Mike Scotting
Mike has been interested in geology, in the nature of our environment and how it forms and changes, since he was a young child. It has been an absolute privilege for him to be able to enjoy a professional career working in a field that is also a hobby. That privilege has increased since 2016 when Mike first joined the Expedition Cruise business. At first simply as a lecturer in Geology, but gaining skills as a Zodiac Driver, Guide, and Rifle Handler (when working in the Polar Bear Habitat of the northern hemisphere). Working in this business has allowed Mike to see more rocks in more spectacular places than he could have dreamed of, and he treasures every day on-board ship and the new discoveries they always bring. Mike is lucky to live in Scotland, the birthplace of Geology as a science, and home to one of the most diverse arrays of rocks anywhere in the world.
Most of Mike's career has been spent in a different environment, working a geologist and geophysicist in the oil and gas industry. In that role he has worked in the exploration sector attempting to unlock the four-dimensional problems that hide the locations of trapped hydrocarbons. Working as a geologist in any industry largely revolves around trying to solve problems using a tiny sub-set of data. Geologists very rarely get to see the whole picture, but rather a few tiny pieces of the puzzle. It is the mental challenge of pulling together all those small pieces of the puzzle and putting them together in a logical way that makes Geology a perpetually stimulating and challenging discipline. Being able to communicate the immense power and overarching time involved in geological processes is just as stimulating. It has been a joy for Mike to be able to explain a little of the wonders of the Earth processes that have led to the rocks and landforms we will see on our voyage and which the wildlife interact with. Without Geology there are no cliffs for birds to perch on, or for whales to hunt through.