Nuestro Equipo

Katja grew up in Germany, where she completed her Ph.D. in Atmospheric Chemistry.

For her research, she spent the winter of 1997 at the German Antarctic Base Neumayer, where she was responsible for the Atmospheric Observatory.

Since then she has been on several scientific expeditions to Antarctica, measuring ozone at Scott Base, drilling ice cores at Law Dome, and taking samples of 120,000-year-old ice on Taylor Glacier in the Dry Valleys.

Katja worked for more than 12 years as a research scientist in Wellington, New Zealand, where her research interests were greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and in ice cores.

Since 2011 she has worked as a guide and lecturer on expedition cruises in the Arctic and Antarctica.

The polar regions have always fascinated Katja.

She has skied over 220 km (140 miles) through Svalbard, sailed in a small yacht to Antarctica, kayaked various polar waters, and worked as a science assistant in West Greenland.

Her fondest memories of Antarctica are building a 24-hour sundial and sledging from Hut Point to the Erebus Ice Tongue. Most recently, she skated 250 km (155 miles) across Lake Baikal in Siberia.

Life is an adventure for Katja. Whenever she can, she travels, hikes, cycles, sea kayaks, and skis to Earth’s remote and beautiful places.

When she is not traveling, she lives in New Zealand and works as a freelance guide, science communicator, and photographer.

Katja speaks fluent English and German.

Paul was born and brought up in the valleys of South Wales.

He began kayaking and climbing at the age of 14, thanks to opportunities in school.

By the age of 19, Paul was managing and delivering an outdoor program for Sport Wales, which was the catalyst for carving out a career in adventure activities.

Paul studied sports science at the Cardiff Institute of Higher Education before taking up a lecturing post to train future adventure activity instructors.

As a teacher, lecturer, and outdoor activity coach, Paul has over 35 years of experience working with public, private, and voluntary organizations.

He provides rewarding opportunities for personal and social development in the UK and throughout the world.

Paul’s expertise as a paddler and mountaineer has enabled him to explore many of the rivers, seas, and mountains of the seven continents.

He also runs his own business for outdoor activity coaching, technical consulting, trekking, mountaineering, and kayaking. In addition,

Paul has been a freelance inspector for the Adventurous Activities Licensing Service (AALS).

Currently he is a freelance inspector for Adventuremark and Learning Outside the Classroom, a quality assurance officer and internal verifier for Canoe Wales, project manager for AdventureSmart.UK, and chair of the Wales Adventure Tourism Organisation (WATO) and the Outdoor Alliance in Wales.

Arthur Yakovlev was born in Petrozavodsk, the capital and largest city of the Republic of Karelia, in northwestern Russia.

At the age of 15, he started training at the Maritime College in Petrozavodsk, where he graduated in 1999. At 18 he began his career as a seaman on a dry cargo vessel.

One year later, he was promoted as third officer on the same type of vessel, and later as second officer, working on various cargo vessels until 2007.

That same year, Arthur began work as a second officer on the passenger vessel Marina Cvetaeva, now Ortelius. As of 2008 he has worked for Oceanwide Expeditions, and in 2019 became a captain on Plancius.

Arthur never dreamed that most of his career would be spent in the polar waters, but he considers this his destiny and would not have it any other way.

He is married and has a son, and during vacation he enjoys spending most of his time with his family, while also traveling and enjoying nature.