Alberta Underwater Council

The Alberta Underwater Council is pleased to announce our upcoming DIVESCAPES special guest & keynote Speaker: Jill Heinerth, Woman's Scuba Diving Hall of Fame Inductee.

An award-winning filmmaker, Jill wrote, produced, and appeared in Water's Journey, the PBS documentary series that takes viewers on visceral travels through the world's greatest water systems. Hollywood directors call on her to produce difficult underwater scenes and international magazines and websites look to her to document extreme environments with high technology. See here for more about Jill Heinerth

DIVESCAPES 2009 PRESENTATION: ICE ISLAND, ANTARCTICA:

In spring of 2000, the largest moving object ever seen on our planet began its voyage - so grand in scale it changed the earth’s rotation as it moved. Dubbed Godzilla by scientists, it had enough fresh water to supply the United States with all of its water needs for years. A special team from the National Geographic Society and the New England Aquarium are the first to employ a bold new technological approach at exploring above, below and within the ice. They confront life and death decisions every day. Weaving their way through the treacherous pack ice - and well beyond the range of rescue - they make a dangerous flight in the spirit of discovery. But despite the natural beauty that captivates them, they are in a race to escape the clutches of the ice... How will they get out?

Jill describes herself as:

• Age: 44
• Job: Explorer
• Education: Fine Arts/Hard Knocks
• Passion: Creative Image Making & Technology
• Best Trait: Curiosity
• Goals: Explore places that no human has ever experienced
• Favorite Quote: Leap..........and a net appears

Jill is an explorer. Her curiosity and photographic skills give us a tantalizing peek at a breathtaking world few will ever experience. She a reasonable voice in the world of conservation, and is often sought out for insightful commentary and opinions by the press and other institutions.

Best known as a pioneering technical diver, Jill combines a mastery of underwater technology with a formal Fine Arts education to produce artistic documentation of the natural environment above, below and inside our planet.

Jill Heinerth is also a recognized expert legal witness in matters involving SCUBA and Closed Circuit Rebreather technology. Jill's many diving accomplishments are highlighted by an Antarctic cave diving expedition inside the largest iceberg known to man, (National Geographic - Ice Island), and significant contributions to the United States Deep Caving Team's Wakulla 2 project, using paradigm-changing technology to map an underwater cave system in three dimensions. At Wakulla, secondary to a scientific mission, Jill established a woman's diving world record and is an inaugural member of the Women Diver’s Hall of Fame.