My Bonne Terre Experience

[Ninja Diver]

The owners and all the staff are saddened to hear when any diver doesn't enjoy themselves at Bonne Terre Mine. We continually strive to make sure every diver, regardless of skill level, thoroughly enjoys their experience.
After reaching out to Jenny and talking to her about her day, both parties now have a clear understanding of what caused Jenny to not have a great experience on two out the her three dives.
We hope that her and her friends will return for the “private” tour we offered so she leaves Bonne Terre Mine as literally thousands of divers before her with a great experience on every dive. We look forward to posting the picture of Jenny, her friends and the staff, giving high fives to their “THIS PLACE ROCKS!” experience.

From the entire staff at Bonne Terre Mine

 

[idocsteve]

I'd like to dive the mine. It's on my to-do list for sure.

 

[ittyninja]

I am diver A and I am disappointed in the way the staff at Bonne Terre has handled this review. I reviewed the post from Bonne Terre and feel it was very politically correct however their phone call to Jen was not.

First off it was my second time diving at the mine. I discussed my concerns with the staff, especially after dive one. I was not comfortable at all with the over head. Our dive leader for dive 1 and 2 was more worried about getting home to see his daughter then how we would enjoy the dives. Thus leading to the problems you read in Jen's review. I agree with Jen's review 100% and I feel it was accurate.
I believe the mine could be a very pleasant experience for most divers if they would just listen to a few suggestions.

Which leads me to Jen's phone call:

Jen was NOT messaged or asked if it was appropriate if they could contact her by phone, by obtaining her phone number from her personal information that she supplied when filling out her emergency forms and safety rules. Instead she received an unexpected phone call in which they were stating that they were hurt and upset by her review and not at fault for her bad experience. They were not concerned with why she gave a bad review they were only interested in telling that it was her and her friends who were at fault. As a person who has dealt in customer service for a business for almost 17 years, this is not how you handle a customer who had an unpleasant experience with your company. A business should learn how to take constructive criticism and learn, gain and improve their business. Granted, you will not please everyone but after reading several posts, even dated back to 2002 on this site, I believe Jen's review is backed by several other divers. I am left to wonder if they received phone calls.


In closing, I am saddened with how Bonne Terre treated my friend.

 

[DeepSeaExplorer]

I find it ironic that a place that should be an advanced dive, creates a diving environment that advanced divers wouldn't go near. Then, doesn't adequately protect the inexperieced divers that do show up.

As a cave diver, I would love to dive the place, but no way would I put up with that kind of baby-sitting. And, no way would I leave my own light behind, especially given that combination of novice divers and diver to guide ratio.

 

[SoccerJeni]

After debating just walking away, I decided I couldn't do that. I don't necessarily want to go into every detail of the 45 minute phone call. I wished I could say that both parties have a clear understanding of what caused me to have a bad time at the mine. The comment made to me that "I made a very harsh review because I had a bad day and I came home and unleashed my frustrations on the mine" keeps replaying in my mind causing me to have doubts.

I don't know if Bonne Terre will listen to the suggestions I made. I do wonder if they wrote off my suggestions because I was a new diver dealing with the stress of my panicked friend since it was the first thing we talked about for 15 minutes of our conversation. However, I doubt I'm the first person to dive there that has been stressed, or the last. And just maybe the suggestions I made would help the next person who was stressed.

I did have some genuine concerns about that day that had nothing to do with my friend. In a large group dive, if you have a problem such as an OOA situation, who do you go up to, the closest person??? Does that make anyone else feel uncomfortable? Because it does me. Who would this person be, I don't know them, can I trust them? It was drilled into my head to have my buddy right there with me. However, this really isn't a buddy environment.

As far as being too crowded, I believe another diver on this thread (nagel I believe) backed up what happened to me saying he tried to stay to the back to keep away from the other divers, but still had troubles being kicked or almost kicked.

I also had the problem of not being able to identify the safeties when we ran into the other group. Bonne Terre did offer to give us a "private" guide for our next booked dive. That would also solve the problem of being too crowded and the buddy issue. But, I doubt I would be able to have a private guide each time I went to the mine. And truthfully the phone call just put the nail in the coffin. I won't be back. I hope others have a better experience than I did.

To the guide who took my friend under his wing on the 3rd dive, YOU are what I would say represents good customer service! You handled the situation so well and were very pleasant. I truly appreciate it.

 

[nagel]

Jen, I think you unleashed pandoras box here. I think I commented in an earlier post that there are passionate views on both sides and that still holds true. Yes, I had a similar experience to yours. It's good to share experiences and everybody has to understand that not every dive site is for everybody. For me, I do not do good with "cattle dives". It doesn't matter if it is at the mine or in the tropics. At least in the tropics I can get away from everybody; not so in the mine. I think most of the dives atleast the first few trails are cattle dives, if you don't do good in these circumstances at least you know what your in for.

I really don't want to question the professionalism of the dive leaders and guides at the mine. The ones I met are good people trying to do a job. They do provide safety divers to help monitor the divers and to help divers as needed. This certainly seems appropriate and I can only comment on my experience. For me this was a little lacking. On my dive I finally scraped the dive and attempted to find a safety diver to let them know I was going up. With the many people I had a hard time picking them out (your suggestion of having them wear something indicating they are a safety divers certainly seems appropriate). In fact, I was the only person in my group diving a drysuit and many of the divers thought I was a safety diver. Several came up to me trying to tell me things. Anyway, I eventually headed toward the surface and waited on the surface for several minutes thinking a safety diver would come up. One of my dive buddies found me in no time and surfaced shortly after me (she also was not feeling it). I eventually pulled my light out and started signalling, trying to get the attention of one of the safety divers. Eventually, one of them came up and escorted me and my buddy back to the dock. In my mind, I wonder how long it would have taken the safety diver to realize I was not in the group.

This is my experience and it is not something I would want to do again. When you originally posted that you were heading to the mine, I did not comment on my experience because each person needs to make up their own mind. There are many people that love the mine and have great experiences. In fact 2 out of the 4 divers in our group loved it and want to go back. I dove this last weekend with a couple (not at the mine) and they commented that they have dove the mine and loved it. To each their own.

You have every right to maintain your own feelings about a specific dive site. I don't think that you were "taking your frustrations out on a bad day". You described your experience and your feelings about the dive site. That is what dive forums are all about. As well, the dive operation has a right to defend itself in an open forum like this, but it's a little unfair to try and chaulk up a persons experience to just having a bad day.

As said, there are passionate views about the mine on both sides. We can argue the details "'til the cows come home", but that won't change your experience or mine. I certainly understand that the mine doesn't like to read "bad reviews" about their operation, but it is what it is and everybody is different. Bottom line, you described your experience and there are many that have positive experiences. Every diver needs to make up their own mind on the mine. I don't think you embelished any and pretty much gave a true account of what you experienced. Those that want to dive the mine need to make up their own opinion, but don't discount your opinion either.

Snagel

 

[The Chairman]

Wow,

I had the exact opposite experience there at Bonne Terre Mine and I want to go back!

Here's a couple of things about the mine. It's big. It's MASSIVELY big. It consists of a 21 mile long lake, 150 ft below the surface that goes down 150 feet. It's not open to Cave Divers as they are not trained to dive in that massively huge space.

It's also dark and somewhat intimidating. There are short passages to swim through that give the illusion of being in an overhead environment, but they don't qualify as a cavern in my book. Yes, there are overhead environments in there, and I have had the pleasure of diving some of them with Bear. But they are WAY off the "trails".

The danger in the mine is mostly mental. You don't have the sun in your face, there are dark shadows in the crystal clear water, but that's about it, if you stay on the trail. To me, it's like a thrill ride: exciting, giving the illusion of being dangerous and full of surprises. It's a gas, and that's why people return dive after dive, year after year. No, not everyone likes a thrill ride, just like not everyone will enjoy Bonne Terre Mine.

As for the staff, I have to admit that I consider a number of them friends, so I am biased, but they are GREAT!!! They want to get to the bottom (pardon the pun) of any situation and that includes making phone calls. I didn't get to listen to the call, but I would hope that the intent was to find out what (if anything) went wrong as well as to determine what should be done (if anything) to rectify the situation. When public allegations are made, I think a private phone call is in order. If that call causes the person to take stock in what happened and perhaps to take some responsibility for their actions, then I don't see a problem.

That being said, there are a few places here in Florida where I have seen divers react in much the same way. Hudson Grotto and 40 fathom grotto come to mind. Even an experienced instructor like Mselenaous (my GF) got creeped out in both places and called the dive. On the surface, she could see that she was STILL in open water the whole time, but the dark, limited vis and cold all conspired to make her call the dive.

I think it's wonderful that your buddy obeyed the second law of Scuba Diving: You can call a dive at any time for any reason, no questions asked. Just don't blame the staff for getting the heebie jeebies. Either work through your apprehensions or dive else where. Me? I can't wait to get back there. It was simply AWESOME!

 

[The Chairman]

I assume this is some sort of weak attempt at a joke? Cave Divers are "not trained to dive in large spaces?"

Assumption in Scuba diving is dangerous and often leads to fatalities. This is not a joke, nor was it intended as a joke. Hubris is a great motivator and provides a way to rationalize taking chances that should not be taken. Yes, training to dive in caves is a useful skill in many environments including this one. That being said, this environ has it's very own set of unique risks and standard cave training does not begin to address them. Because of that, Bonne Terre Mines does not allow cave divers free and unfettered access and I agree with their stance. That you don't see the additional dangers involved, shows that you lack the necessary training/experience to dive there safely without a guide. Think polar ice diving combined with cave diving to get an appreciation of the skill set needed. No, it's not the cold you have to worry about here and it's not the mine monster either.

The safety record at Bonne Terre Mines is pretty amazing. They don't take it lightly and they are pretty reactive. Every incident or near incident is analyzed as to what actually happened. It's not done to blame shift, but to evolve their process. Are they conservative in their approach? Thankfully, yes.

 

[The Chairman]

Have you dove in Bonne Terre mines? We can go back and forth all day, but I am guessing (not assuming) that you have never been there. If that is the case, then who has the requisite experience to comment on the environ?

 

[ScubaSteve]

Why do you ask such personal questions?

I find that a bit odd.

I have just been here eating my popcorn in the back row but am curious what you feel was so personal on Pete's post? He asked you a specific question which pertains directly to this thread.