Q: What first ignited your passion in the underwater world, and when did you first start diving? A: Like many kids my age, I was inspired by watching Jacques Cousteau on television. It was also the Apollo Missions, too. Watching men drive around on the surface of the moon influenced me to explore. Q: You are perhaps best known as a cave diver. What is it about caves that capture your interest, and how did you initially get into cave diving? A: I suppose it is a bit of a primal drive. Caves are like the veins of Mother Earth and I am attracted to go into the body of the planet in a spiritual sense. But I was also drawn toward the opportunity of being able to document places that nobody has ever seen before. Sharing images from remote, unexplored territory is a great privilege in an age when most of humanity believes that the age of exploration has already passed them by. Q: You were the first person to dive in the ice caves of Antarctica? What was this momentous series of dives like? A: That National Geographic project was perhaps the most-dangerous undertaking I have ever been involved in. It felt like the closest thing to going to another planet. Every moment was wild and unscripted. I had to be at my very best at every moment for the entire 60 days in the Ross Sea. The caves inside the icebergs were stunningly beautiful in their own right, and the garden of life we found beneath the great ice masses was colourful and abundant. Q: You have been given many high-profile awards, including being a Fellow of the Explorers Club and Explorer-in-Residence of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and as well as being inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame. Which are you most proud of? A: Representing the Royal Canadian Geographical Society as Canada’s chief explorer is perhaps the greatest honour of all. In my role, I spend a lot of time with the next generation of young explorers. That feels like my most-important mission to date.
JILL
HEINERTH 34
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