Our staff

Hans his fascination for nature and traveling has been present all of his life. From a young age on he has been a birder and fascination with the polar regions caught him during one of his birding travels to the North of Norway.

After his study Coastal Zone Management he started working on the Dutch island Texel as a field researcher for the marine research institute of Wageningen University. In his research he specialises in seabirds and marine mammals.

Since 2004 he has participated in scientific research projects in the Antarctica, Caribbean, West-Africa, Spitsbergen and European waters. He has always been fascinated with the polar regions and has participated in several scientific expeditions both to the Arctic and Antarctic.

In 1999 he started working as a (birding) guide. The last years he has combined his research job with guiding & expedition leading for Oceanwide Expeditions.

In his free time Hans is a keen nature photographer and an active member of the team supporting the international development of the citizens science platform Observation.org

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.

Born and raised in Turku, Finland, Toni grew up in a city with ancient seagoing traditions. He has loved sailing since he was a child, when he regularly went out with his grandfather to experience life on the high seas. Ever since, he has dreamed of sailing to far-away places and exploring the world. Toni served in a naval base near Helsinki for two years before starting his studies at Maritime University in 1999. He got his officer’s license in 2003 and spent the first ten years of his career working on cargo ships.

After many years of gaining experience, he finished his studies and got his Master mariner license in 2012. Toni moved to the expedition industry the following year and has no plans of leaving it. He loves the nature, wildlife, and delivering a great polar travel product.

Toni joined Oceanwide Expeditions in 2018. Even though he’s sailed the seven seas and loves all the new places he gets to visit, there’s still a special place in his heart for the tiny island in Finland where it all started 40 years ago.

When he is on leave, Toni enjoys reading, cycling, fishing, and photography.