Emma Ridley

Born of a Scottish father and English mother, Emma enjoyed an international upbringing because of her father’s job as a foreign correspondent. Although her family eventually settled in Rome, Emma's schooling was conducted in French, having started her studies in Brussels, Belgium and finishing at the Lycée Français de Rome in 1988.

While at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Emma combined her fascination with biology with her love of the seas, receiving a degree in applied marine biology. She is a keen diver, and while at school worked part-time as a diver in an aquarium. Two months after graduation, having seen the job advertised at her university, Emma moved to Ecuador and began her fascinating job as a naturalist and dive guide in the Galápagos archipelago.

Emma has worked as a naturalist and expedition leader with Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic in Galápagos since 1997. She has also worked as expedition leader, undersea specialist, and dive master for in regions as diverse as the Columbia River, Central America, Europe, and the South Pacific.

She was granted permanent residency in the Galapagos and has now called the islands home for over half her life! She built her home on the island of Santa Cruz, where she raises her two daughters, Amelia and Rebecca. Since 2008, she works from home for Lindblad Expeditions as Galápagos Field Staff Manager. She also gets involved in local conservation projects and volunteers as a diver in ecological monitoring programs with the Charles Darwin Research Station. Nonetheless, she tries to get back out into the field with Lindblad Expeditions as much as possible, since she loves being out at sea and sharing her passion for the natural world with others.