CGCHRN
Registered
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.
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.