Link to the original article in NY Post
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Jill’s North American book tour brings her to Fort White, Florida on Nov. 8. She will be offering a premiere event of her new movie Under Thin Ice, which was produced by Gala Film Productions in Montreal, Canada. In addition to screening the film on climate change, she will sell and sign her new book Into The Planet – My Life as a Cave Diver. RUM138 is popular outdoor enthusiast’s destination. With an art gallery, boat rentals and great local knowledge, the venue also offers a bar and excellent food for sale at the event. The movie will be shown under…
A magazine from New Zealand reached out to ask some personal questions about what makes me tick. I offered these answers to give readers a look into my world. Q: Jill, tell me a bit about yourself, where did you grow up, school, family life etc? I grew up near Toronto, Canada in a small town called Cooksville. That village of apple orchards and farms quickly grew into the town, then city of Mississauga. My Dad worked really hard to allow my Mom to stay home and raise the kids. As the youngest of three, I had a lot of…
It is not often that you get to meet, let alone work with your mentors and heroes. In recent years, I met Discoverer of the Titanic, Dr. Bob Ballard, a couple of times, but only recently had the opportunity to work closely with him on the National Geographic project Walking with the Ancients. On a vessel in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, we deployed and documented several revolutionary 3D imaging devices in underwater caves with a goal to survey and map their extents and prove the technology worthy of deployment in deeper, unexplored caves nearby. For the few that…
Wes Skiles was a huge influence in my career and personal life. Sadly he died prematurely in a diving accident in July 2010. Offering a eulogy at his memorial service was one of the toughest things I have ever had to do. Hundreds of people gathered by the water of Ginnie Springs celebrating his life, but we all mourned the man we had lost. As I choked back tears, I offered these words to our community: Wes was one of the great catalysts in our diving family. I have no doubt that many people have had their most exciting, most…
I’m a cave diver and I like to tell people that I swim through the veins of Mother Earth, exploring the lifeblood of our planet. Most people look into the darkness of a cave and see only terrifying blackness, but for me, the darkness beckons, drawing me into an unexplored world of possibilities. Every fin stroke that takes me further into the unknown, offering an opportunity for discovery and growth. Today, we live in a world where fear governs the actions of the populace. People are terrified of world politics, failure, and change in their daily lives. I believe the…
If you ever wondered what it takes to become a cave diver, this podcast reveals your next steps. Before considering cave diver training, you will need to complete some prerequisites....
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In the spring of 2000, the largest recorded iceberg in history calved away from the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. It was the size of Jamaica and was the largest moving object ever seen on our planet. Using rebreathers for the first time in Antarctica, Paul Heinerth, Wes Skiles and I made the first cave dives inside an iceberg. We completed our scientific documentation by flying a helicopter and landing on top of the B-15 iceberg. For that mission, I prepared the survival gear for Wes and our chopper pilot Laurie Prouting. I packed emergency first aid gear, space blankets…
The earliest visitors to Florida knew it was a special place. Over 12,000 years ago, Paleo-Indians, perhaps following a mastodon loping through the savannah, were drawn to bountiful turquoise water holes in the woods. In those days, glaciers to the north had not yet melted, and the Florida peninsula was much more extensive and drier than it is today. Surface waters like rivers and lakes were scarce and the indigenous people survived by finding places where nourishing waters welled up from underground. Like an oasis in the desert, springs were sanctuaries, attracting humans and animals to share their sustaining bounty….