnen alle relevante vragen over onze reizen, de bestemmingen en de schepen van Oceanwide Expeditions beantwoorden. Ze werken allemaal reeds vele jaren met veel enthousiasme voor Oceanwide Expeditions en hebben ook allemaal één of meerdere expeditie reizen naar het Noordpoolgebied en Antarctica meegemaakt, waardoor ze de poolgebieden uit eerste hand kennen.
Adam was brought up in the countryside of Essex, England. He began sailing at the age of nine and by 12 was already working on the local river.
By the age of 16, he had a small fishing boat and was working on boatyards, taking tourists to see local seal colonies and helping out on the local lifeboat.
Adam later joined the British Armed Forces and was posted in Northern Ireland and elsewhere in the UK. He also served in Kenya as a boat operator. In 2002 Adam joined the police and spent several years on a specialist unit working across the UK with his search dog, Charley.
Since Adam was young, he dreamed of working in the Antarctic like his uncle, who had worked there in the late 1980s. In 2014 Adam left the police to work as a boating officer for the British Antarctic Survey at King Edward Point, South Georgia, where he spent just over a year.
Adam studied at Middlesex University and often gives lectures on history. In 2017 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society while working as a guide and consultant.
In 2020 Adam began working fulltime for Oceanwide Expeditions as their field operations manager. He holds a commercial masters certificate and instructs in several marine disciplines. Adam enjoys diving, climbing, kayaking, and other outdoor activities.
Rinie van Meurs has been an expedition leader since 1989, leading hundreds of expeditions all over the polar regions. The Arctic island of Spitsbergen, the largest in the Svalbard archipelago, is as familiar to him as his own back yard.
Pippa has worked as a marine guide and skipper for 10 years, primarily in Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, and the polar regions.
Henrik is an experienced dive leader, rebreather instructor trainer, and one of the first dive masters to bring tourists diving in Antarctica.
Henrik has been diving for over 25 years and teaches all levels of recreational and technical diving up to Advanced Trimix CCR.
He runs the IART (International Association of Rebreather Trainers) Regional Office for Northern Europe and is a member of the IART Board of Advisors.
Henrik is a keen wreck diver and has been involved in deep-wreck expeditions all over the world. Some of the interesting wrecks he has visited are the WW2 disasters General von Steuben and Wilhelm Gustloff in the Baltic as well as the HMS Victoria ("the vertical wreck") at 145 meters (475 feet) off the Lebanese coast.
His interest in both the ocean and space has engaged him in projects with the European Space Agency (Mars500 Project) and SeaSpace Exploration and Research Society (Project Poseidon), among others.
He has a military background, having served in peace keeping and enforcing missions in the Middle East and former Yugoslavia.
He has been leading dive expeditions in Antarctica and the Arctic for almost 20 years in remote and challenging waters, many of which have never been dived before.
Henrik holds an M.Sc. Degree in Electrical Engineering and works in the automotive industry when not traveling the polar regions.
He has lived and worked in Tokyo for two years but currently lives in India with his wife, three teenage daughters, and five-year-old son.
Michael began diving in 1980, training with the Royal Navy in Portsmouth Harbour.
Born and raised in Turku, Finland, Toni grew up in a city with ancient seagoing traditions. He has loved sailing since he was a child, when he regularly went out with his grandfather to experience life on the high seas. Ever since, he has dreamed of sailing to far-away places and exploring the world. Toni served in a naval base near Helsinki for two years before starting his studies at Maritime University in 1999. He got his officer’s license in 2003 and spent the first ten years of his career working on cargo ships.
After many years of gaining experience, he finished his studies and got his Master mariner license in 2012. Toni moved to the expedition industry the following year and has no plans of leaving it. He loves the nature, wildlife, and delivering a great polar travel product.
Toni joined Oceanwide Expeditions in 2018. Even though he’s sailed the seven seas and loves all the new places he gets to visit, there’s still a special place in his heart for the tiny island in Finland where it all started 40 years ago.
When he is on leave, Toni enjoys reading, cycling, fishing, and photography.
Ali was born in Germany, where he studied geography but eventually decided to turn his passion for sailing into a profession. He pursued nautical studies in the Netherlands, specializing in traditional sailing ships as well as tall ships.
Mika Erik Appel was born and raised in the town of Vaasa, Finland, where cold weather and ice was just part of daily life.
