World-Class Expedition Team to Lead Guests of Seabourn Quest on Explorations to Antarctica & Patagonia in 2018-2019

SEATTLE, July 19, 2018 – Seabourn, the world’s finest ultra-luxury cruise line, is returning to the “White Continent” with a series of five 21- and 24- day itineraries sailing to Antarctica & Patagonia aboard Seabourn Quest between November 2018 and February 2019. Guests will experience exciting adventure and spot-on explorations through complimentary Zodiac tours and landings, along with the line’s popular Ventures by Seabourn, an optional for-charge excursion program which includes guided kayak tours launching directly from the ship.
In addition, award-winning photographers will be on board to offer digital photography coaching, providing helpful tips for guests to capture images of the incredible natural beauty. Team members will also host complimentary enrichment lectures on a variety of topics such as the indigenous wildlife and conservation topics. Through the line’s unique partnership with Swarovski Optik, Seabourn Quest’s expedition team and bridge staff will utilize high-precision, long-range binoculars to spot wildlife and view the stunning landscapes from on board the ship and ashore.

“We’ve assembled a great team to lead guests to the wonders of Antarctica & Patagonia, and their expertise and articulation will serve to make the experience all the more enriching for guests,” said Robin West, vice president of Expedition Operations & Planning for Seabourn. “Now set to embark on our sixth season to the bottom of the world, the team on Seabourn Quest will continue to create enjoyable journeys and deliver exceptional Seabourn Moments.”

Members of Seabourn’s handpicked expedition team for Antarctica & Patagonia in 2018-2019 include:

· Ignacio “Iggy” Rojas, Expedition Leader – After falling hard for travel on family trips to the Atacama Desert in Chile, Rojas moved onto the Brazilian Amazon where he earned a master’s degree in Tropical Ecology before focusing on a career in expedition cruising. With more than 20 consecutive seasons in Antarctica and a boat handler’s license earned in the harsh waters of southeastern South Africa, Rojas is well-suited to lead a new season of expeditions in the “White Continent”.

· Chris Srigley, Expedition Leader – Drawn to extreme weather conditions, Srigley spends up to nine months a year on expedition ships, including full seasons in Antarctica and the Arctic. Along with regular duties on the expedition team, he serves as a Polar Bear Guard advancing landing parties and keeping a watchful eye while guests experience natural wonders around them in places such as Svalbard, Greenland and Canada.

· Nicki D’Souza, Assistant Expedition Leader – A native of beautiful Bavaria, Germany, Nicki puts her years of experience and passion for travel to good use assisting guests with shore excursions all over the world. As an expedition leader with many maiden calls to her name, she has led voyages along the west coast of Africa, South America, Europe and Asia.

· Adam Jenkins, Assistant Expedition Leader / Lecturer – Adam has engaged in many adventures on the sea, including sailing a 27-foot sloop down the Pacific Coast and up the East Coast to Nova Scotia, crossing the Panama Canal and circumnavigating the Caribbean in between. Since 1995, he has worked with NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Antarctic Program as a field biologist, expedition leader and science project manager.

· Professor Sean Todd, Lecturer – A marine mammal researcher for nearly 30 years, Todd’s areas of focus include human-marine mammal interactions, which led him to work as part of a Newfoundland-based whale disentanglement team that releases large whales from fishing gear. He has enjoyed a long career as a professional guide and naturalist, and has worked in a variety of polar and sub-polar regions, including 10 seasons in the Antarctic and 10 years in the Canadian sub-Arctic.

· Kirstie Yeager, Lecturer – Yeager has spent more than two decades focused on natural resource management and wildlife research. Her extensive background includes studying grizzly bears in Montana, Steller sea lions in Alaska, and several species at McMurdo and Palmer Stations in Antarctica. Recently she worked on long-term programs as a U.S. Antarctic Program scientist: a Weddell Seal study in the Ross Sea and a sea bird monitoring project in the Palmer Basin.

· Trevor Potts, Lecturer – A retired British teacher, Potts has worked for much of his life teaching outdoor skills to children. During the 1993-94 season, he joined successfully re-created Shackleton’s epic 1916 rescue mission from Elephant Island to South Georgia and then, in 2001, he joined another team completing Shackleton’s mountain crossing from King Haakon Bay to Stomness. He’ll tell all about those adventures, and much more, in lectures on Seabourn Quest.

· Brent Houston, Lecturer – Brent’s involvement in wildlife research and polar expedition travel for over 30 years has taken him on over 450 expeditions visiting 100 countries. He is a contributing editor and photographer for seabird and marine mammal field guides, as well as Polar books including The Encyclopedia of Antarctica and the Southern Oceans. Among many accomplishments, in 1995 he sailed with the British Royal Navy using helicopters to photograph and document every known penguin colony along the Antarctic Peninsula, discovering two colonies and several landing sites for tourists. This is his 5th season on Seabourn Quest, which will put him over 120 trips to Antarctica.

· Paul Lazarski, Naturalist / Kayak Guide – Ever drawn to nature, Lazarski has worked and explored some of the world’s most scenic locations, including both Poles. For the past 30 years he has been a wilderness and wildlife guide, outdoor educator, historian, naturalist and Wilderness First Aid Instructor.

· Jennifer Fought, Lecturer – Certified as watercraft operator at age nine, Jennifer quickly developed a passion for the natural world and spent her younger years camping, canoeing and riding horses. With a graduate degree in Structural Geology, she has conducted research from the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico to the glaciers of Greenland.

· Dr. Saskia Coulson, Photographer/Videographer – An award winning photographer, filmmaker and researcher, Coulson uses her diverse experience to explore complex global issues through visual communication and storytelling. Whatever her work, she remains fascinated by the environment, technology and culture, and is always excited to discuss how photography and video can communicate the great wonders of the world.

· Colin Tennant, Photographer/Videographer – An award winning documentary and fine art photographer, filmmaker and videographer, Tennant has traveled extensively throughout his career, undertaking assignments around the globe from Papua New Guinea to Italy to Vanuatu. His work focuses on communities and diverse cultures alongside notions of identity – collective and individual – and how these themes connect with our environment.

· Brandon Payne, Naturalist/Kayak Guide – With an intense passion for adventure and the environment first sparked at an early age, Payne has spent much of his time on the water, including as a skipper for a scuba dive company and for big wave surfers and photographers in his hometown of Cape Town, South Africa. By combining his passions and education in Environmental and Geographical Studies, he hopes to inspire the same appreciation for our natural environment in others.

· Professor David Walton Ph.D. – A native of the North of England, Walton is a leading voice on Antarctic conservation having authored over 110 peer reviewed scientific papers, over 250 other papers, reports and reviews, and authored or edited seven books including Antarctica: Global Science from a Frozen Continent. Along with colleagues, he is currently working on a book on politics and science in the Antarctic as well as a history of the development of British Antarctic policy.

· Robert Egelstaff, Lecturer – The Director of the Outdoor Activity Advisory Service in Pembrokeshire, Wales, Egelstaff has spent most of his adult life working professionally in the outdoors throughout the UK, Europe and beyond. He has climbed all over the world, including in the Alps, Polar regions and Himalayas, and has racked up firsts including crossing the Bering Strait by sea-kayak, circumnavigating Wales by canoe, and leading a canoe descent of Wilberforce Canyon on the Hood River in the Canadian High Arctic.

· Wolfgang Wenzel, Lecturer – After starting his career researching marine biology, Wenzel discovered his passion for expedition cruising and took his first trip as a lecturer on a cruise to Canada and the United States in 1997. He eventually found his way to Arctic and Antarctic waters, as well as the mighty Amazon and the Pacific. These days, he spends most of his time as a naturalist on cruise ships sharing his passion for popular science and travelling with guests of all ages.

· Dr. Seelye Martin, Lecturer – For 30 years, Martin has studied sea ice, icebergs, and the ice caps of Greenland and Antarctica. With a Ph.D. earned at Johns Hopkins University, his interests include the climate-forced decreases in the extent of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice, iceberg behavior and properties, the interaction of ocean waves and sea ice, and sea-level increases caused by melting ice caps.

· Dr. Claudia Niemeyer, Lecturer – Always passionate about the ocean, Niemeyer studied veterinary medicine, avian residency, and conducted extensive research in emerging viruses and diseases in seabirds and how human impact and growing sea pollution is damaging their health status. The coasts of Brazil, Argentina, South Africa and Antarctica are but a handful of the amazing places her research has taken her.

· Dr. Anton Wolfaardt, Lecturer – A conservation scientist for two-and-a-half decades, Wolfaardt has focused most of his research on seabirds and island ecosystems. His interest and experience in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic environments and their conservation is broad in scope.

Additional team members will join select sailings periodically throughout the 2018-2019 season.

Seabourn Quest’s 2018-2019 season in Antarctica & Patagonia will include one additional sailing over previous seasons for a total of five 21- to 24-day voyages between San Antonio (Santiago), Chile and Buenos Aires, Argentina beginning November 29, 2018. Each cruise includes days exploring the Chilean coast and fjords, Beagle Channel, Glacier Alley, the breathtaking Torres del Paine National Park, the Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas, Montevideo and six days of cruising and landings on the Antarctic Continent in uncompromised Seabourn luxury. A 24-day Holiday version, departing Dec. 20, 2018, will include two days exploring the sub-Antarctic wildlife on South Georgia, renowned for its beauty and its vast, teeming rookeries of king penguins and other seabirds, as well as breeding elephant and fur seals.

The line has plans to expand its offerings in Antarctica, the Arctic and other exotic destinations around the world with two new ultra-luxury expedition ships planned to launch in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

Seabourn represents the pinnacle of ultra-luxury travel with intimate ships offering key elements that set the line apart: spacious, thoughtfully appointed suites, many with verandas and all 100% ocean front; superb dining in a choice of venues; complimentary premium spirits and fine wines available on board at all times; award-winning service and a relaxed, sociable atmosphere that makes guests feel right at home on board. The ships travel the globe to many of the world’s most desirable destinations, including marquee cities, UNESCO World Heritage Sites thanks to a unique partnership, and lesser-known ports and hideaways.