MS Caledonian Sky - Noble Caledonia

Expedition Team continued:
Dmitri Banin
Norwegian Fjords in Mid-Summer, Exploring the White Sea
Born in Moscow, Russia, Dmitri studied biology at
Moscow State University (MSU) where he completed his
Ph.D. in Zoology and then continued his work in MSU’s
Laboratory of Ornithology. His research expeditions have
taken him too many remote areas, such as White Sea,
Central Asia, Siberia and Russian Far East. Subsequently
Dmitri was invited to work for the USSR Ministry of Natural Resources as the Head
of the Department of Science. There Dmitri developed research programs for all
Natural Reserves of the former Soviet Union.
Chantal Cookson
Exploring the White Sea
Chantal was born in Suffolk and now lives in
Northumberland where her husband farms. Chantal
has been associated with Noble Caledonia since the
company was founded in 1990, having worked for
Serenissima Travel before. She was part of the Expedition
Team for many years on the MS. Caledonia Star and has
led tours, be it cruising or land, all over the world. Chantal’s initial experience of
cruising in British waters was in 1990 when Noble Caledonia did the first cruise
around the British Isles. Chantal’s main job, however, for the past 20 years has been
working as a consultant for Sotheby’s.
Danny Edmunds
Exploring the White Sea, Passage North, Epic Iceland,
Norwegian Fjords in Mid Summer, Cuba to Costa Rica,
Secret World of two Oceans, From the Mountains to the
Desert, Chile - Sailing South, In the Wake of the Bounty,
Nomads of the Wind
In 2003 Danny grew tired of earning a living building
databases and living in central London and since then
he’s worked as a photographer, diver, travel writer and boat handler in some of
the most undeveloped and remote parts of the world. He’s driven Zodiacs in the
Indian Ocean, the Antarctic and the Arctic, radio-tracked Spectacled bears in the
Ecuadorian Andes, surveyed horse-mussel beds off the Llyn peninsula in north
Wales and updated the Bradt Guides to Mozambique and Spitsbergen.
Callum Thomson
Passage to Greenland, Viking Trails to the Americas
Callum Thomson was brought up in the British Isles and
spent his youth as a crofter, lobster fisherman, expert
ditch digger and dairy farm manager before emulating
his Highland Clearance forebears and clearing out to
Canada. He somehow completed degrees in archaeology
and anthropology at University of Calgary, Memorial
University of Newfoundland and Bryn Mawr College and parlayed them, along
with his expertise in ditch digging, into a job as Provincial Archaeologist for
Newfoundland and Labrador and Curator at the Newfoundland Museum.
Dr. Daria Nikitina
Passage to Kamchatka
Dr. Daria Nikitina is a geology professor at West Chester
University of Pennsylvania, USA. Her background is in the
interdisciplinary and systematic study of landforms and
the earth surface processes that create and change them.
Daria was born in Moscow, Russia where she resided with
her family until 1994. Daria received a master degree in
geography from Moscow State University, Russia and a Ph.D. degree in geology
from University of Delaware, USA.
Jane Thomson
Passage to Greenland, Viking Trails to the Americas
A Nova Scotian “Bluenose”, Jane Sproull Thomson
grew up by the sea, learning to swim perforce when her
dad threw her off the family sailboat. Passionate about
art but lacking in talent, she became one of those who
teaches rather than does, writing and lecturing on cultural
history, archaeology and art history to museum, university
and avocational groups. Until recently she was professor of Inuit and native art
and culture at the University of Calgary, and is a former curator for the Glenbow,
Newfoundland and Red Deer College Museums.
Louis Justin
Passage to Greenland, Viking Trails to the Americas,
Autumn Colours in North America, New England
in the Fall & the Colonial South, In the wake of the
Bounty, Nomads of the Wind, New Zealand Coastal
Voyage, Natural Wonders of New Zealand, Passage to
Kamchatka, Fire and Ice in the Far Arctic, Great Land of
Alaska, Natural Wonders of Alaska.
Louis was born and grew up in Normandy. After graduating from Europe’s leading
management school, École des Hautes Études Commerciales, he spent four
years in Australia and New Zealand, during which he took every opportunity to
thoroughly explore these countries, as well as neighbouring Pacific-Ocean lands,
their cultures, ancient and modern, their deserts, icy and tropical, their volcanoes,
extinct and active. As a lecturer, Louis shares his knowledge of the history of
exploration and the sciences that made geographical discoveries possible.
Alexandra Edwards
In the Wake of the Bounty, Nomads of the Wind
Alexandra Edwards was born in Santiago, Chile, but spent
her early years in New York and later in Washington DC
where she became involved in fighting for Chile’s Human
Rights during General Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorial
regime. The stepdaughter of a DC think tank, she grew
up casually discussing Latin American history and politics
with prominent Latin American politicians and intellectuals over dinner. She went
on to double-major in Latin-American Studies and Film at Wesleyan University
returning to Chile in 1995. Since then she has split her time working on continental
Chile, Easter Island, and French Polynesia, filming several documentaries and
participating in three Explorer’s Club Flag expeditions. She has a special interest
in the religions and oral traditions of local ancient peoples and the religious and
cultural syncretism present in South America and Polynesia today.
Jane Wilson
Sailing to the Isles, Circumnavigation of Iceland,
Norwegian Fjords in Mid-Summer, Cuba to Costa Rica,
Secret World of Two Oceans, From the Mountains to the
Desert, Chile - Sailing South
Jane was born and raised in Australia. She graduated
from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of
Science and then a Master of Environmental Studies. She
worked for the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service for the following 15
years until she was bitten by the Antarctic bug. For several years Jane worked in
remote field camps in Antarctica as a wildlife research scientist, specialising in the
ecology of seabirds, including several petrel and penguin species. This coincided
with the boom in expedition cruising and Antarctic tourism in the late 1990s.
12 www.noble-caledonia.co.uk