This reddit thread started about a year ago in response to a tourist to Jamaica’s “Blue Hole” (pictured on the introduction page), who witnessed a man who” jumped and did not come up.” Although his body was recovered, he eventually died. In response, numerous tourists have added their own stories in the comments citing their own near-death experiences at Blue Hole: 

bravodoc: “It was exhilarating and fun but this puts things into perspective that it was certainly dangerous.” 

bbgirliexo: “I did the jump (despite protesting at first) about 2-3 minutes before this man took the jump. I had the life jacket on and was getting my ass absolutely kicked. I was trying my hardest to hang in there and absolutely started panicking (I’m pretty familiar with water but I’m not an expert + I’m out of shape) and as I made it to safety I saw the whole thing play out, including the time they found him and started doing cpr. It was sad to see. Thank god one of the workers coaxed me into wearing the jacket or I’m like 50% sure that would have been me as well. All I remember after taking the plunge was my body freaking out because I didn’t know how deep it was and if I was plummeting to the bottom and going to hit the bottom or if the huge waterfall current was pushing me underneath but I literally just PRAYED that my life vest was floating me to the top and was trying to not breathe (like I said, I was panicking and my body was in total shock from how exhilarating the experience was but also exhausting and I just wanted to take a huge breath of air bcs I was lowkey shallow-breathing right before and leading up to the jump).”

Beautiful-Common-480: “TBH that 40ft Jump is really intense! I jumped it in Feb without a life jacket and BARELY made it back to the surface. I’m a great swimmer and almost didn’t make it up. I learned that without a jacket you go down very far and have to really fight to get to the surface of the strong currant.”

threat024: “I saw a few people go before me who all said they were good swimmers all struggling to come up and another woman wearing a life jacket who was a weak swimmer and she struggled big time. I said to hell with that and passed.”

This recent event demonstrates the simultaneous romantic allure and dangerous threat of Jamaica’s waters. Tourists who are disarmed by the illusion of romantic, peaceful get-away are shocked that such beautiful waters can be so powerful and destructive. The pounding of the waterfall parallels the washing of Pregnant Heidi’s waves, as both challenge the image of a harmless landscape with the acts of power embodied in these watery geographies of resistance and agency. These incidents also demonstrate the way a book like Here Comes the Sun muddies the bounds between fiction and reality, as the tourist deaths due to Pregnant Heidi are not all that different from the drownings (and near-drownings) at Blue Hole.