Jan Willem grew up in the Netherlands and Marylou grew up in California, USA, but it was our love of travel and adventure that brought us together while working in a small dive shop in Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean. We both love the ocean and are very passionate about marine life conservation. Both in Guam now, Marylou is currently finishing up her Masters in Biology where she works with sea turtles, while Jan Willem is keeping busy playing for the Guam National soccer team, working with reef scientists to maintain a coral nursery, and teaching scuba diving. Because we did not get to travel as much as we would have liked in the last few years (thanks grad school!), we've decided to embark on an island-hopping adventure through the Phillippines and Indonesia for as long as our budget will sustain us!

我为什么加入 Couchsurfing

Working in the scientific and scuba community, we have been informally showing-off our island homes to visitors for years. Living in places with large tourist districts has shown us the importance of having native tour guides and 'local haunts', places not found in tour books and out of reach of cruise ships and tour buses. We've always been happy and enthusiastic to share these hidden gems with visitors, and are as equally excited to experience them ourselves while on the road.

兴趣

We love pretty much anything involving the ocean and marine life, but do occasionally trade in our bathing suits for hiking boots. We are generally pretty active and adventurous, but do appreciate the importance of having a 'hammock day'.

• photography
• yoga
• hiking
• kayaking
• camping
• scuba diving
• snorkeling
• sailing
• soccer
• water polo
• swimming
• marine biology
• island life
• sea turtles
• outrigger paddling
• hammock napping

音乐、电影和书籍

From European discotheque EDM to lazy Beach Boys classics, our music taste is pretty eclectic, but we generally love anything we can sing along to!
We both love fantasy/science fiction books and television, comedies, and really anything narrated by David Attenborough. Specific likes include Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Michael Crichton, Tom Clancy, Bill Bryson, and really anything we can read in our hammocks!

我做过的一件不可思议的事情

We once camped overnight on an uninhabited 'sea turtle island' in Ulithi Atoll, Yap State, FSM. The island had SO many turtles nesting there every night, that we woke up one morning to a nest hatching right under our hammocks. Baby sea turtles everywhere! It was incredible.

教，学，和分享

We both have a passion for non-formal teaching and outreach. In addition to being experienced scuba instructors, we are also seasoned teachers of soccer (Jan Willem) and water polo/swimming (Marylou). We both find outreach with children and communities extremely rewarding, especially outreach about sea turtles and marine conservation. We would be happy to teach/practice our Dutch and German language skills.

We would love to learn more about local marine conservation practices and off-the-beaten-path snorkel or scuba spots.

我可以与沙发主分享些什么

Soccer/water polo/swim lessons for all ages, marine life ID/guided tours, our mediocre singing abilities, laughter, and stories/knowledge from our travels.

We have no idea where we will "settle" after our travels, but we have our sights set on another tropical island somewhere and will be keeping our couch open for future visitors!

We will most likely not be able to do scuba lessons while traveling, depending on what insurance we will have.

我游览过的国家

Austria, Belgium, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Curaçao, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Guam, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Micronesia, Federated States of, Oman, Palau, Poland, Qatar, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela

我居住过的国家

Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, Guam, Netherlands, Thailand, United States