Growing up in landlocked Bavaria, I fell in love with water when learning swimming at the age of 4 and joined lifeguard training while still a child. That was followed up with working in a swim school and freediving after moving to Vienna for my studies and later by becoming a scuba dive master, freediving instructor and enrolling in a MSc. in Ocean Science. My love for sailing was fueled by Couchsurfing and „hitchhiking“ sailboats for example on an Atlantic crossing.

As the currents of my professional journey navigated me from political science to the depths of the ocean, I’m driven to make a lasting impact on marine conservation. My journey intertwines climate policy, environmental NGOs, youth work and ambition to create meaningful change. I feel a very strong connection to freedivers (human or not) and a particularly deep fascination with humpback and sperm whales.

My dream project? Empowering young ‚Blue World Changemakers‘ through immersive training and research experiences on eco-friendly educational vessels and in collaboration with companies and policymakers minimizing pressures from marine vessels on ecosystems. Sounds a lot like our OceanCamps, right? 🙂

Best wishes

Passions: the oceans! Surfing, free diving, sailing… Can play every single song in the World! Studied ichthyology and been involved on different research projects around south african coast. Currently getting his skipper tickets in South Africa.

This will be my third season onboard Vaka Okeanos and I am excited to see what this season brings.

The world provides us with immense beauty, and it’s a special moment in time to have rare memorable encounters with other walks of life. This is one of many reasons why I treasure the Vaka.. It brings me closer to our natural world, in a way of curiosity, sustainability, joy and respect – I honour this.

My hobbies are many, but I’m a creative soul at heart and enjoy a range of physical challenges. I surf mainly as a personal sport and freedive when I can. I have recently realised I get enthused and driven by challenges. Making things better, fixing issues and being hands on is something I thoroughly

enjoy.  Growing up on the coast I had so many questions, so I undertook a biological degree majoring in marine. Since then I have spent my time in various industries but mainly in education, arts and animal welfare.

These past few years on the waka has sparked my interest in cnidaria and their blooms, sound pollution, rare mediterranean species and boat building.

🙂

My love is the sea and I have always been driven by her. Mother Nature fascinates me and I love finding ways to connect with her even more. I grew up in Athens, Greece and the last few years I am living in Volos studying ichthyology. I enjoy travelling and trips in the sea and in the mountains, while I combine it with working. Sailing has been a big part of my life the last 2 years, when I started sailing with a sailing circus, and since then I feel more comfortable living on the sea than in my own apartment. Since then I have also been a circus artist, while my other passions are scuba diving, rock climbing, guitar playing and discovering the world. I have been in love with sharks my whole life and my goal is to become a marine biologist with specialty in them.

I have always admired, explored and loved being in Nature. I was born in the mountains of northwest Argentina, has been trained as an environmental scientist in the US and have experienced the world and its cultures in many different ways. I have fallen in love with sea seven years ago when I moved to a community by the sea in India, where I had a close encounter with a big dolphin. Sailing has become the most important part of my life in Barcelona in the last two years. My grandfather was a fisherman in the north of Spain, may be I inherited this amazing connection to wáter from him as well as his citzenship. I have found in sailing a way to be deeply connected with myself, to nature and others, and thus, simply happiness.

I am very excited to be part of the crew this year.  I feel we have a lot to share, to learn, and to create together.

what can I say… I always felt like the sea is my best friend. when it s made with crazy storm or so sweet and calm. it always felt right. Well, first, during my childhood, i was mainly on the beach (the long one we have in the north of france) and recently I ‚ m ON the sea almost every week since 5 years, to teach sailing. during all that time, I was „around“ : scubadiving In the sea, or working for fisherman trying to built a responsible way to live from the sea and respect the fish’s stocks.

I m so glad to become a part of OKEANOS project. mostly to share my best self with our participant and all of you.

See you soon !