The Boston Sea Rovers announce their 55th Annual Underwater Clinic and Film Festival

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all"

Dear New England Chapter of The Explorers Club explorers, family, and friends:

I hope you can make it to our first meeting/presentation of the new year, to be held on Monday (not the usual Tuesday, this time) evening, the 2nd of February.

We will have our usual Social Hour from 7 to 8 p.m., followed by Chapter and Club news and announcements and questions.

Then we will enjoy a special presentation by Lauren Bruck Simon, concerning Papua New Guinea, and featuring the fascinating film, First Contact.

Here is an introduction to the presentation, the film,and to Lauren:

Papua New Guinea: Expeditions Then and Now
Featuring a Showing of the Film First Contact

In 1930 when the Leahy brothers of Australia led a gold-prospecting expedition into the highlands of Papua New Guinea they came into contact with about a million tribesmen whose existence had been unknown to the outside world. Amazingly, the Leahys took a film camera with them and documented the 'first contact' between the Papuan highlanders and the Australian gold prospectors. In 1983 these startling images, together with poignant reflections from surviving highlanders on their swift introduction to Western colonialism, were turned into an Academy Award nominated film titled First Contact by Robin Anderson and Bob Connolly.

Lauren Bruck Simon will be introducing the film First Contact and speaking about her experiences living and exploring in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Lauren spent over two years working as an adventure travel guide in PNG and she will share images and stories about how she became the first non-native woman to trek into the Auwin initiation caves and among the first to join the men of New Ireland on their shark calling expeditions. Lauren was also among the earliest visitors to trek into the remote Schrader Mountains to meet the Hagahai people after they initially made contact with the world beyond their mountains.

Lauren Bruck Simon is the Director of Travel at the HMNH. Lauren has lived in or visited over 60 countries, spending a significant amount of time in the South Pacific. She has served on the Council of the Harvard Travellers Club, where she has also lectured.

Yours in exploration, Greg.

New to our Books of Interest Section, a review by Lawrence Millman of The Lost Canoe