Ons team

Adam has always had a love of the outdoors and adventure, from an early age he dreamt of visiting exotic places and immersing himself in other cultures.

This love of the outdoors led him to work teaching adventurous activities and for over fifteen years this pursuit has given him the opportunity to live and work all over the globe. He has taught sailing in Australia, paddle sports on Europe’s rivers and led expeditions in Africa.

After spending five years teaching white water safety & rescue and boat handling techniques to the fire brigade, he moved on to providing marine science support in Antarctica. He has spent over five years living between the Antarctic continent and the island of South Georgia, including overwintering twice.

Whilst providing science support he spent his time in Antarctica managing boating operations and helming RIBs for diving operations. This covered understanding environmental changes and its effects, wildlife monitoring and counting as well as water sampling for a long-term data collection.

Adam enjoys travelling with his partner who shares the same values and love of the outdoors. This has taken them from deserts to rain forests and ultramarathons in the mountains.

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

After leaving the Navy, he continued to dive mainly around the UK, diving wrecks and always looking for a new story.

He is qualified as a dive instructor with BSAC and PADI and is certified to operate Drager Dolphin and Buddy Inspiration rebreathers.

Michael has worked for Oceanwide Expeditions for five years and enjoys giving divers a safe and exploratory experience in the polar regions.

Michael’s biggest tip for polar divers is to slow down, look around, and enjoy the environment.

He looks forward to enjoying it with you.

Born near the German city of Cologne, Joachim Schiel grew up some distance from the coast. His first contact with vessels came from the yearly sailing trips he made with a youth group on the Baltic.

After finishing school, serving in the military, and working a few different jobs, he started an apprenticeship in boat building. It was not long, however, before he realized he would rather work on vessels at sea than in the shipyard.

So in 1998, he started his sailing career on tall ships. Over the following years, he sailed during the summer and attended nautical college in Enkhuizen during the winter. This led to sailing on many different vessels all over the world before he became a captain in 2006.

He first sailed to Svalbard in 2009 and instantly fell in love with the Arctic, preferring to sail in the far north ever since. He has been on Rembrandt van Rijn since 2017, making voyages in Northern Norway, Svalbard, and East Greenland.

When Joachim is not sailing the polar regions, he likes to go hiking and diving in the warmer areas of the world.