Our staff

Jan Belgers was born in the Netherlands and currently lives in Rotterdam. He has been working as a professional outdoor guide and expedition leader for many years.

Traveling and wilderness guiding are his passions. His work as a guide has brought him from the high ranges of the Himalayas and Andes to the extreme latitudes of Spitsbergen and Antarctica.

He took his first steps in the polar regions as a student in 1992, participating in an international winter expedition to Antarctica’s Weddell Sea. Since then he has joined several research expeditions to remote places in the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans.

Jan feels at home on the sea due to his background in marine biology, and he is one of the expedition leaders on our historic schooner, Noorderlicht.

He lectures on natural history and biology, and is a confirmed polar literature fanatic.

Mika Erik Appel was born and raised in the town of Vaasa, Finland, where cold weather and ice was just part of daily life.

A master mariner, he holds a Bachelor of Marine Transportation degree from Aboa Mare Maritime Academy. He began his captaining career by tug towing and pushing barges in the North Sea and Baltic, later moving on to passenger vessels.

During his years in the Baltic, he gained young-ice navigation expertise. Arctic and Antarctic waters are both familiar to him, and he is an expert in multi-year ice navigation.

Prior to captaining expedition vessels, Mika spent five years as a nautical instructor and training manager in Subic Bay, Philippines. There he became an accredited IMO trainer and assessor.

Mika draws on more than 25 years of experience in passenger vessels and cruise ships, now focusing mainly on polar expedition work. His area of specialization is remote, ice-laden waters.