Expedition Leaders
Mexican Marine Conservation Expedition in the Caribbean Sea

Daniel Ponce-Taylor - Country Director - Mexico

Daniel holds an MSc in Sustainable Development of Coastal and Marine Ecosystems from the University of Cádiz (Spain) and a BSc (Hons) Oceanography with Marine Biology from the University of Southampton. Before taking up his position with GVI, Daniel worked as Marine Science Coordinator for CCC and carried out research and conservation projects in Australia, Costa Rica and Mexico. He was also the Marine Biome Coordinator for the WWF/Spain Valencia’s Local Group, where he grew up, and is a qualified PADI Dive Master, Emergency First Responder (EFR) Instructor and a certified boat skipper.

For the past 5 years, Daniel has been working in making sure the coastal and marine communities of the Mesoamerican region remain as pristine and diverse as possible, working alongside coastal communities from Costa Rica, Belize, Mexico and Honduras. This added to Daniel’s native grasp of the Spanish language and his knowledge of cultural aspects of Central and Latin America, makes him a very valuable addition to the GVI Team.

Cynthia Arochi Zendejas - Administrative Officer

Cynthia is GVI’s Regional Office Administrative Officer. She is a graduate in Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). While studying her degree, she volunteered for a wildlife group at the university, worked at an ecological park, and was a volunteer for an organization that focused in community development and natural resources conservation. Cynthia holds a Master’s degree in International Environmental Sciences at Lund University, Sweden and recently finished a Diploma in Conservation Strategies and Methods, by the Tecnologico de Monterey and The Nature Conservancy. She has also experience as a French teacher and as Team Building Facilitator. In 2006 she joined GVI’s expedition as a National Scholarship member. She likes challenges and loves travelling, meeting people, and the knowledge input of new experiences.

Lluvia Soto - Expedition Manager

Lluvia is from Veracruz, Mexico, where she undertook her degree in Biology at the Autonomous University of Veracruz (UV). Lluvia came to Pez Maya as a participant in the National Scholarship Programme in Octuber 2007. After falling in love with the charm of the place and the work GVI does here, she successfully applied to become an intern in January 2008. During this time she continued sharing her biological and local knowledge with the EMs and the nearby community, while finishing her Divemaster qualification. Before GVI, Lluvia worked in the north of Mexico with dolphin craneometry, in the south of Mexico with coral growth, and in her home town took part in various environmental education programmes, reinforcing her passion for the ocean and its conservation. This life long dream of hers was finally realized with an offer to become scientific staff at Pez Maya, where you can find her these days teaching underwater biology, Spanish and even some salsa moves!

Stuart Fulton - Field Staff

Stuart began diving in 1997 in the English Lake District, but soon vowed never to dive in the cold again. In 2003, Stuart gained his PADI Open Water and Emergency First Responder Instructor qualifications. He also holds a Master Degree in Oceanography from the university of Southampton, with a particular interest in biochemistry and pollution. After working in Malawi, Honduras and Thailand, Stuart is looking forward to being part of the Mahahual team and to continue developing his interest in anthropogenic impacts on coastal waters and related ecosystems. He is also a RYA level 2 boat handler.

Baruck Figueroa - Amigos de Sian Ka'an - GVI Projects Liaison Officer

Baruch has had a special connection with the sea since he first plunged in its waters as a little boy. Seeking to discover its underwater mysteries, he decided to study a Licenciature in Marine Biology, surfing and diving in the striking south pacific coasts of Mexico. Some years later, he undertook a Masters degree in Marine and Coastal Resources Evaluation and Management in Costa Rica and Mexico. He has worked in some research projects regarding marine ecotoxicology, marine turtles, coral reef ecology assessment and coastal vegetation loss assessment. Baruch´s main interests are research projects focused on biodiversity conservation, sustainable development and ecotourism management; he enjoys painting, water sports, travelling and underwater photography.

Chance led Baruch to find out about GVI´s Marine Expedition in Mahahual, at its very beginnings in 2004 and he became the first Mexican on the National Scholarship Programme. He then learned about Caribbean reef ecosystems ecology and the MBRS monitoring methodologies. Not ready to leave Mahahual, Baruch got chosen for an internship position and afterwards became a staff member as Community Work and Science Officer. During that time, he did his PADI dive master training and gained experience in boat driving, while also introducing volunteers to reef ecology and monitoring techniques. He has been working for Amigos de Sian Ka´an for the last two years, and currently works as the liaison between them and GVI, as well as aiding in the coordination and development of the marine conservation programmes in Mexico.

Edward Hulcroft - Field Staff

Growing up in landlocked Birmingham doesn´t really explain why Ed ended up on a beach in Mexico. Ed has been passionate about the natural environment since he was a child. It was whilst studying for his BSc in Zoology that he realised conservation was where he wanted to focus his energy. Whilst working as a Volunteer Officer for a conservation charity he helped carry out urban and rural projects, and learnt about managing volunteers and working with community groups. He then worked for the government Environment Agency to save money to fund an adventure abroad.

A dream was realised when he gained work on the longest running turtle monitoring programme in the world; based in Tortuguero, Costa Rica. A love of the tropics was born, as too was an obsession with diving having completed some PADI dive courses after his time in Costa Rica. He then returned to the UK to complete is PADI Divemaster before returning to the tropics to work as a Marine Science Officer on a project in Fiji. His desire to pass on his experiences to others lead him to complete his Dive Instructors course following a 3 month internship on the dive boats in Australia. A move to Thailand to focus on gaining experience as an instructor was then followed by a short return to teach diving in the UK.

The call of the reefs was never far from thought so Ed got in touch with GVI Mexico and now finds himself back where he belongs – passing on a love of diving and the natural world, living as a community and waking up with a stunning beach on his doorstep. Ed is also a qualified boat driver and soon an EFR instructor as well.

Olly McGuiness - Field Staff

Dived for the first time in December of 2005 on the mystical island of Utila, Honduras, while travelling Central America. As soon as he surfaced from the dive, he looked at his instructor and said “I want your job”. A year and a half, and a load of money later he achieved his goal and was certified as a PADI instructor. Having worked as an instructor on the Meso-American Barrier Reef for 3 years, he joined the GVI team to feel like he is giving something back to the reef, which has given him so much over the years. Olly has a great passion for diving, teaching, travelling, and the marine life. Enjoying the feeling that he is always learning something new, he is regularly trying to enrol on different courses, mostly to do with diving. He is currently a Master SCUBA Diver Trainer, DSAT Tec Deep diver, EFR Instructor, O2 Provider Instructor, Deep and EANx Instructor, RAID Posieden MKVI Rebreather diver, RYA level 2 Power Boat driver, and holds a Diploma in Marine Biology.

Martin Stelfox - Field Staff

After Graduating from Manchester metropolitan university in Biological Sciences, Martin pursued his passion for the outdoors and spent eight winters snowboarding and exploring the mountainous backcountry regions of France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Japan. In 2005 he was introduced to Scuba Diving through his local BSAC club and started exploring the British coastal regions. After four years of diving in the cold waters he made the move to the warmer regions of south East Asia and was part of numerous conservation efforts in the Region. Martin is now a speciality Scuba Dive Instructor, EFR Instructor and Licensed powerboat level 2. He is currently situated on the Pez Maya base and can be found researching the many corals on the reef.

Jose Vidal Vela Sierra - Pez Maya Caretaker

Originally from Yucatan state Vidal lived almost all his life near the Quintana Roo coast. He is 74 years old and started working when he was 8! He has done all sorts of jobs from farming, exploiting chicozapote sap (used to make bubble gum) and coconut flesh to fishing sharks, marine turtles, crocodiles and lobster. As a matter of fact he was one of the pioneers of the Vigía Chico fishermen’s cooperative in Punta Allen. All these activities gave him a vast knowledge of nature, wildlife and the importance of its conservation which was a great asset when he was employed by ASK about 16 years ago as a forestry guard and later on he participated in crocodile monitoring studies. Vidal has a lot of knowledge on the region, local weather, native species and alternative remedies. Now a days he lives and works in Pez Maya as the care taker. After 2008's hurricane season Vidal dedicated a great part of his time to collect native seeds and replant them along the sand dune, which was being destroyed by the strong winds. During turtle season he spends a lot of his time searching for sea turtle tracks and marking the nests, then together with Pez Maya staff record the number of turtle nests and hatchings. He is also our guide in the mangrove tour in which volunteers and staff get delighted by listening all sorts of stories and knowledge on manatees, mangroves, crocodiles and many other creatures!

Nicola Weeden - Field Staff

Nikki has always had a fascination for the ocean and the life it holds, and so spent some of her holidays as a teenager volunteering at aquariums around the UK. Nikki began diving at the age of 17 and quickly fell in love with the sport, eventually qualifying as a PADI Divemaster and EFR instructor. The natural choice of degree for Nikki was Marine Biology, which she studied at the University of Plymouth. During her degree, she was fortunate enough to take a HSE Professional SCUBA course which introduced her to the Diving Diseases Research Centre in Plymouth, where she spent 3 years working as a hyperbaric chamber attendant and operator for diving emergencies and hyperbaric oxygen therapies. Nikki completed her undergraduate dissertation research on the island of Eleuthera in The Bahamas, where she got a taste for the tropics and the marine biology that comes with it!