Having spent most of her adult life at sea - initially as a windsurfer until participating in the 1996 Olympic Games, and then as a sailor - Catarina always loved nature and wildlife. Her background is in tourism planning and management, and she is a self-taught naturalist, with the main focus on the birds, cetaceans and endemic plants of Madeira. She is the captain of the rigid-hulled inflatable boat, ‘Oceanodroma’, used on our Madeira trip. Together with her partner and co-leader, Hugo Romano, she works closely with the Natural History Museum and the Marine Biology Station of Funchal.