John was an Industrial Microbiologist for 33 years, investigating the environmental impact of effluents and products on estuarine and coastal receiving waters, reporting and presenting these results. The tools of the trade required diving, driving fast boats and hovercraft. Ideal preparation for expedition cruising.

He has worked on ships such as ours for 14 years from the Actic to the Antarctic and all latitudes between. He has presented lectures, driven Zodiacs, and been Expedition Leader in all these areas, although he does admit to a liking for the warmer climes!

When not expedition cruising John enjoys diving, swimming, good food, winetasting and is also a fitness trainer. In any spare time he
restores old cars and motorbikes.

Although keen on all wildlife, Adrian’s main passion is birds since he started looking at seabirds on pelagic trips from an early age of 15. Having grown up in South Australia near the costal Victorian border, Seabirds were at his door step before he moved to study migratory birds in the sunny Kimberley town of Broome.

Adrian’s time when not onboard Orion is often spent studying birds in Asia and the pacific. Through detailed field observations he tracks individual birds from their wintering grounds in Australia north to their breeding areas in the Arctic and back, working on behalf of the Global Flyway Network. During these overseas expeditions, Adrian also organises workshops on shorebird identification, banding and monitoring techniques whilst promoting wetland conservation throughout the East-Asian Pacific region.

Adrian also studies cetaceans and reptiles and he is rarely separated from his camera and binoculars. He has been employed to conduct wildlife surveys for consultants and conservation groups throughout Australia. He also regularly guides on cruise boats, often in areas of the remote coastal Kimberly and Northern Queensland. Adrian has also completed a three month stint as a seabird and wildlife observer during a shipboard journey to Antarctica for the Australian Antarctic Division.

Starting with the Orion II in 2011 for the inaugural voyage from Canada to Japan, Adrian has also been sailed on the Russian Far East, Lord Howe and Aotearoa, and Antipodes voyages. Adrian is keen to share his passion as a wildlife enthusiast and is a welcome member of the Orion team.

Nigel has been working in Antarctica for 20 years in a variety of capacities, and as a lecturer on cruise ships since 2001. He has completed nearly 50 tourist voyages to many parts of the Southern Oceans, including the Ross and Weddell seas, the Antarctic Peninsula, South Georgia, and the sub-Antarctic Islands south of Australia and New Zealand.

He has overwintered four times in the far south (three with the British, and once with the Australians) and learnt to scuba dive during the first of those at Signy Island in the South Orkneys in 1993! In 1998 he became the proud recipient of the British Antarctic Survey’s Fuchs Medal. In 1998-9 he was one of the team at the much-visited museum and post office at Port Lockroy and spent the winter of 2000 volunteering on Macquarie Island helping a team studying Elephant Seals.

Born and raised near Manchester, England, he is happily married to Wendy and has now been living in New Zealand, her homeland, for the last 11 years. Away from the deep south, he has worked as a wildlife guide in the Arctic, New Zealand and the Bay of Biscay, and spends the rest of his time travelling, watching wildlife, walking, and generally enjoying the natural world, for either work or pleasure, a division which he considers himself extremely fortunate to be able to describe as very hazy!

He is, as always, looking forward to sharing his enthusiasm for the region with Orion’s guests and is usually found looking out for birds, whales and seals when not required for other duties.