Bonne Terre overhead diving

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

As someone who has never been there, I am of the impression that the place is huge and only certain trails have been developed for scuba diving. It makes me wonder if there are areas that are virgin trails and if attempts have been made to explore / map them? Secondly, is Bonne Terre a good place for overhead / cave diving? So far we only see it being advertised to recreational divers but I wanted to post this to see what else does this place have to offer.

Any insights? Thanks.

 

[azstinger11]

I haven't gone but one of my really good friends did (I lived in Kansas for 6 years, and missing that dive is one of my few regrets of that time period). Since they already don't allow lights/knives and you are correct in that you must be on a guided tour, I tend to think they aren't interested in allowing people "off-trail". My guess is insurance reasons.

 

[Jack Hammer]

I've been there once about 8 years ago. We went during the slow time in the winter as a group made up of tech/cave divers. One of our guys had been several times and got the owner to agree to allow us to bring our lights as they were considering setting up more advanced options for tech/cave divers.

The lights really do ruin some of the visual effect in certain areas and are really nice in others. The place is massive. I'm sure there are plenty of areas no one's been to yet. Exploration was not allowed. Everyone had to be accompanied by a DM. There was one leading, one herding, and one bringing up the rear.

The lower number trails are really set up for OW divers and weren't very interesting. They only took one of us (not me) to a more technical area as he'd been there several times. The rest of us went on various trails between #5-#15. There were some interesting areas but most was simulated overhead. It mostly felt like a night dive in a quarry to me.

I can see why its popoular for OW divers. I haven't been back as I can dive much more interesting mines/caves for about 1/10th the cost.