NATURALIST

Dan has had a lifelong fascination with marine animals and a seafaring life, having worked as a guide and naturalist nearly his entire life. He began his career teaching sailing, navigation, mountaineering, and kayaking at Outward Bound. It was an easy transition to take his interests and teaching skills to expedition ships.

Dan’s been a licensed boat captain for nearly 30 years, having run about a thousand boat tours in Alaska, where he led curious travelers in search of whales, seals, puffin and other seabird colonies, and calving glaciers. In addition to his work in Alaska, Dan has driven boats and guided tours in Antarctica, Greenland, Iceland, Northwest Passage, Svalbard, Chile, Panama, Costa Rica, the South Pacific, Europe, and Hawaii.

In 2004 Dan became involved with killer whale research, while also working as a tour boat captain in Alaska. He began recording whale calls and actually recognizing different dialects among different pods. Having obtained his master’s degree in fisheries biology, Dan is now a research partner in a non-profit called the North Gulf Oceanic Society (whalesalaska.org). He’s now very serious about looking for whale poop, as he is currently working on a science paper regarding the diet of fish-eating killer whales. He recently presented for the BBC production, Alaska Wild Live.

When he’s not studying the lives of killer whales, Dan also works as a naturalist in the Antarctic and Arctic, on ships and on dry land. Dan spends his spare time backcountry-skiing, kayaking, sailing, hiking, stream-dipping, juggling, and studying ancient star navigation. His next personal trip will likely be Nepal or Patagonia, or anywhere with big, big mountains. Dan lives a short bike ride from Kenai Fjords National Park in the quaint fjord town of Seward, Alaska.