Our staff

Oceanwide staff

The polar regions are what we do. From our expert expedition guides to our impeccable crew to our diversely skilled office staff, the OEX team is all about giving you the utmost experience of the Arctic, Antarctica, and the sub-Antarctic. Seasoned passengers of our own epic voyages, we bring to the table not only a love of the exotic polar world but also a combined wealth of expertise unrivaled by any other polar tour operator. Join us on one of our adventurous voyages, and let us share with you all there is to see, do, and explore in Earth’s most remote frontiers.

Expedition staff

  • Florence Kuyper
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: Dutch

Florence is a world traveler with a passion for the polar regions, remote nature, deserts, history, and nomadic peoples.

After receiving her Master’s Degree in Educational and Organizational Psychology in the Netherlands, she worked as a consultant-manager in social affairs.

In 2004 Florence went to the big white desert of Antarctica for the first time, and her passion for this continent has drawn her back ever since.

But she also enjoys the heat, having crossed 1,200 km (745 miles) of harsh Mongolian desert on foot with an expedition team and one Bactrian camel.

Florence has lived at the historical British base of Port Lockroy on the Antarctic Peninsula, where she served as a base leader, and also works on sailing yachts in the Arctic and Antarctica.

She has been an expedition guide and leader in both polar regions since 2012, and she looks forward to sharing her knowledge and unlimited passion for the polar regions with you.

  • Ali Liddle
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: British

Ali Liddle grew up in the north of England where, after leaving school, she qualified as a primary school teacher.

Read an interview here >
  • Adam Turner
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: British

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

Read an interview here >
  • Christian Engelke
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: German
  • Jan Belgers
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Philipp Schaudy
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: Austrian
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  • Marcel Paul
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Hans Verdaat
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Adam Burke
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: British
  • Pippa Low
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: British
  • Sara Jenner
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: British
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  • Eduardo Rubio
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: Guatemalan
  • Rinie van Meurs
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Claudio Ghiglione
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: Italian
  • Chris Long
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: New Zealander
  • George Kennedy
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: Australian

Activity staff

  • Henrik Enckell
  • Function: Dive Team Leader & Advisor
  • Nationality: 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
  • Nationality: British

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

Captains

  • Remmert Koster
  • Function: Captain
  • Nationality: Dutch

Remmert Koster was born in the Netherlands, and from a young age he was convinced he would become a captain.

After completing nautical college, he sailed general cargo ships for several years before switching to heavy-lift ships, transporting such loads as offshore platforms, Dutch Royal Navy vessels, submarines, parts for petrochemical plants, dredgers, cranes, and other such items.

Since 2016 he has captained passenger vessels, starting with two mega-yachts and later becoming a captain with Oceanwide Expeditions on its Polar Class 6 vessel, Hondius.

Remmert is married and lives with his wife and her daughter in an old farmhouse in north Holland. When he’s not busy renovating the house, he likes to cook, travel, and spend time with his family and friends.

  • Joachim Schiel
  • Function: Captain
  • Nationality: 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.

  • Evgeny Levakov
  • Function: Captain
  • Nationality: 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.

Read an interview here >
  • Arthur Yakovlev
  • Function: Captain
  • Nationality: Russian
  • Ernesto Barria
  • Function: Captain
  • Nationality: Chilean
Read more >

Office

Head Office:
Fax: +31 (0)118 410 417
USA & Canada reservations:
Fax: +1 (0)281 749 8220
  • Alexandra den Dikken
  • Function: Senior Graphic Designer
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Majanda Fens
  • Function: Reservations Manager
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Adam Turner
  • Function: CXO - Head of Expedition Operations
  • Nationality: British
Read more >
  • Toto Vermue
  • Function: USA and Canada Sales Manager
  • Nationality: Dutch
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  • Bas Jumelet
  • Function: Assistant Hotel Operations Manager
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Florian J. Piper
  • Function: Director Sales | Arctic program
  • Nationality: German
  • Andreas Diesing
  • Function: Key Account Manager for the German speaking countries
  • Nationality: German
  • Ko de Korte
  • Function: Consultant
  • Nationality: Dutch
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  • Helen de Jong
  • Function: Sales Account Manager
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Gabi Merten
  • Function: Reservations for the German speaking market
  • Nationality: German
  • Marissa Medrano
  • Function: Accounting
  • Nationality: American
  • Maria del Pilar Fernandez
  • Function: International Sales Manager
  • Nationality: Chilean
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  • Sytze Posthumus
  • Function: Financial Controller
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Michel van Gessel
  • Function: Director
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Sebastiaan Schijf
  • Function: CFO
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Femke Wolfert
  • Function: Staffing Manager
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Sasha Rachkova
  • Function: Online Marketeer
  • Nationality: Russian
  • Kees Matthes
  • Function: Nautical Superintendent
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Loraine van Huizen
  • Function: Online Marketeer
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Dorine van Boekhout
  • Function: Reservations
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Nyrée Siereveld-Verstraete
  • Function: Account Assistant
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Franklin Braeckman
  • Function: Antarctic Program Manager
  • Nationality: Belgian
  • Michael Frauendorfer
  • Function: Hotel Operations Manager
  • Nationality: Austrian
  • Marie Rose Porreca
  • Function: Reservations, North-America
  • Nationality: American
  • Piet Vink
  • Function: Managing Director
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Karin Toornstra
  • Function: Reservations
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • John Yeh
  • Function: Sales Representative China & South Asia & Oceania
  • Nationality: Chinese
  • Jornt de Meurichy
  • Function: E-commerce officer
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Danique van Burken
  • Function: Senior Marketing Manager
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Elza Back
  • Function: Account Assistant
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Grace Vidal
  • Function: Reservations, North-America
  • Nationality: American
  • Teun van ‘t Verlaat
  • Function: Technical Manager
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Marina Joglar
  • Function: Reservations, North-America
  • Nationality: American
  • Stefan Pruimboom
  • Function: Staffing and Operations Advisor
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • George Janes
  • Function: Senior Copywriter
  • Nationality: British
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