Greg Watson

Guest Lecturer

Greg’s whole working life has been one of interaction with the natural world. His first job after school was collecting venomous snakes, and extracting their venom for use in the production of antivenoms. A sojourn as a film cameraman for a few years in the big city honed his photography skills.

He then worked for many years in the dive industry, as instructor, crew and skipper. The Great Barrier Reef was his “office” but he also spent time in the Red Sea, Central Pacific and in Belize. A qualified keeper, Greg, for some time, worked in the zoo and commercial crocodile industry, specialising in creating and maintaining innovative exhibits and developing and delivering interactive presentations.

Latterly, his passion for expedition cruising has seen him escorting guests to destinations as diverse as Australia, Arctic, Antarctica, Patagonia, the Amazon, West Africa, SE Asia, Indian Ocean islands, Madagascar and the Pacific.

On board, and ashore, his articulate and entertaining presentations seek to break down large scale ecological and biogeographical concepts into more digestible chunks, where possible using local examples from the destination of the day. He also has an abiding interest in traditional music from around the world, especially the variety and development of instruments and the durability of musical traditions that serve as signposts to the byways of cultural migrations through both space and time.

Greg is an enthusiastic traveller, with a special interest in reptiles, aquatica and invertebrates, and maintains an extensive photography website. He lives with his family in the world heritage rainforests of Kuranda, North Queensland, Australia. He is always up for a chat with guests on the viewing decks or, indeed, anywhere on the ship. He’s hard to miss!