Jill Heinerth says Dan’s Cave on Abaco Island, Bahamas, is her “favorite cave on Earth.”
Jill Heinerth/Ecco
In the special podcast series of “In Fresh Air” the spotlight is shown on some of the best interviews and reviews of the weekend. For this weekly special, Jill Heinerth, who is a cave diver, photographer, and memoirist talks about her most adventurous and dangerous cave dives.
She constantly gets asked, “Are you looking for a death wish?”, and after hearing of her experiences you would think so too. Except she shows us that despite how dangerous her occupation is, it is thrilling, educational, and she gets to go places that others have never seen or even heard of.
Before hearing this podcast, the occupation of “Cave Diving” had never crossed my mind, especially not in icebergs found in the FREEZING cold waters of Alaska. Jill talks a little about her new book, which starts off with a thrilling story of how three of her closest companions and herself found themselves stuck in the, “biggest iceberg on the planet, which is close to the size of Jamaica”.
My jaw dropped at that comparison, but after I picked it up, I just pictured how utterly amazing and breathtaking that would be.
Jill states how her and her friends had to dig deep and try and stay warm while they swam through the iceberg to find another path towards safety. She says that she is just a tiny bit more experienced in cave diving than her friends, so she had to stay calm so they would not flip their lid. One of the things that stuck out most to me, was what she said next: “Instead of allowing my emotions to take over my body, I took many deep breaths and focused on the small steps I had to take to get to my goal.” This lady seems like the bravest women ever just by how she handled the situation that was at hand, but many do not have the same happy ending as Jill and her friends did…
Mrs. Heinerth states that cave diving is the most dangerous occupation in the world, and she has even lost close to one hundred friends and close companions while they also performed the same job as herself. But, not only has Jill has to endure the pain of losing a friend, she is even called upon to help groups dive down and find the remains of the person. Due to, EMTs not specializing in that category of rescue.
This podcast brings to life a job that is performed all over, even in all types of conditions. It doesn’t matter the water temperatures, Jill Heinerth and her crew have overcome all to dive in the scariest but astounding of places. She says that despite the fear that many have, the beauty and knowledge that is found in these fascinating places condratics all danger. If she wear to ever die in one of her dives, she would rather it be in the depths of the ocean than anywhere else.
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