Jill Heinerth (born 1965) is a Canadian cave diver, underwater explorer, writer, photographer and film-maker. She has made TV series for

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney Enter ...

and the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, consulted on movies for directors including

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker, who resides in New Zealand. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era and often uses novel technologies with a Classical Hollywood cinema, classical filmmaking styl ...

, and written several books and produced documentaries, including ''We Are Water'' and '' Ben's Vortex'', about the disappearance of Ben McDaniel.

Early life and education

As a child, Heinerth was inspired by

Jacques Cousteau Jacques-Yves Cousteau, (, also , ; 11 June 191025 June 1997) was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. He co-invented the first successful open-circuit self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA), called the ...

's television series. In 5th grade, she gave a Science Fair project about mysterious disappearances in the

Bermuda Triangle The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a loosely defined region in the North Atlantic Ocean, roughly bounded by Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. Since the mid-20th century, it has been the focus of an urban legend sug ...

. She gained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communications Design at

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

, and ran a small graphic design agency in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

while teaching scuba in

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is shared on the north and east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south and west by the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the lake is derived from early French ex ...

's port of Tobermory in the evenings. In 2023 Heinerth was awarded an honorary PhD from Victoria University in the University of Toronto.

Career

In 1991, Heinerth quit her office job and moved to the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory, and the largest by population. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located so ...

to dive full-time, honing skills in underwater photography. She then moved to Florida to work on

cave diving 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 underwater search and recovery, search for and recovery of divers or, as in th ...

, where she was mentored by documentary filmmaker Wes Skiles. She collaborated with his Karst Productions, based in

High Springs, Florida High Springs is a city in Alachua County, Florida, United States. It is the fourth-largest city in Alachua County and seventh-largest in North Central Florida. The population was 6,215 at the 2020 census, up from 5,350 at the 2010 census. It ...

. In 1998, Heinerth was part of the team that made the first 3D map of an underwater cave. Heinerth became the first person to dive the ice caves of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

, penetrating further into an underwater cave system than any woman ever In 2001, she was part of a team that explored ice caves of icebergs 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. In 2015, Heinerth participated in exploring the numerous anchialine caves of

Christmas Island Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an States and territories of Australia#External territories, Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean comprising the island of the same name. It is about south o ...

. In 2016, Heinerth led an expedition that explored and surveyed the flooded Bell Island Mines in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Heinerth is a Fellow of

The Explorers Club The Explorers Club is an American-based international multidisciplinary professional society with the goal of promoting scientific exploration and field study. The club was founded in New York City in 1904 and has served as a meeting point for ex ...

and the inaugural Explorer-in-Residence of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. She consults on training programmes for diving agencies, publishes photojournalism in a range of magazines and speaks around the world. Heinerth has written opinion pieces and articles about exploration and climate change for global publications including the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

. In 2020, Heinerth spoke with the podcast '' This is Love'' about diving in ice caves in Antarctica. Jill Heinerth is a prolific public speaker and educator represented by Speaker's Spotlight agency. In 2020, Heinerth was interviewed on many radio, TV and podcasts programs including the NPR radio program

Fresh Air ''Fresh Air'' is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show's hosts are Terry Gross and Tonya Mosl ...

. 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. 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. 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.

Personal life

Heinerth married cave diver Paul Heinerth in 1996; they later divorced. In April 2007, she married her second husband, writer, photographer, and new media expert Robert McClellan, with whom she lives in Carleton Place, Ontario, Canada. Heinerth has described her hobbies as hiking,

kayaking Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...

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."

Works

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * *Heinerth, Jill (2019). ''Into The Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver.'' Ecco. *Heinerth, Jill (2021). ''The Aquanaut.'' Tundra Books.

Film

Heinerth has produced TV series for

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

and the

, consulted on movies for directors including

. She has produced documentaries including ''We Are Water'' and '' Ben's Vortex''. 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. Heinerth is a member of the

Explorers Club The Explorers Club is an American-based international multidisciplinary professional society with the goal of promoting scientific exploration and field study. The club was founded in New York City in 1904 and has served as a meeting point for ex ...

, a fellow of the National Speleological Society, and she has been inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame. She won the OZTek Media Award in March 2013. In November 2013, she was awarded the first ever

Christopher Ondaatje Sir Philip Christopher Ondaatje (; born 22 February 1933) between 2004 and 2024 The Earl of Rothes, Lord of Leslie and Sheriff of Fife, is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian-English businessman, philanthropist, adventurer, writer and bob-sledding Olympi ...

Medal for Exploration by the

Royal Canadian Geographical Society The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS; French: ''Société géographique royale du Canada'') is a Canadian nonprofit educational organization. It has dedicated itself to spreading a broader knowledge and deeper appreciation of Canada, i ...

. In June 2016, Heinerth was named as the first Explorer-in-Residence for the

. 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’. Later that year, on 7 March 2017, the Governor General of Canada announced that Jill Heinerth was to receive the Canadian Polar Medal. In March 2018 Jill Heinerth was awarded the Beneath The Sea Diver of the Year (Education) Award. 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. In February 2021 Jill's Children's book ''The Aquanaut'' was selected by

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...

as a Blue Ribbon Selection of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. Jill Heinerth was named as the 2024 Honorary Ottawa Riverkeeper at the Riverkeeper's annual gala on 29 May 2024.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heinerth, Jill Living people Canadian underwater divers Underwater photographers Cave diving explorers Underwater filmmakers 1965 births Women Divers Hall of Fame