Back when I was certified (May '07), one of the assistant instructors in my class mentioned Bonne Terre Mine (BTM). The place described, seemed interesting, so I made it a point to get out to Bonne Terre Mine before the year was over. Today, I made good on the goal; I drove out by myself last night and today I made dives on trails #1,2, & 4 on the billion-gallon, underground lake in Bonne Terre Missouri.
One rumor that I had heard prior to making arrangements was that though the diving was interesting, the staff were difficult to deal with at BTM. With that in mind, I first want to say that the staff were very attentive, safety-minded, professional, yet very friendly and approachable. The group that I dove with consisted of a wide variety of ages, as well as experience levels. A father with his two teen-ageish sons, a 10-year old (he was the son of our guide .the tank was more than half his size, but he was a competent diver), a DM candidate, and myself(AOW, but still a novice diver). Although the type of diving at BTM doesnt necessitate a traditional buddy system, I paired up with a guy named Aaron, a DM candidate from Evanston, IL.
After a short dive briefing on the first trail, we went down to the mine with our gear. The walk down to the dock is rather long, but the scenery of the old mine was interesting. Tall ,wide, stone columns can be seen supporting the rocky ceiling. Water was dripping down from the ceiling throughout the walk, forming a variety of colorful mineral deposits. The most impressive aspect, at least to me, was that this huge cavern was entirely man-made, every rock and pebble was removed via human efforts .giving the effect of Moria (minus Balrogs of course).
Once on the dock I could see the water was very, very clear. I also happened to see the single fish in BTM, a bass that hangs out at the dock (they tried in the past to keep bass, but low O2 levels in the water and no plant life all but one died off) We all started suiting up and I started to see some drastic differences in experience/skill levels emerge amongst our group members. Three of our group members consisted of a father and his two teenagers sons. Although the father was the friendly sort, it became obvious to me that neither of them had been in the water for quite a while. They all struggled with their rental gear, from their wetsuits to their BCDs and regs. I was also surprised they were all using Nitrox (I was surprised, because all the trails are led by a guide and are of a specific time durations, ~45 mins.). My buddy and I were first in the water; the water was a cool 58 degrees .from top to bottom, no thermo clines, 58 degrees. The father and son trio were next in the water. Once the father jumped in, his weight belt just about slid off him to the fathoms below. Luckily for him, he managed to catch the weights with his knees. Once the BTM staff assisted him in properly affixing his weight, we all swam over to a buoy and descended for a short skills test. The skills test consisted of a mask clear and a buddy share-air drill. No one had any problems with the skills and we proceeded with Trail #1.
Trail #1 showed us around a few of the old mining equipment, and a few tunnel swim throughs. My favorite thing I saw was the stream of bubbles pouring out of the swim throughs ..looked like a reverse waterfall. Also, the rock that forms the mine is rather porous and streams of bubble could be seen seeping out of the rock. The guide had mentioned that the seeping air was from the air that was trapped in the pockets in the swim-through. About ¾ of the way through the dive, the father and son trio ended the dive early due to them getting a bit low on air, and the fathers dive computer stopped working (affirmed my choice of a wrist mounted computer and analog gauges). The kid, my buddy, and myself finished the dive with a 3-minute safety stop. Max depth was 51 feet.
Trail #2 (max depth 41) was similar to the first dive. We saw a few more old mining equipment pieces, a couple more swim throughs. Everyone completed the dive
Trail #4 was similar, but this time we saw the elevator shaft that is pictured on the homepage. Another diver joined our group this time. I struck up a conversation with him and realized he had been diving since 1964! Again, everyone completed the dive .the father and sons trio decided against using Nitrox and used standard air on this dive. There is a long slurry pipe on this dive which appears to be smoking. The smoke effect is from the iron oxidation of the metal tube.
BTM would appeal more to history buffs. If you are expecting to see fish, you will be very disappointed. Some people had asked me about diving in an old lead mine more specifically about the safety of swimming in lead
. This question was posed to our guide, and we were told that the lead sulfide(-ite? -ate?) found in the mine rocks was not toxic. Only when the lead was smelted out of the ore did it pose health hazards. The diving was expensive, and the drive was long for me, but I had a fun time. Some more experienced folks may not like the idea of being 'led' around on a guided tour, but the more experienced guy really enjoyed the place and had been to BTM on more than one occasion.
One rumor that I had heard prior to making arrangements was that though the diving was interesting, the staff were difficult to deal with at BTM. With that in mind, I first want to say that the staff were very attentive, safety-minded, professional, yet very friendly and approachable. The group that I dove with consisted of a wide variety of ages, as well as experience levels. A father with his two teen-ageish sons, a 10-year old (he was the son of our guide .the tank was more than half his size, but he was a competent diver), a DM candidate, and myself(AOW, but still a novice diver). Although the type of diving at BTM doesnt necessitate a traditional buddy system, I paired up with a guy named Aaron, a DM candidate from Evanston, IL.
After a short dive briefing on the first trail, we went down to the mine with our gear. The walk down to the dock is rather long, but the scenery of the old mine was interesting. Tall ,wide, stone columns can be seen supporting the rocky ceiling. Water was dripping down from the ceiling throughout the walk, forming a variety of colorful mineral deposits. The most impressive aspect, at least to me, was that this huge cavern was entirely man-made, every rock and pebble was removed via human efforts .giving the effect of Moria (minus Balrogs of course).
Once on the dock I could see the water was very, very clear. I also happened to see the single fish in BTM, a bass that hangs out at the dock (they tried in the past to keep bass, but low O2 levels in the water and no plant life all but one died off) We all started suiting up and I started to see some drastic differences in experience/skill levels emerge amongst our group members. Three of our group members consisted of a father and his two teenagers sons. Although the father was the friendly sort, it became obvious to me that neither of them had been in the water for quite a while. They all struggled with their rental gear, from their wetsuits to their BCDs and regs. I was also surprised they were all using Nitrox (I was surprised, because all the trails are led by a guide and are of a specific time durations, ~45 mins.). My buddy and I were first in the water; the water was a cool 58 degrees .from top to bottom, no thermo clines, 58 degrees. The father and son trio were next in the water. Once the father jumped in, his weight belt just about slid off him to the fathoms below. Luckily for him, he managed to catch the weights with his knees. Once the BTM staff assisted him in properly affixing his weight, we all swam over to a buoy and descended for a short skills test. The skills test consisted of a mask clear and a buddy share-air drill. No one had any problems with the skills and we proceeded with Trail #1.
Trail #1 showed us around a few of the old mining equipment, and a few tunnel swim throughs. My favorite thing I saw was the stream of bubbles pouring out of the swim throughs ..looked like a reverse waterfall. Also, the rock that forms the mine is rather porous and streams of bubble could be seen seeping out of the rock. The guide had mentioned that the seeping air was from the air that was trapped in the pockets in the swim-through. About ¾ of the way through the dive, the father and son trio ended the dive early due to them getting a bit low on air, and the fathers dive computer stopped working (affirmed my choice of a wrist mounted computer and analog gauges). The kid, my buddy, and myself finished the dive with a 3-minute safety stop. Max depth was 51 feet.
Trail #2 (max depth 41) was similar to the first dive. We saw a few more old mining equipment pieces, a couple more swim throughs. Everyone completed the dive
Trail #4 was similar, but this time we saw the elevator shaft that is pictured on the homepage. Another diver joined our group this time. I struck up a conversation with him and realized he had been diving since 1964! Again, everyone completed the dive .the father and sons trio decided against using Nitrox and used standard air on this dive. There is a long slurry pipe on this dive which appears to be smoking. The smoke effect is from the iron oxidation of the metal tube.
BTM would appeal more to history buffs. If you are expecting to see fish, you will be very disappointed. Some people had asked me about diving in an old lead mine more specifically about the safety of swimming in lead
. This question was posed to our guide, and we were told that the lead sulfide(-ite? -ate?) found in the mine rocks was not toxic. Only when the lead was smelted out of the ore did it pose health hazards. The diving was expensive, and the drive was long for me, but I had a fun time. Some more experienced folks may not like the idea of being 'led' around on a guided tour, but the more experienced guy really enjoyed the place and had been to BTM on more than one occasion.
