Dives 22,23 and 24. Bonne Terre Mine Experience Aug 2011

First off, let me tell you that I am a novice in diving. So this is a review from a novice diving Bonne Terre Mine and can be taken with a grain of salt. I received my pool and classroom experience from a very good dive club in St Louis, MO. I did the open water portion in St Croix were I had a total of 21 dives in 8 days including x3 dives in and around wrecks, x2 night dives and one deep dive to 130 ft. It had been almost 3 weeks and I was going through withdrawl syndrome from not diving so I schelduled a pool dive for an hour where I just practiced my bouyancy control in a salt water pool. The next day I had managed to get a day off to go on three dives at Bonne Terre Mine.
They (certified cave dive leader and x2 safety divers along with myself and an other young couple with about the same experience give or take as me) gave us a briefing and then made us watch an OW basic dive VCR tape (VCR mind you so that tells you about how old it was). The dive leader went over the dive plan and what we would be doing. I rented a dive suit as the 3 ml form St Croix wouldn't have helped much. I had a farmer John 7 ml and a half suit over this with boots, hood and gloves. When I suited up and did safety checks, that jump into the 58 degree water about gave my 53 yr old heart a fright. The suit had some quarter size holes and didn't fit all that well but the first dive was OK and we were down about 45-50 min. Did I feel safe....yes I did. I was with an experienced cave dive instructor and x2 safety divers for the 3 novice divers. The first dive went well. We then got out of the water and I had about 1100 psi left with one of the other novice divers at 600 so I was feeling good about my dive though bouyancy was a little different than I was used to. We went topside for lunch and out suits dried in the summer heat.
Dive # 2 went well though I felt more chilled than the first dive. It lasted about the same amount of time and I had about 1400 psi left with dive being 40 ft range. After this dive, the one girl in the group felt too chilled and opted out of the dive despite her getting into some kind of heated locker. As for me, I was cold after standing around in a wet suit for 30 min but I thought I could tough it out for one more dive so I opted in.
This dive went a little south for me. From the moment I jumped in, I was miserable from the cold but thought I'd be OK. Well by 20-30 min, each time I moved I had a rush of cold water enter the suit. Again, I didn't want to ruin the other guys dive time so I thought to myself we are almost done and near the end so I'll just freeze while I watched them play torpedo for 5-10 min. When the dive was over, I couldn't wait to get out of the suit and get topside. Even then, I was chilled to the point that on my way back to St Louis, I had a sweatshirt and the heater on in the car. By evening, I felt as though I had the flu with chills and muscle aches. Saturday, at the recommendation of members on this forum, I called DAN and they told me that I was probably suffering residual effects of mod hypothermia.
After reading the posts on here about Bonne Terre, I thought I would post my experience from a novice's standpoint.
So, would I go back. Yes....but I would be better prepared. While the rental was OK for 1 dive, it proved a big disadvatage and liability for the second and third dives. Was getting into the water after the first time anyones fault? Yes, mine. In my haste to get more experience and dives in, I could have potentially brought about a fatal experience. When diving in 58 degree water, it's not just the air supply one has to worry about. I learned this the hard way. Luckily, I am here to type about my learning experience. I would have my own 7 ml suit that fit correctly. I would also have my own light just in case. I left my whistle at home but had a tank banger if I needed to signal someone. The other couple didn't have anything. I also had an underwater red safety blinker as well as a yellow glow stick on my tank. The other couple had a yellow glow stick on their tank. The dive instructor and safety divers each had a blue glow stick.
What could have happened better from the Bonne Terre management. With the volume of people through there, why they didn't have a heated staging room was beyond me. This would have helped newbies like me warm up after dives. All me and this girl had were beach towel to wrap up in between dives 2 and 3. I believe that the site should have stated some recommendations for divers to consider as many probably haven't been in less than 80 something degree temps like bring warm cloths or sweatshirts to wear between dives or change into after the dives. The staff was smart and had sweatshirts. One might argue well it's a mine and it's cold so it was our fault. Perhaps, but never having dived a mine or cave, nor Bonne Terre I didn't know what to expect.
I also didn't figure out the yellow vs blue glow stick ID till middle of second dive. Instead of making us watch a stupid 30 yr old VCR dive movie, perhaps they could have clued us in on that little fact. Again, the staff was very friendly and knowledgable. I felt safe but maybe more attention could have been put on making sure divers are warm between dives and not letting someone like me walk around in a wet suit between the 2 and 3 dives thinking it would keep me warmer when I was probably compounding my heat loss in reality.
It is not my attempt to place blame on any of the staff. They were all very kind. However, I do wish that I could have been better educated in what to expect rather than finding the negatives out on my own.
Yes, I would go back....that is if after this review they will have me. But if I stay around here instead of heading back to St Croix like I want to, I will have to invest in my own wet suit and work on getting my Cavern Cert. along with more experience before trying to dive Bonne Terre again.

Thanks for the excellent report.

One of my SB buds went there 6? months ago. She commented on freezing in between dives as well. if I remember right, she went to her hotel and had to turn the heater WAY UP.

Did not sound pleasant.

would a dry suit be a better option???

The dive instructor and the one safety had dry upper line drysuits and seemed fine. The other safety was young and diving with a 5 ml and seemed OK. Once topside, I ran into divemaster who stated he dove there with Pinnacle 7/5mm Semi-Dry Merino Wool Jumpsuit / Wetsuit with Attached Hood and was fine too.

It doesn't sound as though the management is doing everything they can to make divers as comfortable as possible.

But, I'm really very sorry to do this: Did it make ANY kind of sense to do your first dive in thick exposure protection and very cold water, in an overhead environment? I argue repeatedly against brand new divers doing the cenote dives, because they simply don't know enough about themselves as divers, even though the water is warm and clear. In this case, you were taking on new equipment and new conditions in an environment that is entirely unforgiving. In retrospect, does this seem wise?

We take our students from the pool into very cold water, and they all struggle . . . it isn't comfortable, and it raises their stress level a lot. Being in pitch blackness and under an overhead has got to be stressful (if it isn't, the diver isn't thinking) and that should be enough.

I dive Bonne Terre pretty regularly.

Why would you not ask for a different suit if the one you were using had "quarter sized holes" in it?


I absolutely HATE two piece suits. Dry suit or a 1 piece jumpsuit.

Bonne Terrre is not an overhead environment, or most of it is not.

But having divers hanging out in wet gear between dives sounds foolish....

As I am quickly finding out both here and from personal experience, just because I have a card saying that I am qualified to dive in a certain environment, doesn't mean that it is wise nor safe. My assumption was that if it wasn't safe, PADI and more wise and experienced divers would hold me back. Obviously, this is not the case. So, I am learning the hard way. Luckily, nothing happened this time and I have learned a great deal in the past 3 days that no one taught me in any class. When they say dive your limitations, how do you know where these invisable limitations or lines of danger are if no one points them out to you. Novice divers depend on more experiened divers to help warn them. I had no such warnings from any more experienced divers not to dive Bonne Terre till I reached so many dives or had more experience in cold or closed environments. At least one of you here is a medical person. Had you not had more experienced doctors or nurses guiding you, would you have always made the best decisions. I don't profess to be experienced and just because I was allowed to do something wouldn't have made it OK had something gone wrong. Who would have been blamed had I or some other OW diver been hurt in such a dive? Perhaps the dive leader or safety divers, perhaps the management for not setting more stringent guidelines, maybe my instructors for not giving me beter advise other than they are "not nice" at this or that place. Perhaps it is my fault, for letting my enthusiasm to dive and learn cloud my judgement or the fact that I felt prepared because I had some card saying I was a diver. Perhaps it is the system (PADI) for not mandating groups to set higher levels of safety. Perhaps it is a combination of all these things as is likely closer to the truth. It is all to easy to get on this site and tell me what should have happened and what preparation I should of had. As I sit here typing and still not feeling the best, I realize how things could have gone south for any person diving at Bonne Terre or any body of water for that matter. We all are taking a calculated risk with our lives when we dive below the surface of any water. But it is up to wiser and more experienced divers to set the standards of what less experienced divers should be doing. What you don't know can certainly hurt you at least when it comes to diving. I want to be a good diver. Unfourtunately what I have learned is that even experienced divers can be led to make less than optimal decisions either because they have become complacent in their skill or because their employer doesn't want to turn a $$$ sign away. As to the quarter size holes,... I was told it would be "OK" and I believed them. Well, it's true. I didn't die now did I lol....little cold never hurt anyone did it lol. Sadly, I wish it was really funny, but it's not!

CGCHRN:

As I am quickly finding out both here and from personal experience, just because I have a card saying that I am qualified to dive in a certain environment, doesn't mean that it is wise nor safe. My assumption was that if it wasn't safe, PADI and more wise and experienced divers would hold me back.

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I've followed your posts thus far with a mixture of bemusement and concern. It's clear that you are an enthusiastic diver, and that's a great attribute. I hope you maintain that enthusiasm as you grow as a diver. Assuming you have reached the age of majority and aren't whatever the PC term for someone a bit simple is: YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL OF YOUR ACTIONS, BOTH UNDER AND ABOVE THE WATER FULL STOP

I will be the first to admit that a basic PADI OW course does not cover everything you need to know to be a safe, thinking diver, especially if taught to the bare minimums. This still does not excuse you from letting your enthusiasm get in the way of proper research and planning. Use SB as a recourse, use your local dive club, use others with more experience to learn -- but the fact remains your safety is always in your hands, and no one else's'. I recommend you search these forums, buy Steve Lewis's Six Skills and take it slow. Find someone willing to mentor you, but do all of your own diving planning, whether or not you're paying to go diving.

Please don't pass the buck on who's responsible for your experience.

Michael

CGCHRN:

As I am quickly finding out both here and from personal experience, just because I have a card saying that I am qualified to dive in a certain environment, doesn't mean that it is wise nor safe. My assumption was that if it wasn't safe, PADI and more wise and experienced divers would hold me back. Obviously, this is not the case. So, I am learning the hard way.

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Hi CGCHRN,

Yes, it's unfortunate you had to find out the hard way - but at least you found out with no harm done. Well done for taking the time to think about it, and learn from it.

I have met many DMs and Guides - some good, some bad. It is a shame that I now assume they all fall into the latter group, until and unless they prove me different.

You're right about PADI not teaching this stuff, I guess they don't want to scare off new divers. The more you dive, the more tuned and honed your own safety/bs radar will become.

Oh, one last thing, when you do find those DMs/Guides who fall into the former group, tell them, thank them, even tip them - because they're a rare breed and worth looking after

Regards
Bill