All of our polar cruises have a team of expert on-board expedition staff who’ll make this incredible journey with you. They are there to answer your questions, and fuel your knowledge and imagination with presentations and lectures about the Arctic or Antarctica. These exceptional people are an integral part of your polar journey. They will organise each day’s activities, accompany you ashore in Zodiac inflatables and provide information and advice along the way. Many of them are experts in their field, be that photography, geology, biology, environmental science, polar history or ornithology.
Every one of them has many years of experience in the polar regions and here we’re pleased to introduce you to just a few of the staff you might travel with on your voyage.
Susan Adie, Expedition Leader
Susan has led more than 140 expeditions in Antarctica. Her passion for the environment was fuelled from a very early age, growing up amid the lakes and mountains of New York state. She carried this enthusiasm through her education to work with state and national governments in environmental education and resource management, working on endangered species re-introduction programmes, for which she has won awards.
Susan is at home in the wilderness, having led trips in the Amazon, Spitsbergen, Siberia, the North and South Pacific, Greenland, Franz Josef Land among others.
Gary Miller, Expedition Leader and Lecturer
Gary is a Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia.
He’s studied polar bears in the Arctic, whales in Alaska and Mexico and skuas and penguins in Antarctica, including emperors while over-wintering at Mawson Station.
Dr Alex Cowan, Geologist and Zodiac driver
Alex is an experienced mountaineer and professional yacht master, having climbed and ski mountaineered his way around Europe, Scandinavia, Africa and Greenland.
He has also conducted research on CO2 sequestration and magma chamber processes, and has a keen understanding of climate change from a scientific viewpoint.
Alex’s passion for the maritime world has now led him to the polar regions where he’s ready to share his knowledge of geology and seafaring with Arctic travellers.
Terence (Scobie) Pye, Scientist and Zodiac Master
Terence (Scobie) Pye is a research scientist with decades of research time in Antarctica.
His main scientific interests are focused on the conservation and management of the sub-Antarctic islands, the impact of introduced mammals on these fragile ecosystems, sustainable tourism in Antarctica and the history of the region.
In 1978, Scobie was awarded the Fuchs Medal for outstanding service to the British Antarctic Survey.