Isabelle Groc
Environmental photojournalist, Author & Filmmaker
Isabelle Groc is an award-winning photojournalist, author, and documentary filmmaker focusing on wildlife conservation, marine ecosystems, and the relationships between people and the natural world. With master degrees in photojournalism from Columbia University and Urban Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Isabelle brings a unique perspective on environmental storytelling. She has traveled to some of the world’s most remote destinations to raise the profile of diverse species and habitats. A fellow of the Explorers Club and the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, Isabelle grew up in France and now lives in Vancouver, Canada.
Isabelle’s images and stories have appeared in National Geographic, BBC Wildlife, the Guardian, Canadian Geographic, New Scientist, and many other publications. She is the author of several books, including Gone is Gone: Wildlife under Threat; Sea Otters: A Survival Story; Conservation Canines: How Dogs Work for the Environment; and A Hummingbird on my Balcony. All books are illustrated with Isabelle’s photographs and have received several honours, including two American Society of Journalists and Authors Book Awards.
As a filmmaker, Isabelle has written and directed over twenty nature documentaries. Part of the Packexplores the complex interactions between people and wolves and gained critical acclaim at several film festivals across Europe and North America while Toad People, a film on local communities taking action to conserve amphibians, achieved international recognition with an Impact Panda Award at Wildscreen, the world's biggest festival of natural history storytelling. Her most recent documentary, Sandpipers’ Last Supper, explores shorebirds' epic migration from South America to the Arctic.
For her long-standing work on shorebirds, Isabelle was selected as a grantee of the prestigious Trebek Initiative, a collaboration between the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and the National Geographic Society that supports explorers who utilize the power of storytelling to inspire and engage communities across Canada.
Isabelle Groc will be a special guest on our Jewels of the Arctic voyage departing 28 June 2026.
Maria Coffey
Author & Guest Speaker
Maria Coffey is an internationally published and award-winning author of thirteen books. Her first book, Fragile Edge: Loss on Everest, won two prizes in Italy including the 2002 ITAS Prize for Mountain Literature; Where the Mountain Casts its Shadow won the Banff Mountain Film Festival Literature Prize in 2003 and a National Book Award in 2004. For these titles, along with Explorers of the Infinite (2008) Maria was awarded the 2009 American Alpine Club H. Adams Carter Literary Award. Maria has also written extensively about her worldwide travels and expeditions with her husband Dag Goering, who is a veterinarian and photographer. Maria’s most recent book: Instead: Navigating the Adventures of a Childfree Life won the Adventure Travel Prize at the 2023 Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival.
Maria and Dag are co-founders of www.hiddenplaces.net, a boutique adventure travel company which is a three times winner of National Geographic Traveler’s 50 Tours of a Lifetime Award. Through the conservation branch of Hidden Places, they also run special trips to raise funds and awareness for endangered species. They are based in British Columbia and in Catalonia.
Maria Coffey will be a Special Guest on our Northwest Passage expedition, departing 7 September 2025.
Peter Eastway
Photographer
Peter Eastway is a contemporary Australian photographer who is known internationally for his landscape and travel work. A practicing professional photographer, he shoots editorially and works selectively in advertising and family portraiture, two diverse ends of the professional sphere.
Peter has been involved in photographic magazine publishing for over 30 years, establishing his own title, Australia’s Better Photography Magazine, in 1995. It is now one of Australia’s leading photography magazines.
Peter’s work has been published and exhibited internationally (USA, UK, Japan, Germany, Greece, India, New Zealand and Australia).
Peter Eastway will be a Special Guest on our Northwest Passage expedition, departing 7 September 2025 & on our Jewels of the Arctic voyage, departing 10 July 2026 & on our Svalbard Odyssey voyage, departing 23 July 2026.