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.

Jonny Baird grew up in the small village of Taynuilt near Oban on Scotland’s west coast, where he first discovered his passion for climbing and skiing. He is now based in the French Alps near the Chamonix Valley and has worked as an IFMGA-certified Mountain Guide since 2005.

Since 2017, Jonny has worked regularly as a mountaineering guide aboard the Oceanwide expedition ship Ortelius and as Lead Mountain Guide aboard Hondius on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Over the years, his deep appreciation for the Antarctic has grown—not only for its mountaineering potential but also for its unique and abundant wildlife.

In winter, Jonny primarily guides ski mountaineering trips across France, Italy, and Switzerland, with regular expeditions further afield. His Arctic guiding experience includes trips to Arctic Norway (Lofoten Islands, Kvaløya, Tromsø, and Arnøya), Greenland, and Iceland’s Troll Peninsula.

During the summer months, Jonny focuses on alpine climbing, mountaineering, and rock climbing, sharing more than 35 years of personal climbing experience with his clients. His climbing has taken him around the world, including the European Alps, Kyrgyzstan, Peru, Canada, the U.S., Morocco, New Zealand, Australia, and of course Scotland, where it all began.

Beyond guiding, Jonny has worked in mountain safety for television, film, and photography projects. He is the co-author of a ski touring guidebook and has contributed to several online publications.

Jonny is a member of the Syndicat National des Guides de Montagne (SNGM), the French national mountain guiding association. Over the years, he has climbed, skied, and guided on every continent.

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

At the age of 15, he started training at the Maritime College in Petrozavodsk, where he graduated in 1999. At 18 he began his career as a seaman on a dry cargo vessel.

One year later, he was promoted as third officer on the same type of vessel, and later as second officer, working on various cargo vessels until 2007.

That same year, Arthur began work as a second officer on the passenger vessel Marina Cvetaeva, now Ortelius. As of 2008 he has worked for Oceanwide Expeditions, and in 2019 became a captain on Plancius.

Arthur never dreamed that most of his career would be spent in the polar waters, but he considers this his destiny and would not have it any other way.

He is married and has a son, and during vacation he enjoys spending most of his time with his family, while also traveling and enjoying nature.