Jill Heinerth

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Jill Heinerth
JillHeinerth.jpg
Jill Heinerth
Born1964or1965(age 59–60) [1]
Toronto, Canada
Occupation(s)Explorer, author, underwater photographer, public speaker, educator, cave diver
Spouse(s)Paul Heinerth, [2] Robert McClellan [3]
Website www.intotheplanet.com

Jill Heinerth (born 1965) is a Canadian cave diver, underwater explorer, writer, photographer and film-maker. [4] She has made TV series for PBS, National Geographic Channel and the BBC, consulted on movies for directors including James Cameron, written several books and produced documentaries including We Are Water [5] and Ben's Vortex , about the disappearance of Ben McDaniel.

Contents

Early life and education

Jill Heinerth diving Jill Heinerth diving.jpg
Jill Heinerth diving

As a child, Heinerth was inspired by Jacques Cousteau's television series. In 5th grade, she gave a Science Fair project about mysterious disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle. [6] She gained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communications Design at York University, and ran a small graphic design agency in Toronto while teaching scuba in Lake Huron's port of Tobermory in the evenings. [6] In 2023 Heinerth was awarded a PhD, (hc) from Victoria University in the University of Toronto. [7]

Career

In 1991, Heinerth quit her office job and moved to the Cayman Islands to dive full-time, honing skills in underwater photography. [6] She then moved to Florida to work on cave diving, where she was mentored by documentary filmmaker Wes Skiles. [6] She collaborated with his Karst Productions, based in High Springs, Florida. [1]

In 1998, Heinerth was part of the team that made the first 3D map of an underwater cave. [8] Heinerth became the first person to dive the ice caves of Antarctica, penetrating further into an underwater cave system than any woman ever [5] [ dead link ] In 2001, she was part of a team that explored ice caves of icebergs [9] where she and her then husband Paul Heinerth "discovered wondrous life and magical vistas" and experienced the calving of an iceberg, documented in the film Ice Island. [10]

In 2015, Heinerth participated in exploring the numerous anchialine caves of Christmas Island. [11]

In 2016 Heinerth led an expedition that explored and surveyed the flooded Bell Island Mines at Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. [12]

Heinerth is a Fellow of The Explorers Club, and the inaugural Explorer-in-Residence of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.[ citation needed ]

She consults on training programmes for diving agencies, publishes photojournalism in a range of magazines and speaks around the world. [6]

Heinerth has written opinion pieces and articles about exploration and climate change for global publications including the Los Angeles Times. [13]

In 2020, Heinerth spoke with the podcast This is Love about diving in ice caves in Antarctica. [14]

Jill Heinerth is a prolific public speaker and educator represented by Speaker's Spotlight agency. [15]

In 2020, Heinerth was interviewed on many radio, TV and podcasts programs including the NPR radio program Fresh Air. [16] [17]

In August 2022, Heinerth led a team of expeditionary technical divers who confirmed and photographed a lost, sunken WWII bomber at the bottom of Gander Lake in Newfoundland. [18]

Heinerth was a member of a Royal Canadian Geographical Society team that discovered the wreckage of the Quest, the polar exploration vessel of the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition of 1921–1922 on which Sir Ernest Shackleton died in 1922.The wreck was found in 390 metres of water on the seabed of the Labrador Sea roughly 80 km off Labrador's coast, sitting almost upright, and appearing to be broadly intact. [19]

Jill Heinerth is the subject of the award-winning feature documentary film Diving Into The Darkness, produced by Running Cloud Productions and directed by Nays Baghai. The 2024 film won the feature documentary award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. [20]

Personal life

Heinerth married cave diver Paul Heinerth in 1996; they later divorced. [21] [2] In April 2007, [21] she married her second husband, writer, photographer, and new media expert Robert McClellan, [3] with whom she lives in Carleton Place, Ontario, Canada. [22] Heinerth has described her hobbies as hiking, kayaking and cycling; "My favorite pastime is getting up at dawn and cycling to my local spring where a robust swim against the current of the Santa Fe River starts my day on the right track." [6]

Works

Bibliography

Film

She has produced TV series for PBS, National Geographic Channel, Discovery Channel and the BBC, consulted on movies for directors including James Cameron. She has produced documentaries including We Are Water [5] [24] and Ben's Vortex . [25]

Jill hosted and shot underwater videography for the Under Thin Ice episode of on the CBC Television Network. Produced by GalaFilm of Montreal, Canada.

Awards

In 2012, Heinerth was named the "Sea Hero of the Year" by SCUBA Diving Magazine. [26]

Heinerth is a member of the Explorers Club, a fellow of the National Speleological Society, and she has been inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame. [6] She won the OZTek Media Award in March 2013. [27] In November 2013, she was awarded the first ever Christopher Ondaatje Medal for Exploration by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. [4]

In June 2016, Heinerth was named as the first Explorer-in-Residence for the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. [28]

In January 2017, the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences announced that Jill Heinerth was to become a 2017 AUAS Fellow by receiving an NOGI Award for ‘Sports & Education’. [29]

Later that year, on 7 March 2017, the Governor General of Canada announced that Jill Heinerth was to receive the Canadian Polar Medal. [30]

In March 2018 Jill Heinerth was awarded the Beneath The Sea Diver of the Year (Education) Award. [31]

On 18 August 2020 it was announced that Jill Heinerth would be inducted into the International SCUBA Diving Hall of Fame. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the induction will be delayed until 2021. [32]

In February 2021 Jill's Children's book The Aquanaut was selected by Dolly Parton as a Blue Ribbon Selection of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.[ citation needed ]

Jill Heinerth was named as the 2024 Honorary Ottawa Riverkeeper at the Riverkeeper's annual gala on 29 May 2024. [33]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Technical diving</span> Extended scope recreational diving

Technical diving is scuba diving that exceeds the agency-specified limits of recreational diving for non-professional purposes. Technical diving may expose the diver to hazards beyond those normally associated with recreational diving, and to a greater risk of serious injury or death. Risk may be reduced via appropriate skills, knowledge, and experience. Risk can also be managed by using suitable equipment and procedures. The skills may be developed through specialized training and experience. The equipment involves breathing gases other than air or standard nitrox mixtures, and multiple gas sources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cave diving</span> Diving in water-filled caves

Cave-diving is underwater diving in water-filled caves. It may be done as an extreme sport, a way of exploring flooded caves for scientific investigation, or for the search for and recovery of divers or, as in the 2018 Thai cave rescue, other cave users. The equipment used varies depending on the circumstances, and ranges from breath hold to surface supplied, but almost all cave-diving is done using scuba equipment, often in specialised configurations with redundancies such as sidemount or backmounted twinset. Recreational cave-diving is generally considered to be a type of technical diving due to the lack of a free surface during large parts of the dive, and often involves planned decompression stops. A distinction is made by recreational diver training agencies between cave-diving and cavern-diving, where cavern diving is deemed to be diving in those parts of a cave where the exit to open water can be seen by natural light. An arbitrary distance limit to the open water surface may also be specified.

The International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame (ISDHF) is an annual event that recognizes those who have contributed to the success and growth of recreational scuba diving in dive travel, entertainment, art, equipment design and development, education, exploration and adventure. It was founded in 2000 by the Cayman Islands Ministry of Tourism. Currently, it exists virtually with plans for a physical facility to be built at a future time.

William C. "Bill" Stone is an American engineer, caver and explorer, known for exploring deep caves, sometimes with autonomous underwater vehicles. He has participated in over 40 international expeditions and is president and CEO of Stone Aerospace.

The World Recreational Scuba Training Council (WRSTC) was founded in 1999 and is dedicated to creating minimum recreational diving training standards for the various recreational scuba diving certification agencies across the world. The WRSTC restricts its membership to national or regional councils. These councils consist of individual training organizations who collectively represent at least 50% of the annual diver certifications in the member council's country or region. A national council is referred to as a RSTC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Underwater Federation</span> Umbrella organisation representing scuba diver training organisations in Europe

The European Underwater Federation (EUF) is an umbrella organisation representing the interests of scuba diver training organisations operating in both the not for profit and for profit sectors within Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Global Underwater Explorers</span> Recreational/technical scuba training and certification agency

Global Underwater Explorers (GUE) is a scuba diving organization that provides education within recreational, technical, and cave diving. It is a nonprofit membership organization based in High Springs, Florida, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Mount</span> Pioneering technical and cave diver (1939–2022)

Tom Mount was an American pioneering cave diver and technical diver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Rutkowski</span> American pioneer in hyperbaric and diving medicine and use of mixed breathing gases for diving

Richard Rutkowski is a pioneer in the fields of hyperbaric medicine, diving medicine and diver training, especially in relation to the use of breathing gases.

Steve Lewis is an active cave and wreck diver. Born in Peckham, New Cross London, he currently resides in Muskoka, Ontario Canada.

Jarrod Michael Jablonski is a pioneering technical diver and record setting cave diver as well as an accomplished business owner and operator. These business operations include Halcyon Manufacturing, Extreme Exposure Adventure Center and Global Underwater Explorers. In July 2021 Jablonski launched and now operates the world's deepest pool at Deep Dive Dubai. Jablonski is one of the main architects behind the 'Doing It Right' system of diving.

Wesley C. Skiles was an American cave diving pioneer, explorer, and underwater cinematographer. Skiles lived in High Springs, Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agnes Milowka</span> Australian cave diver

Agnes Milowka was an Australian technical diver, underwater photographer, author, maritime archaeologist and cave explorer. She gained international recognition for penetrating deeper than previous explorers into cave systems across Australia and Florida, and as a public speaker and author on the subjects of diving and maritime archaeology. She died aged 29 while diving in a confined space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neal W. Pollock</span> Canadian researcher in diving physiology and hyperbaric medicine

Neal Pollock is a Canadian academic and diver. Born in Edmonton, Canada he completed a bachelor's degree in zoology; the first three years at University of Alberta and the final year at the University of British Columbia. After completing a master's degree he then served as diving officer at University of British Columbia for almost five years. He then moved to Florida and completed a doctorate in exercise physiology/environmental physiology at Florida State University.

The NOGI Awards is an award presented annually by the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences (AUAS) to diving luminaries and is "considered the Oscar of the ocean world." Selection of recipients is based on their record of accomplishments and excellence in the diving world. NOGI awards are given out to world-class standouts of the diving community who have distinguished themselves and made a global impact on diving in one or more of four general categories: Science, Arts, Sports/Education, and Environment. A fifth NOGI is given for Distinguished Service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Ben McDaniel</span> Scuba diver who disappeared during or after a cave dive

On August 20, 2010, Ben McDaniel, of Memphis, Tennessee, United States, was reported missing after employees in the dive shop at Vortex Spring, north of Ponce de Leon, Florida, noticed that his pickup truck had remained in the shop's parking lot for the previous two days. McDaniel, who had been diving regularly at the spring while living in his parents' nearby beach house, had last been seen by two of those employees on the evening of August 18, on a dive entering a cave 58 feet (18 m) below the water's surface. While he was initially believed to have drowned on that dive, and his parents still strongly believe his body is in an inaccessible reach of the extensive cave system, no trace of him has ever been found. The state of Florida issued his family a death certificate in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rick Stanton</span> British cave diver who specialises in rescues

Richard William Stanton, is a British civilian cave diver who specialises in rescues through the Cave Rescue Organisation and the British Cave Rescue Council. He has been called "one of the world's most accomplished cave-divers", "the face of British cave diving," and "the best cave diver in Europe". Stanton has lived in Coventry for many years, and was formerly a firefighter with the West Midlands Fire Service for 25 years prior to his retirement. In 2018 he played a leading role in the Tham Luang cave rescue and was awarded the George Medal in the Civilian Gallantry List.

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Basic Cave Diving: A Blueprint for Survival, also commonly referred to by the subtitle alone, A Blueprint for Survival, is a short book on safe scuba diving procedures for cave diving by pioneer cave diver Sheck Exley, originally published in 1979, by the Cave Diving Section of the National Speleological Society. It is considered to have had a significant impact on the number of cave diving fatalities since publication, and is considered one of the more historically important publications in recreational diving.

References

  1. 1 2 Mark Schrope (1 October 2003). "Deep Transmissions Armed with a revolutionary new tracking device, cave divers map threats to Florida's main water source". Outside Online. Mariah Media Network LLC. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  2. 1 2 Jill Heinerth (2003). "Ice Island". Advanced Diver magazine. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Jill Heinerth Loves The Places Where Her Friends Have Gone To Die". Filmcourage. 9 March 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  4. 1 2 Ghomeshi, Jian. "Best of Q: Cave diver Jill Heinerth on fear management". cbc.ca. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 Andrews, Avital (14 December 2012). "My Perfect Adventure: Jill Heinerth". Outside Online.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Jill Heinerth : OceanAGE Career Profile". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOOA). 29 March 2013.
  7. ↑ "Deep-Sea Explorer Jill Heinerth to Receive First Honorary Doctorate » Victoria University". vicu.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  8. ↑ Yundt, Heather (2013). "Jill Heinerth Sir Christopher Ondaatje Medal for Exploration". Canadian Geographic. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014.
  9. ↑ Kendrick, DF (2009). "Science of the National Association for Cave Diving (NACD): Water Quality, Hydrogeology, Biology and Psychology". In: Pollock NW, ed. Diving for Science 2009. Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences 28th Symposium. Dauphin Island, AL. Archived from the original on 5 July 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2016.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  10. ↑ Jennifer Goldblatt (13 November 2002). "Explorers' film wins top honor". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  11. ↑ Iliffe T, Humphreys W (2016). "Christmas Islands Hidden Secret". Advanced Diver Magazine. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  12. ↑ "Mine Quest: Diving Into Bell Island's Underwater Mines". HuffPost. 9 February 2016.
  13. ↑ Heinerth, Jill (6 October 2019). "Opinion: I am a diver who documents climate change in the Arctic. And I am running out of time". Los Angeles Times.
  14. ↑ "Into the Ice". This is Love . 27 May 2020.
  15. ↑ "Speaking". IntoThePlanet.
  16. ↑ Heinerth, Jill (2 October 2020). "Cave Diver Risks All To Explore Places 'Where Nobody Has Ever Been'" (Interview). Interviewed by Dave Davies. NPR. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  17. ↑ "Jill Heinerth". 31 October 2019.
  18. ↑ Bellemare, Andrea (6 September 2022). "Divers confirm location of wreck of WW II airplane in Newfoundland lake". CBC Radio.
  19. ↑ MacDiarmid, Campbell. "Wreck of Shackleton's ship Quest found, last link to 'heroic age of Antarctic exploration'". The Guardian.
  20. ↑ "Local Hero, Merlot Division". 15 February 2024.
  21. 1 2 Heinerth, Jill (2019). Into the planet: my life as a cave diver (Kindle ed.). New York: HarperCollins. pp. 90, 274. ISBN   9780062691569.
  22. ↑ "So I Married an Explorer".
  23. ↑ Harrigan, Stephen (3 January 2020). "'In Oceans Deep' and 'Into the Planet' Review: No Strangers to the Abyss". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  24. ↑ Heinerth, Jill (Actor, director, narrator, Host); McClellan, Robert (Producer) (1 January 2013). We are Water (DVD). Heinerth Productions, Inc. ISBN   0979878993. Archived from the original on 20 March 2016.
  25. ↑ Jill Heinerth (Director) (2012). Ben's Vortex (DVD). Heinerth Productions, Inc. ISBN   0979878985. Archived from the original on 20 March 2016.
  26. ↑ Scuba Diving Magazine October 2012
  27. ↑ Rosemary E Lunn Tech talk: Tales of ‘Daring Do’ Xraymag, issue 54, May 2013, p.58
  28. ↑ Royal Canadian Geographical Society Archived 2 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine June 2016
  29. ↑ Rosemary E Lunn Jill Heinerth To Receive 2017 NOGI for ‘Sports & Education’ Deeperblue.com, 10 January 2017.
  30. ↑ Rosemary E Lunn Jill Heinerth To Receive Canadian Polar Medal X-Ray Magazine
  31. ↑ Rosemary E Lunn Bozanic, Burroughs, Hasson, Heinerth and HDSUSA honoured with Beneath The Sea Awards X-Ray Magazine
  32. ↑ ISDHF International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame’s milestone 20th Anniversary Induction
  33. ↑ "Riverkeeper Gala raises $300K to help protect, improve Ottawa River – Ottawa Business Journal". 30 May 2024.
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