Dr. James Darwin Thomas

Dr. Thomas is a professor at Nova South-eastern Oceanographic Centre and Research Director at the National Coral Reef Institute that is housed at the Oceanographic Centre. He was born and raised in South Florida, where he learned to love the ocean. Visiting the local beaches daily on the back of his mother's bicycle, he learned to swim before he could walk. Before coming to Nova, Dr. Thomas taught and conducted research in the Florida Keys for 20 years prior to becoming a Curator of Crustacea at the Smithsonian Institution's Natural History Museum. He joined the Oceanographic Centre in 1996. He has travelled extensively, teaching and conducting research on reef systems in the Caribbean, Pacific and Indian Ocean.

Mick Fogg BSc (Hons)

Born in Edinburgh Scotland, Mick immigrated to Australia with his family at the age of 18 months. He graduated from James Cook University in Townsville in 1992, majoring in Marine Biology, Marine Chemistry and Physical Chemistry.
He then worked for James Cook University in a number of roles for the next ten years including working on the University’s research vessel the R.V. James Kirby. During the last five years Mick was the manager of the Orpheus Island Research Station, located in Pioneer Bay, Orpheus Island.
Mick now runs his own Educational Tourism company based in Cairns, Offering tours from the Great Barrier Reef, Tropical Rainforest and Cape York Penninsula to Arnhem Land and the spectacular Kimberley region of Western Australia. He also works as the expedition leader onboard the luxury expedition ship M.V. Orion visiting destinations such as the Kimberley, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Mick enjoys educating the public about the myriad of wonders that abound in nature’s richest realms.