Staff Blog
Location: West End, Tortola
The day we have all been waiting for has finally arrived! Summer is here. The staff of Round Two are so excited for our shipmates to arrive! For the past few days, the entire ActionQuest staff has been working tirelessly to prepare the fleet for the upcoming session. Round Two, our home for the next few weeks, has been stuffed to the gills with food, water, fuel, and all the program equipment in preparation for our students’ arrival. We cannot express how stoked we are to sail away on our next adventure with a whole new group of Rescue students!
Here is a quick introduction to Team Round Too:
Matt Hollfelder: Matt has been a part of the GXG team since 2014 and is the Operational Director of our Dive Side, spending the majority of that time teaching the Neptune and Rescue programs. He has also worked as the mate and medic on our Seamester vessel S/Y Argo. Matt is a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer and has certified over 450 students during his time at ActionQuest; and also holds his IYT 200 Ton Master of Yachts Offshore and MCA Medical Person In Charge licenses. He is both a former AQ student and Seamester alumni and loves being able to provide the positive experiences he had to new groups of students.
Tommy Brangs: Tommy was born and raised in the illustrious state of Delaware, and he will be joining ActionQuest for the first time this summer! Before becoming a part of the team, Tommy spent the last six years working as a Master Scuba Diver Trainer, a dive boat captain, and a coral reef research diver in both Mexico and the Cayman Islands. When out of the water and through the following a passion and propensity for environmental education, Tommy typically devotes his energy to teaching as an early childhood educator and middle school soccer coach. In his spare time, he loves going for long walks on the beach, getting caught in the rain, looking for excuses to quote Shrek, and researching clichés. He is ecstatic about his first summer working with ActionQuest, and he can not wait to pass on his knowledge to his students and shipmates this summer!
Katie Griesbach: Katie grew up in a town just outside of Toronto, and even though the nearest saltwater was hundreds of miles away, she developed a love for the ocean at a very young age on family trips. Katie’s love for the sea grew when she joined AQ as a shipmate in 2018, where she took her first-ever breath underwater and has been hooked ever since. Katie then returned for an additional summer at AQ, followed by two trips with Seamester. When not in or on the ocean, she spends her winters in Canada as a snowboard instructor and just recently moved back home from living in whistler, BC. Katie is ecstatic to be a part of the AQ team this summer as a dive instructor and is excited to be a part of a memorable summer for her shipmates.
-Round Two Crew