Nuestro Equipo

Oceanwide staff

Expedition staff

  • Rinie van Meurs
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch

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.

After he finished his education in forestry management and nature conservation, Rinie traveled the world to photograph and study wildlife, living for almost a year in the Falklands.

Many of his photographs have been published in magazines and photography books.

Rinie has also written several books about the polar regions, including a coffee table book about areas that are off the beaten track.

  • Adam Turner
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nacionalidad: British

Since Adam was young, he dreamed of working in the Antarctic like his uncle, who had worked there in the late 1980s.

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  • Eduardo Rubio
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nacionalidad: Guatemalan

Eduardo is an astronomer with a passion for sharing nature with others.

  • Hans Verdaat
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
  • Philipp Schaudy
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nacionalidad: Austrian
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  • Ali Liddle
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nacionalidad: British
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  • Pippa Low
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nacionalidad: British
  • Marcel Paul
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
  • Claudio Ghiglione
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nacionalidad: Italian
  • Florence Kuyper
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
  • Sara Jenner
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nacionalidad: British
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  • Christian Engelke
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nacionalidad: German
  • Jan Belgers
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch

Activity staff

  • Henrik Enckell
  • Function: Dive Team Leader & Advisor
  • Nacionalidad: Swedish

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 Green
  • Function: Dive Team Leader and Advisor
  • Nacionalidad: British

Michael began diving in 1980, training with the Royal Navy in Portsmouth Harbour.

Captains

  • Toni Salo
  • Function: Captain
  • Nacionalidad: Finnish

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.

  • Arthur Yakovlev
  • Function: Captain
  • Nacionalidad: Russian

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

  • Evgeny Levakov
  • Function: Captain
  • Nacionalidad: Russian

Evgeny Levakov was born in a small village not far from Nerekhta, an ancient Russian town in the Kostroma region. The closest water to his village was a 15,000 square-meter pond.

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  • Ernesto Barria
  • Function: Captain
  • Nacionalidad: Chilean
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  • Remmert Koster
  • Function: Captain
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
  • Joachim Schiel
  • Function: Captain
  • Nacionalidad: German

Office

Head Office:
Fax: +31 (0)118 410 417
Correo electrónico: info@oceanwide-expeditions.com
USA & Canada reservations:
Fax: +1 (0)281 749 8220
Correo electrónico: usa@oceanwide-expeditions.com
  • Marie Rose Porreca
  • Function: Reservations, North-America
  • Nacionalidad: American
  • Loraine van Huizen
  • Function: Online Marketeer
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
  • Dorine van Boekhout
  • Function: Reservations
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
  • Toto Vermue
  • Function: Sales Accountmanager
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
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  • Andreas Diesing
  • Function: Key Account Manager for the German speaking countries
  • Nacionalidad: German
  • Danique van Burken
  • Function: Senior Marketing Manager
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
  • Florian J. Piper
  • Function: Director Sales | Arctic program
  • Nacionalidad: German
  • Alexandra den Dikken
  • Function: Senior Graphic Designer
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
  • Adam Turner
  • Function: CXO - Head of Expedition Operations
  • Nacionalidad: British
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  • Nyrée Siereveld-Verstraete
  • Function: Account Assistant
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
  • Matt Cutts
  • Function: Content Writer
  • Nacionalidad: American
  • Marina Joglar
  • Function: Reservations, North-America
  • Nacionalidad: American
  • Maria del Pilar Fernandez
  • Function: International Sales Manager
  • Nacionalidad: Chilean
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  • Karin Toornstra
  • Function: Reservations
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
  • Jeroen Blanken
  • Function: Hotel Operations Manager
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
  • Stefan Pruimboom
  • Function: Staffing and Operations Advisor
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
  • Iris van Zalinge
  • Function: Sales Accountmanager
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
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  • Franklin Braeckman
  • Function: Antarctic Program Manager
  • Nacionalidad: Belgian
  • Ko de Korte
  • Function: Consultant
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
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  • Teun van ‘t Verlaat
  • Function: Technical Superintendent
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
  • Sebastiaan Schijf
  • Function: Financial Controller
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
  • Piet Vink
  • Function: Managing Director
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
  • Gabi Merten
  • Function: Reservations for the German speaking market
  • Nacionalidad: German
  • Femke Wolfert
  • Function: Staffing Manager
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
  • Majanda Fens
  • Function: Reservations Manager
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
  • Elza Back
  • Function: Account Assistant
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
  • Grace Vidal
  • Function: Reservations, North-America
  • Nacionalidad: American
  • Erik Hageman
  • Function: CFO
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
  • Michel van Gessel
  • Function: Director
  • Nacionalidad: Dutch
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