On Saturday, November 11, 2023, the Explorers Club will host its annual Sea Stories, a day focused on ocean exploration, scuba diving and marine life at its headquarters in Manhattan. Speakers include X-Ray Mag's Larry Cohen and Olga Torrey.

Olga Torrey and Larry Cohen will discuss the diverse marine life among the coral reefs of Papua New Guinea and their interactions with the people living in the villages of Kimbe Bay and the Tufi area.

Larry is the USA East Coast editor for X-Ray Magazine. His underwater photos have also appeared in Sports Diver, Alert Diver, Canadian Diver, Scuba Diving and Immersed.

He worked as a studio and location photographer for many years. Larry is the past president of the NYC Sea Gypsies and a founding member of The New York Underwater Photographic Society.

Olga is also a X-Ray Magazine regular contributor. She is a fine artist and a life member of the Art Students League of New York.

She has also been published in InVertum, Sports Diver, Northeast Dive News, Diver and The Ultimate Depth.

Brett Seymour – “Imaging for Science – Underwater Wonders of the National Park Service…and Beyond.”

As the underwater photographer with the National Park Service’s Submerged Resources Center, Mr. Seymour has been bringing a new dimension of our National Parks to life for nearly 30 years.

He also specializes in documenting historically significant underwater sites around the world such as the Civil War submarine HL Hunley, the arctic exploration vessels HMS Investigator and HMS Erebus, the antiquities laden shipwreck of Antikythera in Greece, the 1495 Danish warship Gribshunden and WWII sites throughout the Pacific.

Including his several hundred dives imaging the USS Arizona – Mr. Seymour has connected the past to the present through underwater imagery his entire career.

Zandile Ndhlovu – “Passion to Purpose - A World Unimagined.”

Growing up in landlocked Johannesburg, South Africa with no access to the ocean and even more – Ms. Ndhlovu could never have imagined the world of marine wildlife as it unfolded during her first ever snorkel trip at the age of 28.

This moment expanded as she began her scuba diving journey and later finding freediving and in this deep passion, becoming South Africa’s first black female freediving instructor.

Ms. Ndhlovu eventually started The Black Mermaid Foundation, a non-profit organization working to create greater access and more diverse representation to the ocean.

Ms. Ndhlovu is an explorer, an internationally awarded philanthropist, film maker and underwater photographer. She was also recognized in the Global Top 100 Under 40 list of the Most Influential People of African Descent.

Bruce Strickrott - “Uncharted Galapagos: Exploring Dramatic Volcanic Seascapes and Pristine Reefs with Deep Submergence Vehicle Alvin.”

Mr. Strickrott is the senior pilot and manager of the deep submergence vehicle Alvin, at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Over 28 years diving with Alvin, he logged over 400 dives in the submersible.

Mr. Strickrott accumulated nearly 2,800 hours underwater throughout the world’s oceans. He helped identify many new deep sea animals, including the deepest recorded hagfish aptly named 'Eptatretus Skrickrotti' in his honor.

Mr. Stickrott and his team recently completed the upgrade to Alvin for operations to 6,500 meters (21,325 feet), culminating in the U.S. Navy certification dives in the Puerto Rico Trench in July of 2022.

He served in the U.S. Navy on two guided missile cruisers, the USS Horne and USS Fox. Mr. Strickrott graduated cum laude from Florida Atlantic University with a degree in ocean engineering.

A documentary film directed by academy award nominee, Josh Seftel, titled “Bruce and Alvin” is set to release in 2024.

Steven Schwankert – “China: Underwater Discoveries and The Undiscovered.”

Mr. Schwankert is an award-winning writer and editor focusing on exploration, technology, and culture.

He is the co-creator of "The Six," a book and documentary project about the Chinese passengers aboard the RMS Titanic. His book, "Poseidon: China's Secret Salvage of Britain's Lost Submarine" was published in 2013 by Hong Kong University Press.

Mr. Schwankert is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and East and South Asia Chapter Chair of The Explorers Club, and founded SinoScuba, Beijing's first professional scuba diving operator.

In 2007, he led the first-ever scientific expedition to dive Mongolia's Lake Khovsgol, where he and his team found two wooden shipwrecks from the early 20th century.