_{La cena dell’Explorer Annual Dinner ha avuto luogo a New York in uno dei più prestigiosi Hotel, The Waldorf Astoria, in una sala gigante circondata da balconi decorati in oro e lampadari di cristallo ovunque. Il tema della serata è stato: Il punto infinito: esplorare l’Universo là fuori (On the cusp of infinity: Exploring the Universes out there). Heiko Bleher è stato invitato e nominato nuovo membro dell’Explorers Club, qui insieme a (da sinistra): il Presidente Emerito Alfred S. McLaren di The Explorers Club, il Capitano Norman Baker, che è stato secondo in comando, operatore radio e leggendario navigatore per l’antropologo Thor Heyerdahl in tutte e tre le sue spedizioni in zattera, i due viaggi RA e il Tigris, Heiko Bleher nuovo membro Explorers Club e Eugenie Clark, la famosa "Shark Lady".}

_{Questo Out of This World Event è iniziato con una bella Avatars rosa (essere extraterrestre volato qui da Pandora), con musica scozzese e classica, con un’asta dove tutti potevano offrire qualcosa, è stato offerto un Uncirculated New Zealand Bank nota autografata da Sir Edmund Hillary HON’53 per US$ 1250. Sono stati serviti i migliori cocktail e champagne, vini francesi e tutto ciò che uno potrebbe desiderare. Qui Eugenie Clark e sua figlia Aya (in rosso).}

_{The cocktail tables were decorated with fresh moulded ice blocks – one with the Explorers Club logo and one with an astronaut. There was a giant buffet before the dinner with unique appetisers prepared by the Chef and with an astronaut look and blue boiling ice water… Than the 3-star dinner was served with amazing creations of the German Chef (see the desert) and Heiko was on the main table with the Captain Norman Baker, Alfred S. McLaren (not shown), John Jo Lewis Managing Director of Sub Aviator Systems (left), Eugenie Clark (centre) and other VIP’s.  Below now some videos of the evening, the moderator was the famous Canadian movie star Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd (Ghostbusters…).}

_{Between other VIP’s came also Jim Fowler, the professional zoologist who was host of the Emmy Award-winning-winning television show Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. Fowler is also well known for being the official wildlife correspondent for NBC’s The Today Show since 1988 and was regularly seen on Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show making forty appearances in total as he brought various wildlife animals on the show, the same he did to night (but the animals came from Bush Gardens). In 2000 he launched the television program Jim Fowler’s Life in the wild… The Python shown was nearly 8 metres long.}

_{Than spoke Lucy, the daughter of the world famous Stephen William Hawking (born 8 January 1942), who is a British theoretical physicist, whose world-renowned scientific career spans over 40 years. His books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity and he is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a lifetime member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and in 2009 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the US. He could not come personally as he is severely disabled by motor neuron disease also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (or ALS). Hawking’s illness is markedly different from typical ALS in the fact that his form of ALS would make for the most protracted case ever documented. A survival for more than 10 years after diagnosis is uncommon for ALS; the longest documented durations are 32 and 39 years and these cases were termed benign because of the lack of the typical progressive course.
An at the end there was Live Auction, like a Exclusive Dinner for twenty at the Explorers Club with Musical Accompaniment for $ 10,000, or a Seven Night Voyage Aboard “The World” for $ 26,250, or a Eight Day Spiritual, Cultural and Educational Adventure to Kathmandu for two for $ 17,000, or Two Zero-G Seats With Instruction By Richard Garriott, MN’98, son of the famous astronaut (above).}

_{The final presentation was “Super Aviator and Orcasub Subersibles, the Exciting Future of Manned Undersea Exploration” by the President Emeritus Alfred S. McLaren of The Explorers Club, an amazing construction of a two-seater submarine like underwater vehicle which can go down as far as 1000 feet. Such famous persons, like Eugenie Clark. have already used it and it was named after the Shark God Kamohoali’i. It is built and can be rented out to make discoveries worldwide, like to search for the sunken treasures in the Black Sea. Now they have already the second version on the sketch board, the Orcasub, which can be built within one year and go down as deep beyond 10,000 feet and explore wracks like the sunken Titanic or the monsters of the deep…
It was a great event and a fantastic weekend and I have to thank Eugenie Clark, and naturally Alfred S. McLaren and John Jo Lewis (lower photo with Heiko), and all the members of the Explorers Club.}