Heartland Scuba books a trip to Bonne Terre Mine in Missouri for scuba diving about once per year. This year it worked for our schedules for Mike and I to go along. Mike had been on some of the Heartland Scuba road trips previously, but this was my first. We set out from Kearney in the morning in a giant van, and had plenty of space to spread out for the trip…all 9 1/2 hours of it.
We stopped in the Heartland Scuba shop in Lincoln and met up with the rest of the divers, then had lunch at Dickey’s BBQ. So yummy! And how can you go wrong with free ice cream cones?! After lunch, we hit the road again and stopped again once we were in Missouri, at Bandana’s BBQ. Barbecue twice in one day, you might wonder? But that’s how it goes when you’re the only girl traveling with a bunch of guys. 😉 But Bandana’s was really good. I had a baked potato covered in barbecued meat, cheese, sour cream, and butter. It was delicious.  Then we hopped back on the road for another couple of hours to the town of Bonne Terre. We settled in for an early night, as we had early check-in times at the mine.
Yes, that is snow in those pictures.
Bonne Terre Mine is located right in the center of the town, and is mostly flooded. This makes it a prime location for scuba diving. But they also offer walking tours and boat tours as well. We did three dives on Saturday, and one on Sunday. Mike and I were on trails 1-4, as we’d never been there before. Some of the other divers were on the higher numbered trails, as they’d been there previous years. The higher number the trail, the more advanced the dive (meaning more overhead environments, tighter restrictions, etc.). I don’t have any pictures from during our dives, as the light was low in certain places, and they asked that we not carry dive lights or cameras with flashes or lights, so as to avoid blinding other divers or wandering off alone. Â But I did take a few pictures inside the mine just to give some idea of what it looks like down there.
The enormous pillars are essentially stacked on top of each other in the different levels of the mine, so as to provide strength to the underground structure. These pillars are absolutely immense, and it’s hard to get a sense of their scale. They do provide a bit of navigational guidance when you’re underwater, as they extend down into the underwater section of the “Billion Gallon Lake.”
On our dives, we were able to see all kinds of mining related items, including mine carts, shovels, pick axes, and hooks stuck into the walls. We also saw the stairs that the miners would take down into the mine, stairs that are submerged in probably 30 feet of water, and were able to swim through an elevator shaft. We watched air bubbles run along the ceiling, looking like mercury, and checked out an air pocket under the water. But probably my favorite thing that we saw was an area called the Cathedral Room. The Cathedral Room was among the last areas being worked on before the mine closed. There are crosses marked on the walls, where holes were to be drilled for dynamite to be added. It’s an incredible sight to behold, even more so when floating through the water to it while diving.
The air temperature inside the mine is in the 60s (Fahrenheit), while the water temperature is cool, in the 50s. I dove in a 5mm full body wetsuit, boots, hood, and gloves. I also wore a layer of Lycra underneath, not so much because it added any warmth, but because it made the wetsuit easier to put on (and put back on after it was wet). I was warm enough on the first dive, a bit chilled on the second dive, and downright cold on the third dive. On our fourth dive, on Sunday morning, I was chilled again. Diving Bonne Terre in a wetsuit isn’t bad, especially if you’re like me, without any plans for diving anything any colder than Bonne Terre. Mike took this (blurry) photo of me, so that everyone can see how incredibly flattering a wetsuit is. 😉
Mike dove in a drysuit with a medium-weight undergarment, which is polar fleece. He has a heavier undergarment that looks like a snow suit, but chose not to wear it. He said that his medium-weight undergarment was plenty warm enough for the dives. This is a picture of him mostly suited up in his dry suit.
Overall, diving Bonne Terre was a great, albeit stretching experience, for me as a diver. I’ll definitely go back and at least do the next set of trails. If you’re a diver, I recommend diving Bonne Terre at least once.