On March 19th, the Explorers Club held its annual dinner at NYC’s Waldorf Astoria. Gone are the days that this organization serves exotic fare such as honey dipped tarrantula on a stick or barbequed electric eel, but the evening was still filled with other forms excitement.

The theme this year was “Exploring 2012: the Maya Prophesy” and the club provided appropriate entertainment.

 

It was thrilling to meet E.O. Wilson, considered to be the “father of biodiversity”  and explorers from all over the world.

I met an Explorers Club board member who had returned from a submersible trip to view the Titanic. I’d heard about these journeys that cost tens of thousands of dollars. He enjoyed his adventure, but he did note that you needed to remain in this small capsule for 11 hours. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Bathroom! He said that they had been inventive about that.

The highlight of the event for me, though, was speaking with the dinner’s keynote speaker, Don Walsh. As you might know by now, I have a great love for deep sea exploration, and Dr. Walsh’s adventures in the deep oceans, polar regions and space are legendary. As noted in his biography provided in the website for Deep Ocean Explorations, he and co-pilot Jacques Piccard in 1960 dove the Navy’s Bathyscaphe Trieste  into the deepest place in the World Ocean, a depth of seven miles.

Dr. Walsh has worked at both the North and South Poles, having made 10 expeditions to the Arctic and 16 to the Antarctic. His contributions to polar exploration were recognized in 1973 when a mountain ridge in the Antarctic was named for him.

We spoke about my recent trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and his memories of its founder, David Packard. Don also discussed his experiences with submersibles and his next trip to Moscow to celebrate the 50th anniversary of space flight.

It was a great evening.