One of the (many) features that make our Epic Antarctic voyage so special is the quality of the people you will travel with.
Join your study leaders in the ship’s presentation room with state-of-art audio-visual equipment for lectures and seminars on a variety of topics. While on Zodiac excursions and landings, your study leaders provide insights and context to our explorations.
Philippe Tortell is a Professor of Oceanography at UBC, and Head of the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences. He has conducted oceanographic research expeditions around the world from the Arctic to the Antarctic with several expeditions to the Ross, Weddell and Amundsen Seas, and extended deployments at Palmer Station on the West Antarctic Peninsula. He has worked with several organizations across Canada to help share the results of his work with broad public audiences, and has edited several popular books, including Earth 2020: An Insider’s Guide to a Rapidly Changing Planet. Philippe was a study leader aboard our 2022 expedition to Antarctica with the Falklands and South Georgia.
Dr. Maria (Maite) Maldonado is a Professor in Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of British Columbia. Her research explores how bioactive trace metals—particularly iron and copper—influence phytoplankton physiology and ocean productivity. She earned her PhD from McGill University in 1999. Maldonado’s work has documented iron limitation of primary productivity in the Arctic Ocean and examined how ocean acidification and thinning sea ice affect metal availability for Arctic phytoplankton. She has participated in international GEOTRACES research cruises and served on its Scientific Steering and Data Management Committees, advancing global collaboration in marine biogeochemistry. This will be Maite’s third expedition with us!
Dr. Alison Criscitiello is a world-renowned ice core scientist, mountaineer, and advocate for gender equity. An Assistant Professor and Director of the Canadian Ice Core Lab at the University of Alberta, she earned MIT’s first PhD in glaciology. Her research reconstructs climate and contaminant histories from ice cores drilled across Antarctica, Greenland, and the Canadian High Arctic, documenting glaciers at risk from climate change. A co-founder of Girls on Ice Canada, she champions science education for young women. Her work bridges research, exploration, and storytelling to inspire curiosity about the polar world. Alison is a Fellow International of The Explorers Club.
Galen Halverson is a professor of geology at McGill University. He reads the history of our planet from ancient rocks in order to understand how the Earth system has behaved over billions of years. His current research focuses on tectonics, climate change and the evolution of ocean chemistry in deep time and the conditions under which complex life originated. Galen has spent extensive time conducting field research in the Arctic and in deserts across the globe. He also previously worked in the Weddell Sea investigating the sedimentary consequences of the progressive collapse of the Larsen Ice Shelf. He is keen to return to the region to bear witness the ongoing changes to this unique environment and to study the geological vestiges of the break of the Gondwana megacontinent. This will be Galen’s second expedition with us!
Marc Webber is a marine mammal specialist with an undergraduate and graduate degree from San Francisco State University. He has worked as a biologist and refuge manager for non-profit organizations and the US government for his entire career in many places. He has also worked at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. Among his better-known works is a major book he co-authored, a fantastic work called Marine Mammals of the World: A Comprehensive Guide to Their Identification. It is now in its second edition.
Quest Naturalists and staff:
Catherine Jardine is our Cruise Director. Catherine is an avid naturalist and traveller who follows her considerable interests in wildlife worldwide. A superlative communicator of the natural world, Catherine works as staff ornithologist with Birds Canada, based at the organization’s National Data Centre in Delta, BC. A graduate of the University of Guelph, She has conducted field projects in remote locations around the world. Catherine has been to Antarctica in a leadership and educational capacity over one dozen times and notably brings expertise in seabirds developed through her field work and previous Antarctic voyages.
Wendi Lacusta is our Concierge in Charge. Hailing from Nova Scotia where she grew up sailing and open ocean swimming, Wendi has lived many years since on Canada’s West Coast, where she is retired from a career of teaching, designing public recreation facilities and managing community service teams in West Vancouver. Wendi is an inveterate (and veteran) solo world traveller and since her first retirement, has also undertaken work aboard polar expedition cruise vessels.
Our Epic Antarctica with the Falklands & South Georgia expedition, October 22 – November 11, 2027, will be an amazing opportunity to learn about this part of the world. Click here to learn more.
