Posted by joe chandler on October 01, 2001 at 19:52:56:
In Reply to: Bonne Terre Mine- posted by lcarlson on October 01, 2001 at 15:00:06:
It is about an hour south of St louis. Small town. There is an onsite bunkhouse.
All dives are guided. There are 18 or so trails which you do in order. The first four trails you will find yourself in a group of about eirht divers ( obviously depending on how many show up). People usually do four trails in a weekend. If you go back a second time there will probablynoi be as many in your group. Those who go back several times often will find them selves one on one with a guide.
It is a flooded lead mine but practically speaking it is an indoor, underground lighted pool. There are a few swim throughs, but mostly you have direct acceess to the surface. You see lots of rocks "duh"! and left over mining equipment. The water temp is 58F all the time. viz is extremely good. It gets stirred up a bit throughout the weekend. As far as I know they only do dives on the weekends.
Some people do their open water check out dives in the mine. There is supposed to be an old town "at the bottom" -whereever that is- but I don't think ant tech diving goes on there.