THE AUTHORS

JILL HEINERTH – A pioneering underwater explorer, Jill Heinerth has dived deeper into caves than any woman in history. Selected for the inaugural class of the Women Divers Hall of Fame, her recent awards include the Wyland Icon and Scuba Diving Magazine’s Sea Hero of the Year. Recognizing a lifetime of contributions to advancing underwater exploration, in 2013, Jill was presented with the Sir Christopher Ondaatje Medal for Exploration by the Royal Canadian Geographic Society. The author of several books about diving Jill currently has two titles on Amazon.com’s extreme sports “Top 100” bestseller charts. She is an active filmmaker, author, a regular Diver Magazine columnist and a highly regarded technical diving instructor. Her company, Heinerth Productions, Inc. specializes in independent publishing, new media content creation, and underwater videography. Jill Heinerth’s professional credentials includes PADI CCR Trimix Instructor Trainer in addition to teaching for several rebreather and cave diving agencies.

 

RENEE POWER – Since 1994 Renee Power has participated in dozens of underwater research projects and public education outreach efforts with the Cambrian Foundation. With the Foundation dive team, she has explored and surveyed thousands of feet of new passages in Mexico and Florida caves. Renee is an active NSS-CDS Basic Cave Instructor as well as a PADI Master Instructor. She served as Expedition Dive Safety Officer for projects in Bermuda and Florida, designing detailed safety and evacuation protocols specific to those regions. Renee is an active PADI Master Instructor. Her technical training certifications include Full Cave, Trimix and the Prism Topaz Closed Circuit Rebreather. Renee is a Disabled Diver International Instructor and has served in the Deptherapy Program with wounded military veterans. Her favorite students are the ones she helps empower to overcome their greatest challenges, obstacles and fears.

Polar Bears Need Sea Ice

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Some people wonder why it matters when the climate changes and sea ice melts. Travel with this family of polar bears as they search for sea ice that is central to their efforts to find food. This beautiful short from Arctic Bear Productions on the GoPro YouTube channel depicts a family of polar bears on their quest to find a place to rest: sea ice. While this footage is stunning, its message is quite somber. Eventually, the bears reach land, but do not find ice. There’s a reason for this. Polar bears need sea ice to hunt seals — but,…

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Arctic Bound

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Getting Packed for the Sedna EPIC Expedition In just over a week I’ll be leaving for my Arctic Odyssey with the other women from the Sedna Expedition. I’ve been digging out all my cold weather gear and discovering some gems that have been long sitting in cases. Snow anchors and ice axes from ice training trips to the Rockies. Crampons and boots used in Antarctica. My trusted Canada Goose parka. They are all saturated with memories from amazing life experiences and learning opportunities. The anticipation of a trip is as great as the experience itself. Packing, testing and developing new gear are all…

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Lessons from DCS

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BENT It is said that good judgment is born from experience. Yet, unfortunately, experience often comes from bad judgment. Over a decade ago, I earned a lot of experience when Paul Heinerth and I eagerly hiked into the steamy Yucatan jungle to explore deep passages of The Pit; a cave system we uncovered three years earlier. Armed with newly developed rebreathers and precious helium mixes, we set out to explore the mysteries of the  tunnels in this popular region of Mexico. We’d be diving nearly 400 feet deep. Today, divers flock to The Pit by an easily accessible jungle road,…

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First Century Shipwreck

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On my travels in Croatia a couple of weeks ago I had the amazing opportunity to dive on a first century Roman shipwreck in Caska. A team of archaeologists were working hard on a month-long work season learning about this an d other ruins and wrecks in the region. This dates to the time of Pliny the Elder and I was amazed by the state of the wood in this vessel. Incredible!

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Ladies First for Sedna

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The mailman just arrived with my box of goodies for the Sedna Expedition in the Arctic. The Ladies First suit totally exceeded my expectations. I was so excited I couldn’t even wait for my husband to get home to take a photo! I’ll prepare some videos and pics to show you how the heating system works, but if you are thinking of getting a new suit, this is it! I’ll get it wet tomorrow!!      

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Tracking Our Journey

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Team Sedna to Use Suunto Ambit 2S Suunto has provided the Sedna EPIC Expedition team members with Ambit 2S sport watches. These cool devices were the first GPS watches to combine cutting edge outdoor and training features with thousands of sports apps that can be downloaded and activated by the user. This particular model was specially designed to fit women’s slim wrists, making it comfortable and easy to use as a traditional watch too. This product is platform built to bring your dreams to life. The raw data contains endless possibilities for use with custom apps. For our project, we’ll use the…

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Tekkie La Femme

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Finding the Right Gear for Women Technical Divers I recall being angry when I looked at the seminar listings at the AquaCorps Tek Conference in the early 1990s. There was a session called “Tekkie la Femme” designed  for women to gather together and talk about the potential of getting involved in technical diving. There was also a session about DPVs. Why wasn’t it called “Tekkie La Scoot Scoot?” It was hard to be taken seriously as a diver when we were always separated from men and deemed as “cute” in our efforts to be involved in the extreme end of…

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Women Underwater – The Comprehensive Guide to Women in Scuba Diving, reaches out to women with specific information about their place in diving. With detailed guidance on equipment, medical issues and social factors, this book reaches women with inspiring stories from mentors who have forged a career in unique underwater fields. Authors Jill Heinerth and Renee Power tackle topics for both recreational and technical divers while featuring their vast experience in instruction, consulting and working in a field predominantly governed by men. At times humorous yet also deadly serious, the book answers delicate questions about hygiene, equipment fit and dealing with sexism. Printed in full color and generously illustrated, Women Underwater will be a welcome resource for any woman diver.

Women Underwater available now!