Phil Hunter

Hailing from California’s Channel Islands, Phil has been lucky enough to see many sunrises and sunsets on the ocean. He was formally trained in marine biology before moving full-time into expedition guiding in both the northern and southern hemispheres. As a guide, Phil loves the bad weather days as much as the good weather days, because without experiencing both, he thinks you can’t really paint the full picture of a place. At every opportunity, he is trying to piece together the natural mosaic of these beautiful regions we all get to travel together.

The is the co-founder of Ocean Youth Academy, a non-profit that connects kids around the world to our oceans. OYA is currently designed as an online classroom offering immersive multi-disciplinary courses to middle-school aged students. The flagship course is entitled, Polar Oceans. Please find Phil if you would like to learn more about this exciting project.

Outside of seasons spent as a polar guide, Phil enjoys personal travel and counts trekking to see mountain gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and sailing a catamaran across the Atlantic Ocean among his most treasured memories of those travels. Phil found a passion for photography while working in the polar regions, and he would love to share that with you. Please find him on deck or in the field, where he’ll be more than happy to strike up a conversation.