Just back from an exciting trip to
New York to include the Annual Explorers Club Dinner 2006 held in the grand ball room of
the Waldof Astoria.
The evening started with everyone rushing to the exotic appetizers. I have told you about
this in years past. I go every year as a member.
This year did not disappoint us. The menu included honeyed Madagascar hissing cockroaches,
honey soy Tarantulas, potato soufflé filled with muscoid larvae and pupae, North American
rodentia, sweet and sour bovine penis and the Explorers Martini with assorted pieces of
vertebrate eyeballs served in a martini glass, of course. Cant forget the mealworm and
cricket sushi; a little crunchy and definitely does NOT taste like chicken. See photos!
The podium at ECAD is shared by some of the world’s most amazing explorers but this
year the head table was even incredible by ECAD standards. In attendance were Jim Fowler
(Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom), Buzz Aldrin (astronaut, took part in the first moon
walk on Apollo XI), E.O. Wilson (the world’s foremost authority on biodiversity,
co-authored The Theory of Island Biogeography), Ed Viesturs (first American to climb all
the world’s 8000 meter peaks. Did so without supplemental oxygen), Andrew Skurka
(first person to complete 7,788 mile sea to sea route), Wade Davis (Explorer in residence
at National Geographic, authored the Serpent and the Rainbow), J. Michael Faye (Explorer
in residence for NG, completed the mega transect of Central Africa on foot), Valentina
Tereshkova (first woman to orbit the planet in 1963), Luc Jacquet (March of the Penguins,
if you have not seen this, drop everything you are doing and go watch it), Mikael and
TITTI Strandberg (3500KM crossing of Siberia in the winter) and Sylvia Earle (gone the
deepest in a submersiable knows as "HER DEEPNESS"). I had the pleasure of having
lunch with Titti and Mikeal a few days later and hope to be off to Sweden on an adventure
with them to see ORCA WHALES in a bay in Norway.
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Jim Fowler arrived into the
ballroom and the Waldorf Astoria on the back of a camel, which fortunately this year did
not relieve itself on stage, and brought friends as usual – a gyrefalcon, a black
leopard and an owl eagle which soared across from the balconies to the stage. There were
amazing moments when Buzz Aldrin, Valentina Tereshkova and the former head of NASA
reminisced about the early days of space flight. It was funny to watch the entire audience
cringe, a group where many have know significant discomfort, as E.O.Wilson stirred up a
mound of fire ants and then stuck his hand inside – receiving exactly 54 bites, and a
blast of girl power as oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle and astronaut Dr. Kathryn Sullivan
celebrated the 25th anniversary of the admission of women into the Club.
TOP QUOTES HEARD AT ECAD
“I honestly don't understand why everyone isn't studying ants.”
E.O. Wilson
"I was talking to him, and the tip of his nose fell off and hit the ground. He
looked down at it, said 'normal' in Russian and then kept on talking as if nothing had
happened."
Mikael Strandberg
On an expedition across North Eastern Siberia in the winter “We decided we would
speed climb it in three days”
Ed Viesturs
On his third attempt to climb Annapurna, arguably the worlds most dangerous 8000 meter
peak... “It was so cold we couldn't stop because the liquid in our knees and
elbows would start to freeze.”
Mikael Strandberg
Martha with friends - Toby and
Dede....
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On to the Menu! Scorpions to
taste..
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With mealworms...
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And Rattlesnake...
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