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.
Our staff
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.
- Philipp Schaudy
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationality: Austrian
Philipp Schaudy holds a Master’s Degree in Physical Geography and has studied in Austria, Iceland, and Svalbard. A restless traveler, adventurer, and alpinist, he’s always loved the outdoors.
- Rinie van Meurs
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationality: Dutch
Rinie van Meurs has been an expedition leader since 1989, leading hundreds of expeditions all over the polar regions. The Arctic island of Spitsbergen, the largest in the Svalbard archipelago, is as familiar to him as his own back yard.
- Hans Verdaat
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationality: Dutch
- Ali Liddle
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationality: British
- Claudio Ghiglione
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationality: Italian
- Christian Engelke
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationality: German
- Jan Belgers
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationality: Dutch
- Sara Jenner
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationality: British
- George Kennedy
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationality: Australian
- Eduardo Rubio
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationality: Guatemalan
- Adam Burke
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationality: British
- Pippa Low
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationality: British
- Adam Turner
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationality: British
- Marcel Paul
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationality: Dutch
- Chris Long
- Function: Expedition leader
- Nationality: New Zealander
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.
- Jonny Baird
- Function: Mountain Leader and Advisor
- Nationality: British
Since 2017, Jonny has worked regularly as a mountaineering guide and as Lead Mountain Guide on the Antarctic Peninsula.
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.
- Arthur Yakovlev
- Function: Captain
- Nationality: Russian
Arthur Yakovlev was born in Petrozavodsk, the capital and largest city of the Republic of Karelia, in northwestern Russia.
- Ernesto Barria
- Function: Captain
- Nationality: Chilean
Ernesto Barria was born in Santiago, Chile, into a family with strong bonds to the sea: His father, grandfather, and several uncles all share a love of the ocean.
- Joachim Schiel
- Function: Captain
- Nationality: German
Office
- Jornt de Meurichy
- Function: E-commerce officer
- Nationality: Dutch
- John Yeh
- Function: Sales Representative China & South Asia & Oceania
- Nationality: Chinese
- Loraine van Huizen
- Function: Online Marketeer
- Nationality: Dutch
- Andreas Diesing
- Function: Key Account Manager for the German speaking countries
- Nationality: German
- Adam Turner
- Function: CXO - Head of Expedition Operations
- Nationality: British
- Marina Joglar
- Function: Reservations, North-America
- Nationality: American
- Florian J. Piper
- Function: Director Sales | Arctic program
- Nationality: German
- Teun van ‘t Verlaat
- Function: Technical Manager
- Nationality: Dutch
- George Janes
- Function: Senior Copywriter
- Nationality: British
- Stefan Pruimboom
- Function: Staffing and Operations Advisor
- Nationality: Dutch
- Elza Back
- Function: Account Assistant
- Nationality: Dutch
- Franklin Braeckman
- Function: Antarctic Program Manager
- Nationality: Belgian
- Helen de Jong
- Function: Sales Account Manager
- Nationality: Dutch
- Michel van Gessel
- Function: Director
- Nationality: Dutch
- Bas Jumelet
- Function: Assistant Hotel Operations Manager
- Nationality: Dutch
- Kees Matthes
- Function: Nautical Superintendent
- Nationality: Dutch
- Sebastiaan Schijf
- Function: CFO
- Nationality: Dutch
- Nyrée Siereveld-Verstraete
- Function: Account Assistant
- Nationality: Dutch
- Michael Frauendorfer
- Function: Hotel Operations Manager
- Nationality: Austrian
- Femke Wolfert
- Function: Staffing Manager
- Nationality: Dutch
- Ko de Korte
- Function: Consultant
- Nationality: Dutch
- Majanda Fens
- Function: Reservations Manager
- Nationality: Dutch
- Dorine van Boekhout
- Function: Reservations
- Nationality: Dutch
- Marie Rose Porreca
- Function: Reservations, North-America
- Nationality: American
- Danique van Burken
- Function: Senior Marketing Manager
- Nationality: Dutch
- Sytze Posthumus
- Function: Financial Controller
- Nationality: Dutch
- Gabi Merten
- Function: Reservations for the German speaking market
- Nationality: German
- Alexandra den Dikken
- Function: Senior Graphic Designer
- Nationality: Dutch
- Piet Vink
- Function: Managing Director
- Nationality: Dutch
- Maria del Pilar Fernandez
- Function: International Sales Manager
- Nationality: Chilean
- Rémi Bouysset
- Function: CEO
- Nationality: French
- Toto Vermue
- Function: USA and Canada Sales Manager
- Nationality: Dutch
- Sasha Rachkova
- Function: Online Marketeer
- Nationality: Russian
- Marissa Medrano
- Function: Accounting
- Nationality: American
- Grace Vidal
- Function: Reservations, North-America
- Nationality: American
- Karin Toornstra
- Function: Reservations
- Nationality: Dutch