Southern Sea Ventures

Al Bakker, Founder

Managing Director & Senior Guide

Al has paddled whitewater and sea kayaks for 39 years in North America, South America, the South Pacific, Japan, Australia, NZ, Antarctica, South Georgia, the High Arctic and Greenland, Russian Far East and all across Europe. He has led commercial sea kayak tours for the last 24 years and developed sea kayak, rafting and cross country ski programs in many countries. Al has organised and led sea kayaking adventures in the Polar Regions for the past fourteen years.

Al is a qualified sea kayak instructor, Nordic ski instructor and examiner, swim instructor and examiner and holds swiftwater rescue and national lifeguard certification. He has worked as a helicopter ski guide, rafting guide and wilderness first aid instructor and is a keen photographer. He has managed his own kayak tour company for more than two decades.

Megan Grover

Sales Manager

Megan Grover has been involved in the adventure travel business for over 20 years. She has worked as a travel agency manager, in sales training for a major retail chain, reservations manager for an adventure wholesaler and has run the Southern Sea Ventures’ office for 10 years.

Megan’s travels have taken her to the four corners of the globe and she lists kayaking in the Antarctic as one of her highlights. Please contact Megan in our Sydney office with all of your enquiries.

Judd Hill

Head Guide / Chef

Judd has travelled extensively throughout the world, both for fun and working as a qualified chef, hiking guide, and sea kayak guide and Instructor.

He has been a professional sea kayak guide and instructor for more than a decade. Judd started his kayak guiding in Far North Queensland running 7 day Hinchinbrook Island and Cape Tribulation to Cooktown expeditions in 2000, and has since worked in such exotic destinations as Fiji, Panama, Palawan, Antarctica, PNG, Spitsbergen, Greenland and the Russian Far East. He has also paddled on personal trips and expeditions in Scotland, Tasmania and Independent Samoa to name a few.

Judd is at equally at home on top or under the water, be it SCUBA diving, sailing or just playing around with boats. He has his commercial coxswains ticket, is a Rescue SCUBA diver and is also trained in Wilderness First Aid.

Matt Edwards

Senior Guide

Matt loves to explore and to show others the many natural and cultural treasures this world offers. Matt’s entering his third season with Southern Sea Ventures and will be branching out from the tropical waters of Fiji to the wonders of Antarctica.

Matt’s a resident of British Columbia Canada where he spends his winters working as a ski guide, he’s a graduate of the Thompson Rivers University Adventure Guide Diploma and a Level 3 Sea Kayak Guide.

After a long cold winter in Canada, Matt’s excited to be returning to the tropical waters of Fiji. He believes the cultural experience combined with the tropical wilderness of the northern Yasawas creates an adventure that’s difficult to beat.

When not guiding Matt keeps himself busy pursuing his other passions surfing, whitewater kayaking and ski mountaineering.

Eamon Larkin

Senior Guide

Eamon comes from a background in adventure and outdoor eduction with over 15 years experience working with students and schools, now teaching and assessing potential guides.

He has a passion for travel and trekking through various countries, learning languages along the way. Eamon lives on the south coast of NSW which he enjoys exploring in his Sea kayak in all types of weather.

Sandy Robson

Senior Guide

Sandy is an Australian paddler and a sea kayak instructor with 19 years of experience looking after groups in the outdoors. She first got into kayaking through her work as an Outdoor Education teacher and eventually swapped the classroom for an office on the ocean, working as a sea kayak guide and instructor. In her spare time, Sandy is a kayak adventurer. In 2007, she paddled 6000km of the Australian coast and recently she began a 5-year project to retrace a historical kayak route all the way from Germany to Australia. Sandy is an Australian Canoeing qualified Sea Instructor, holds a Wilderness First Aid certification and is a qualified teacher.

Toby Story

Senior Guide

Toby Story has been working for Southern Sea Ventures since 2005, guiding trips from the Tropics to the Polar regions.

He has led trips in Norway, Greenland, Spitzbergan, Fiji and the Phillipines. Toby Story is a qualified sea kayak instructor and lives in Hobart, Tasmania where he also works in the outdoor industry as a sea kayak instructor and guide trainer. Toby is also passionate about photography and is currently continuing to further his interest in the natural world through a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Tasmania in his spare time.

Henry Murray

Senior Guide

Henry Murray is our Fijian expert. Born in the Yasawa Islands he has guided kayak and fishing trips in the Yasawa for more than two decades. Henry’s intimate knowledge of all the reefs and outdoor cooking experience adds an extra special quality to his trips.