Caves in Missouri

[gbray]

I am not a cave diver but am fascinated by it. One day God (and my wife) willing I will aspire to it. I live in Missouri and have heard there are numerous caves to dive in this state. Can anyone tell me where they are? I currently have about 50 dives and am preparing to take my advance class then stress and rescue. I'm not interested in rushing it, just learning and enjoying it. Are there any guided cavern or overhead environment dives in this area that a non cave certified diver would be allowed to do. I would love to see if my enthusiasm is real or imagined. The closest I have come is a couple of trails at Bonne terre mine with baby roller coaster like moments. I really enjoyed these. Thanks for any info.

 

[K Mejean]

I don't know about Missouri but I doubt that you will find guided tours of caves and caverns. Its possible but I don't know of anybody thats doing them in our area. Good luck though. If you are interested in cave and cavern then you will be hooked if you get into one.

 

[fire_diver]

There is Cannonball, Roubidoux and at least one more open to the public. RBX is in Waynesville.

I can give you the email for a great instructor out of Branson if you want. He teaches class up at RBX.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Lots of stuff in Missouri, but you aren't going to find anyone to bring you into them without a certification of some sort.

 

[skdvr]

I know the instructor that Fire Diver is talking about and he is whom I plan on using for my course either later this year or next. Nice guy who dives the local caves ALL the time...

Another good option is Ed Pavey from Ozark Dive Company. His shop is just a few miles from a cave.

I think the best bet would be to talk to some local cave divers and see what it is that attracts them to cave diving. If it is something that you are interested in just take the first step which is Cavern, and take it from a Cave Instructor not a PADI course. Then from there if you enjoy that portion you can go on from there. There is a good group of local cave divers on the Midwest Dive forum.

Phil

 

[tbaldi]

Contact these guys. They can answer all your questions about cave diving. If you aren't certified, you could probably start by helping out with their surface support and learn from the ground up (or down in this case!)


Ozark Cave Diving Alliance Home Page

 

[b1gcountry]

You could also head over to the offsets for a couple dives. Diving the offsets is a little like diving in a cave, only, there is air above you most of the time. No cave or cavern certs are needed.

Tom