Go Diving Show 2025 Main Stage Speaker: Maria Bollerup
Join Maria Bollerup and Rannva Joermundsson on the Main Stage at the GO Diving Show in March for a voyage aboard the 100-year-old Dutch tall-ship Osterschelde, which is undertaking a two-year voyage around the world, following the footsteps of Charles Darwin.
While scientists and Darwin Leaders are boarding the ship in the name of conservation and education, Maria and Rannva were aboard as scientific divers, developing and conducting the coral transects of the voyage.
Crossing French Polynesia, Maria will take you diving underneath pearl farms in the middle of nowhere (literally!) and measuring corals in the most shark-busy channel in the world, sharing a story of the resilience and hope for our reefs.
Crossing the Atlantic Ocean, Rannva will tell the tales of the development of the programme, and inspire through the Darwin 200 Journey, finishing off taking you diving on some truly unusual coral.
As a rebreather cave diver and an explorer, Maria Bollerup has traversed the world as a professional diver since the age of 18.
Through a dedicated career in the diving industry, her passion for science has led to her participation in various scientific diving projects. These range from tagging hammerhead sharks using rebreathers, to conducting coral transects in the most-remote parts of the Pacific Ocean, for the Darwin 200 Project.
Her heart lies within cave exploration and a spark was lit during the Xunaan-Ha Expedition in Mexico, a cave expedition supported by Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Initiative, which worked to prove the Holbox fracture theory.
From this, Maria co-founded Nixie Expeditions with Rannva Joermundsson, an organization that merges diving exploration with scientific research. Their aquifer project Expedition Buteng took place in October 2024 in Sulawesi, Indonesia, focusing on cave exploration, research, and the preservation of unique and isolated cave systems.
Committed to inspiring future underwater ambassadors, Maria founded Blue Venture Diving, a B2B dive travel agency catering to young backpackers from Europe. She runs a dive-training programme through the organisation Thin Blue Line Denmark, supporting PTSD-diagnosed police officers with sanctuary and peace through diving and breathwork.
As an advocate for exploration-based diving, Maria is a public speaker, a Fourth Element ambassador, she’s a Flag Carrier for WINGS Women in Discovery, and a member of The Explorers Club.
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