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.
Ons team
Expedition staff
- Hans Verdaat
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
Hans his fascination for nature and traveling has been present all of his life. From a young age on he has been a birder and fascination with the polar regions caught him during one of his birding travels to the North of Norway.
After his study Coastal Zone Management he started working on the Dutch island Texel as a field researcher for the marine research institute of Wageningen University. In his research he specialises in seabirds and marine mammals.
Since 2004 he has participated in scientific research projects in the Antarctica, Caribbean, West-Africa, Spitsbergen and European waters. He has always been fascinated with the polar regions and has participated in several scientific expeditions both to the Arctic and Antarctic.
In 1999 he started working as a (birding) guide. The last years he has combined his research job with guiding & expedition leading for Oceanwide Expeditions.
In his free time Hans is a keen nature photographer and an active member of the team supporting the international development of the citizens science platform Observation.org
- Sara Jenner
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationaliteit: British
For as long as Sara can remember, she has had a passion for travel and for finding the wildest and most remote places on Earth.
- Florence Kuyper
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
Florence is a world traveler with a passion for the polar regions, remote nature, deserts, history, and nomadic peoples.
- Ali Liddle
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationaliteit: British
- Jan Belgers
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
- Christian Engelke
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationaliteit: German
- Marcel Paul
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
- Philipp Schaudy
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationaliteit: Austrian
- Adam Turner
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationaliteit: British
- Claudio Ghiglione
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationaliteit: Italian
- Pippa Low
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationaliteit: British
- Rinie van Meurs
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
- Eduardo Rubio
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationaliteit: Guatemalan
Activity staff
- Henrik Enckell
- Function: Dive Team Leader & Advisor
- Nationaliteit: 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
- Nationaliteit: British
Michael began diving in 1980, training with the Royal Navy in Portsmouth Harbour.
Captains
- Joachim Schiel
- Function: Captain
- Nationaliteit: German
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.
- Toni Salo
- Function: Captain
- Nationaliteit: 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.
- Arthur Yakovlev
- Function: Captain
- Nationaliteit: Russian
Arthur Yakovlev was born in Petrozavodsk, the capital and largest city of the Republic of Karelia, in northwestern Russia.
- Evgeny Levakov
- Function: Captain
- Nationaliteit: Russian
- Remmert Koster
- Function: Captain
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
- Ernesto Barria
- Function: Captain
- Nationaliteit: Chilean
Office
- Alexandra den Dikken
- Function: Senior Graphic Designer
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
- Franklin Braeckman
- Function: Antarctic Program Manager
- Nationaliteit: Belgian
- Marie Rose Porreca
- Function: Reservations, North-America
- Nationaliteit: American
- Loraine van Huizen
- Function: Online Marketeer
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
- Jeroen Blanken
- Function: Hotel Operations Manager
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
- Andreas Diesing
- Function: Key Account Manager for the German speaking countries
- Nationaliteit: German
- Florian J. Piper
- Function: Director Sales | Arctic program
- Nationaliteit: German
- Maria del Pilar Fernandez
- Function: International Sales Manager
- Nationaliteit: Chilean
- Sebastiaan Schijf
- Function: Financial Controller
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
- Femke Wolfert
- Function: Staffing Manager
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
- Piet Vink
- Function: Managing Director
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
- Ko de Korte
- Function: Consultant
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
- Adam Turner
- Function: CXO - Head of Expedition Operations
- Nationaliteit: British
- Gabi Merten
- Function: Reservations for the German speaking market
- Nationaliteit: German
- Majanda Fens
- Function: Reservations Manager
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
- Teun van ‘t Verlaat
- Function: Technical Superintendent
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
- Michel van Gessel
- Function: Director
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
- Marina Joglar
- Function: Reservations, North-America
- Nationaliteit: American
- Toto Vermue
- Function: Sales Accountmanager
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
- Stefan Pruimboom
- Function: Staffing and Operations Advisor
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
- Elza Back
- Function: Account Assistant
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
- Matt Cutts
- Function: Content Writer
- Nationaliteit: American
- Iris van Zalinge
- Function: Sales Accountmanager
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
- Dorine van Boekhout
- Function: Reservations
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
- Nyrée Siereveld-Verstraete
- Function: Account Assistant
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
- Erik Hageman
- Function: CFO
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
- Karin Toornstra
- Function: Reservations
- Nationaliteit: Dutch
- Grace Vidal
- Function: Reservations, North-America
- Nationaliteit: American
- Danique van Burken
- Function: Senior Marketing Manager
- Nationaliteit: Dutch