Rachel Crane

Rachel is a Marine Ecologist, Master Scuba Instructor, and USCG 100-ton licensed Captain. She grew up homeschooled on an alpaca farm in Upstate NY, where her passion for the outdoors was initially cultivated. After attending a marine science summer camp in her teenage years, she fell in love with the ocean, and went on to earn degrees in Ecology and Marine Biology at Unity College in Maine. She spent time in Florida at MOTE Marine Laboratory researching coral disease ecology but found herself drawn into Eco Tourism as a way to more directly be involved in educating the public about our marine resources. Working with Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic has provided her the perfect balance between exploring, science, oceans, and mountains, while seamlessly allowing her to share her knowledge and passions in a meaningful and fulfilling way. She is often as excited, and smiling as widely, as those experiencing expeditions for the first time!

She is just as happy camping and hiking as she is snorkeling and diving. This has instilled a desire to explore, live, and work in places all over the globe. She has backpacked her way through the jungles and beaches of Central America, spent several seasons exploring wild places in Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska, snorkeled with humpback whales in Newfoundland, Canada, planted corals in the Florida Keys, and taken adaptive divers on trips to Cozumel, Mexico. When she is not on a Lindblad Expedition, she can be found in the Florida Keys at ocean orientated nonprofits that promote coral conservation, adaptive scuba diving, and citizen science.