Hi! I’m a writer and photographer (and a budding filmmaker), an outdoor adventurer and expedition guide, and an elected Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and 2021 recipient of the RCGS Sir Christopher Ondaatje Medal for Exploration. (Thanks to Dan Milnor for the photo above – at Cuverville Island, Antarctica).

I have an MFA in Creative Writing – and I’m a PhD scientist, too. Although I no longer work as an exploration geologist, my arts-plus-sciences background is a defining part of who I am and of nearly everything I do.

 

I am a best-selling author and well published photographer, and I also take on contracts as a ghostwriter (mainly in the niche of writing up “technical subjects” – be that science or finance or marketing or health or legal stuff – and presenting them in a way that is not only palatable, but also engaging, for your book audience!) However, these days, I mainly work as an expedition guide and guest lecturer, on small cruise ships (for Lindblad/National Geographic and for Swan Hellenic) in Patagonia, Polynesia/Southeast Asia, and Antarctica.

This is a really good fit for me, both as an adventurer and as a scientist. I love working in these amazing places, and I seem to have found a really appropriate niche for where my skills lie: explaining geology and history and anthropology and other “technical” subjects to people in a way that is not only easy to understand, but that fires people up and makes them enthusiastic about learning more!

And… super happy to say this… after quite a few years not working on my OWN books, I am getting back into writing again! In 2025, I wrote two articles relating to Polynesian canoe design and navigations for two different books. And – from my nearly endless fount of ideas for books I want to write – I am finally getting it together to focus on writing and finishing one of them. I am very inspired and motivated!

My current projects and endeavours include:

I have three book ideas that are at the top of my list now. It is hard to pick only one book to work on – but I know from experience that it is the only way to ensure that I actually complete a project! I am super-excited to have chosen The First Seafarers to write first, as it ties so closely in both with the guiding work I am doing on small ships in the South Pacific and Island Southeast Asia, and also with my lifelong interest in paddling small boats like kayaks and outrigger canoes on the open ocean. Here’s a bit of background:

In fact, small paddle-craft and sailing craft have powered most of the great migrations in human pre-history – from the settlement of Australia, to southeast Asia and Polynesia, to the Americas – and that is what I will investigate in my upcoming book The First Seafarers.

Haha and then I mentioned a third book… well I actually started writing it, but I am temporarily setting it aside until I have a full draft of The First Seafarers. So I am not sharing any more about that book right now – other than that it also aligns with my interests in ocean navigation and world exploration and history!