E087 Arielle Ginsberg - "Belize Cave Exploration"

Speaking Sidemount

Great to share Episode #87 Arielle Ginsberg - Belize Cave Exploration, brought to you by our sponsor XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks to both for their support.

I recently picked up a Facebook post by XDEEP describing the exploits of Arielle Ginsberg. Arielle is a founding member of the Belize Cave Diving Society and is its first female member. The project sounded amazing but a shared post by Arielle's exploration partner Ben Popik really got my attention…

This is my badass cave diving partner and bestie Arielle getting the attention and praise she deserves!

In the photos below, you can see her bravely exploring just a couple of the many cenotes we've found together on Ambergris Caye. While I’m constantly talking about our cave diving explorations, I often leave out the part about how Arielle always goes in first (because she's way braver than I am and *marginally* less afraid of crocodiles). She’s easily one of the toughest people I know — weighing in at a mean 98 lbs

This is the first of many cave-diving accolades for Arielle, and I couldn't be prouder to be her teammate and friend!

Now I'm not sure if it tops that, but I learned that Arielle is also a scientist… an immunologist, specializing in flow cytometry and bioinformatics and now, I just had to hear more, if only to learn what the hell flow cytometry really is :)

In this episode, Arielle and I discuss how she got into diving, and how she melds her scientific work with diving. Arielle shares how she moved to Mexico, fell in love with the caves and was set on a path to become a cave diver. She tells us about her training and mentoring with Natalie Gibb of Under the Jungle who was of course my guest in Episodes 18 and 36… before we get into the fantastic exploration of Systema Paloma in Belize. We each share a heap of stories including a few on those moments in cave diving that let's politely say got us somewhat concerned, and we close with Arielle sharing on the support that they have received for the Systema Paloma project, and where they still need some help…

Enjoy, and thanks for your support :)!!

Image Credit - Natalie Gibb