Undersea
Undersea Specialists
Nearly every expedition aboard the fleet sails with an undersea specialist who serves as our eyes and ears below the waves, capturing photos and videos and bringing our guests firsthand perspectives of the marine world. Throughout the voyage, they film their dives and manipulate high-definition underwater imaging equipment such as Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) to reveal surprises in the ocean deep—from bright purple corals in Alaska to delicate sea stars in the frigid waters off the Antarctic Peninsula.
Their footage is shown on screens in the lounge during daily recaps, allowing guests to share in the excitement of underwater exploration and get a rare look at marine species in their habitat. In many destinations, they also accompany guests on snorkeling excursions and outings by glass bottom boat to interpret the marine world in real time.
Nearly every expedition aboard the fleet sails with an undersea specialist who serves as our eyes and ears below the waves, capturing photos and videos and bringing our guests firsthand perspectives of the marine world. Throughout the voyage, they film their dives and manipulate high-definition underwater imaging equipment such as Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) to reveal surprises in the ocean deep—from bright purple corals in Alaska to delicate sea stars in the frigid waters off the Antarctic Peninsula. ...
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Meet Our Undersea Specialists
Undersea Specialist
James Hyde
James is a home-grown, free-range Pacific Northwest outdoorsmen. Born in Seattle and reared nearby on Vashon Island, he grew up in and surrounded by the Salish Sea. James has saltwater in his veins, but would be quick to point out we all do, echoing Carl Safina " We are, in a sense, soft vessels of seawater." Born with the travel bug, James was fortunate enough to spend time on four continents before graduating college. During his studies at Western Washington University's Huxley College of the Environment, James went to Australia and visited the Great Barrier Reef. He was never the same. A lifetime of playing in the productive, but opaque green water of the Northwest had offered him little firsthand experience of the creatures below its depths, but with a clear view of the colorful dramas playing out across the bottom of the tropical Pacific, he was hooked. Scuba diving and underwater ecology were solidified as his passion and after college, it took him to a dive shop in Seattle fixing gear, tidepooling with local middle school students, and generally making a spectacle of himself in the surf. Then unaware of expedition travel, James longed to blend his love for travel, conservation, and the marine environment. After a tip-off and a reference from a childhood friend he joined the Lindblad Expeditions' team in 2016 as a Dive Buddy. Working across the fleet as a Naturalist and Expedition Diver, James learned all he could about the ecosystems of the beautiful and remote places our ships visit. Finally becoming an Undersea Specialist, he continues to be fascinated by the Ocean and all that is in it. He hopes to inspire conservation of the beautiful and unusual ecosystems that flourish in protected waters. Additionally, he hopes to further the contributions Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic make to the scientific community by engaging in citizen science projects, monitoring for ocean plastics in remote locations, and being involved with other partnerships from Universities, to Research Institutes, to conservation groups worldwide.
Undersea Specialist
Cristian Moreno
Cristian is a Panamanian born in Chile. He grew up in Panama City until the age of 19 when he returned to Chile to go to college where he received a degree in metallurgic civil engineering. Since 1995 he has been working as a freelance naturalist in Panama. Specializing in bird watching and ecology, he also has a passion for indigenous cultures, hiking and trekking. He is a certified scuba diver and is often found exploring coral reefs along the Caribbean coast of Panama. His love for nature started at the age of 10 when he joined the Pathfinder's Club. Receiving several honors in outdoor activities, ecology, camping and others specialties he grew fond of Panama's natural heritage and was soon guiding relatives and friends through the jungles of his country. His experience is based on several years of guiding groups of different ages and interests. As a naturalist guide and expedition leader he has led groups to all corners of Panama and all along its shores.
Undersea Specialist
Gail Ashton
With a bachelor's degree in Marine Biology and Biological Oceanography from Swansea University, Wales, and a Ph.D. in Marine Ecology from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, Gail is dedicated to investigating marine biodiversity and exploring the world. As a PADI Dive Master, she has completed over 500 research dives, many under the ice in Antarctica. Gail has worked as a research scientist and post-doctoral fellow at the Smithsonian and the British Antarctic Survey. She spent over 18 months living and working at the Rother Research Station in Antarctica. Her research has focused on species acclimation, biodiversity on artificial structures, the transfer of organisms by boats, invasive species control, and the effects of ocean warming on marine species. Her publication, "Predator control of marine communities increases with temperature across 115 degrees of latitude," appeared in the June 2022 issue of Science. Gail's research has taken her to diverse locations, including the Aleutian Islands, Antarctica, the Coco Islands, the Galapagos, Guam, Indonesia, Panama, and many other places. As an accomplished researcher and environmentalist, Gail is passionate about sharing her knowledge and enthusiasm for the world's marine communities. She believes that while many sea creatures are found worldwide, the unique diversity of species in each location makes every place distinct and exciting.
Undersea Specialist
Chris Cook
A self confessed “animal nerd,” Chris falls under many titles: marine biologist, marine interpreter, dive master, science communicator, and naturalist. Chris was lucky enough to grow up on the East Coast of Australia, where there are no shortage of different coastal environments to explore. While growing up, his friends would be surfing while he would be under the waves, snorkel and mask on looking for fish and all the weird and wonderful creatures he couldn’t get enough of. This love of the ocean lead to him completing a Bachelor of Science in 2005. His passion for the ocean and connecting people with its inhabitants landed him in various roles in different zoos and aquariums, but it was the "wild" that was always Chris’s true calling. After working as a whale watching tour guide off the West Coast of Canada and moving back to Australia to work on the Great Barrier Reef, Chris never looked back. Since 2009 Chris’s specialty has been giving presentations on and taking people out to tropical environments, in particular to different parts of the Great Barrier Reef region. In recent years Chris has spent more time living on tropical islands or on ships cruising up and down the reef than on land. Chris’s passion for photography, nature’s creatures, and scuba diving has taken him from diving in the snow in Canada one week to diving in Mexico the next. He has followed his passion to develop his photography and interpretative skills through out Southeast Asia, all along the East Coast of Australia and to the magical Kimberley region off the west coast. The only passions of Chris’s not mentioned are reptiles, birds, insects, dogs, the entire macro world, and of course talking about all of the above over good coffee!
Undersea Specialist
Amy Malkoski
Amy was raised near Cape Cod in coastal Marion, Massachusetts, and her relationship with the ocean and nature has always been an active one. Her parents, avid divers and marine biologists, introduced her to the underwater world when she was very young and she grew up participating in as many water-related activities as possible. Amy spent her summers sailing and exploring intertidal areas of Buzzards Bay. At age 12 she became a certified diver and is now a divemaster with the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI). In high school her passion for nature and art developed into a love of photography, using the medium to share her explorations with others. Amy studied visual arts with a concentration in photography, as well as studying anthropology and sociology at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island. While studying, she worked as a lab assistant at a shellfish hatchery in Rhode Island where she gained experience in the husbandry, reproduction, and planting of shellfish, with a focus on oysters. Her interests in the undersea, photography, and the study of cultures have allowed her some wonderful experiences, including developing and leading a land tour and diving trip to the Azorean Islands of Portugal. She has dived and worked in Roatán, Honduras, throughout the U.K., and in the cold waters of Arctic Svalbard, Greenland, the Norwegian fjords and Iceland. Since joining Lindblad Expeditions, Amy has pursued her love for cold water diving and exploring unique regions. Her appreciation for the diversity of life, culture, and art means she’s always looking forward to the next adventure. Quite at home on the sea, she hopes to share her passion with others and inspire in them a love for nature and all of its inhabitants.
Undersea Specialist
Ayla Townsend
A true animal enthusiast from a young age, Ayla grew up in landlocked Kentucky amidst rolling hills of farmland, backwoods, and immense cave systems. Fortunate enough to grow up near many freshwater sources; lakes, rivers, creeks, and ponds were her first introduction to aquatic ecosystems. As an avid traveler and water enthusiast she had many opportunities to visit the ocean. Her fixation on such vibrant marine life forms piqued an interest in marine coastal ecosystems. In 2016 while living in Cartagena, Colombia she began scuba diving and never stopped. Pursuing a professional diving career Ayla moved to Mexico in 2018 where she trained to become a Dive Master and later, Scuba instructor. There she was introduced to Cenotes, openings to the underworld of flooded freshwater cave systems, scattered across the Yucatan Peninsula. Struck by their majestic stillness and the spirit of exploration, she completed training as a cave diver and hopes to continue to engage in scientific exploration and studies in the cave systems of Mexico. In 2021, working for Lindblad brought her full circle back to her birth state of Alaska. The magnitude and diversity of wildlife in Alaska left her in awe. That interest led her to explore opportunities in marine sciences at the University of Alaska Southeast in Sitka where she completed a scientific diving program. As an expedition diver she strives to continuously expand her diving horizon and gather and share as much useful information as possible to preserve and support the marine ecosystems that she is so passionate about.
Undersea Specialist
Maya Santangelo
Maya was born and raised in Southern California, where her curiosity for the natural world was encouraged from an early age. Relocating to Sydney, Australia with her family at 11 years old, she learned to scuba dive, eventually becoming a PADI Instructor. Her fascination for the underwater world undoubtedly fueled her interest to study marine biology at James Cook University. Working as a professional guide in some of the world’s top dive destinations, including Palau and Mexico’s Guadalupe Island and Revillagigedo Archipelago, Maya realized a passion for sharing her love for the ocean with others, and the value of citizen science in the dive industry. In 2016, Maya was awarded the Rolex Scholarship for Australasia by the Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society. Diving around the world for a year to work alongside leaders in dive expeditions, marine research and conservation, her experiences as a Rolex Scholar proved to be formative in cementing her passions and future career directions to make a difference for our blue planet. With an underlying drive to explore and understand life in the ocean, Maya’s aquatic endeavors have seen her diving and working on projects in a variety of marine environments across all seven continents. Whether counting the arms of giant sea stars in Antarctica, or identifying manta rays in French Polynesia, Maya is happiest when underwater. As part of the Lindblad Expeditions team, Maya looks forward to each dive as a new opportunity to share what would otherwise be out of sight-out of mind, and contribute to conservation through science, communication and education.
Undersea Specialist
Patrick Webster
Patrick Webster is a marine media monkey politely pushing pixels as an underwater photographer and science communicator based out of Monterey Bay, California. Raised in the foothills of the French Alps and on the outskirts of Stockholm, Sweden, Pat fell in love with the ocean when he was five years old thanks to the sea otters of the Pacific's kelpy coast. After successfully sliming his way through marine biology and scientific diving classes as a UC Santa Cruz SCUBA Slug, Pat spent the last decade combining subtidal storytelling and his word asso-sea-ocean syndrome to entertain and educate about the wonders of our water world as the (former) social media guy at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Diving in his backyard kelp cathedral, with its gelatinous booger-beasts and tasteful nudibranchs, Patrick’s personal passion to see the sea shared from the seashore has grown into an award-winning science communication career as “@underwaterpat” on Instagram and YouTube. He’s grateful to have had the opportunity to produce words, photos and videos that various outlets and conservation efforts have used to help tell their stories, including Nat Geo, The New York Times, The Nature Conservancy, BBC, PBS, TEDx, NPR, Scuba Diving Magazine, and other legacy media pivoting to TikTok. He took the giant stride in 2022 to leave his keyboard comforts and lead a more planktonic existence sailing with Lindblad to explore the planet’s kelpier places. Pat hopes that his work can joyfully bring his fellow “Earthlings” closer to the wonders of the Inner Space of Planet Ocean. He'll sea you around!
Undersea Specialist
Adam Maire
Explorers Club Member, Polar Expedition Diver, Naturalist, and Historian, Adam Maire is dedicated to exploring around the globe with a goal of researching, documenting, and teaching others about the beauty, the power and the importance of the earth's wild places. With degrees in Animal Science, History and a Scuba Diving Instructor certification, he is passionate about finding extraordinary ways to help others understand the links between the worlds that exist both above and below the surface of the ocean. Growing up working outside on a cattle ranch in Nebraska, Adam's love for nature started early in life. Through college he continued to learn about the natural world and sought out jobs that aided in his thirst for knowledge. After college, he joined the U.S. Army where he served as a Team Leader in an Airborne Infantry unit. After leaving the military, Adam began documenting the underwater world through photography and videography from the Arctic Ocean all the way to Antarctica and many places in between. Spending 6 months per year in the field, he works to educate people about these remote places and the important impact they have at a global level. Every part of this earth is connected through the five oceans. Adam currently lives in Hawaii with his wife where they are both pursuing master's degrees in marine biology with a hope to focus their research on issues impacting both the Arctic and Antarctica underwater. In his free time, Adam volunteers with the non-profit Project Recover with a mission to find and repatriate the remains of missing American Service members.
Undersea Specialist
Tanish Peelgrane
Being lucky enough to have two homes—Australia and the U.S.A.—has given Tanish (who goes by Tani) a deep love for diversity among ecosystems and cultures and a desire to learn about them. For decades, she could be found both at work and play climbing and skiing in the Andes or Rockies; running rivers in the U.S., New Zealand, or Central America; sailing across oceans; sweltering in deserts in the American Southwest or Middle East; diving among reefs; struggling through rainforests (once, memorably, on a transcontinental trek with a steep learning curve); or teaching in the wilds of a high school classroom. Nowadays, Tani can more often be found on mini-expeditions with her young daughter to explore tiny ecosystems around San Francisco. She still sneaks in some bigger adventures, though, especially scuba diving (something she began at age 11). She firmly believes that education and exploration are inextricably linked and that the opportunity for wonder is everywhere. Tani is an award-winning photographer, an angler for the California Collaborative Fisheries Research Program (CCFRP), and a yoga teacher—but her fundamental mission is to teach communication and environmental sustainability. In her recent work for the California Academy of Sciences, Tani developed Citizen Science programs for underserved youth, providing them support to explore and understand nature and helping foster the next generation of stewards.
Undersea Specialist
Saevor Erlendsdottir
Sævör Dagný Erlendsdóttir was born and raised in the small harbour town of Akureyri, in the north of Iceland. She grew up around the ocean and the nature and it has always played a big part in her life and has led her to her field of work and studies. When she was fourteen, she did her scuba diving licence in France, and when she was 16, she started working with her father during summers at his scuba diving centre in Iceland. In 2016, after she graduated from high school, she moved for the winter to the island Fuerteventura in the Canaries, where she did her PADI and SSI Scuba Instructor. Since then, she’s been working as an instructor in Iceland, Cambodia, and the Canaries. In 2018 she started studying in the University of Akureyri, where she does Fishery Sciences along with Business Administration, currently participating in an exchange program in California State Monterey Bay University, where she wanted further to study Marine Sciences and discover the Pacific Ocean. For the next fall, she’ll head back to Iceland to finish her studies.
Undersea Specialist
Anne Hedlund
Anne has been diving around the world for about 20 years, starting in Mexico and continuing to the darker and colder waters of Sweden, her home country. The interest of diving started when she was growing up in the archipelago outside Stockholm, and she loves to go to remote and unique places to see the differences of the eco systems, and she always brings her camera to show the people around her the beauty that lies beneath. Some of her favorite spots includes the Galapagos, Malpelo, Socorro, Azores and of course Sweden. Her need for knowledge about marine biology started off early when she realized how much more you can get out of a dive if you know about animal behavior, ecology and biology, and she also loves to talk about this to whoever interested in listening. Conservation is very important to her. Anne has been working alongside marine biologists in a project in Mozambique documenting fish and underwater environment to show the impact of overfishing, which has been quite severe in the area. Her background in hospitality took her to Svalbard for a couple of seasons, a place that went straight to her heart. Living and working with polar bears and arctic foxes as your closest neighbors was amazing and every trip to the Arctic just increases her love for the region.
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