It is said that “Through repetition comes perfection.” Having just returned home to St. Louis after attending the Bonne Terre Mines Treasure Hunt, this old adage (like the mine) still holds water. It was the fourth annual BTM Treasure Hunt and it was also my fourth time attending the event. If, after the first event you had asked me, “Do you think next year’s event will be better than this?” my answer would have been “I don’t see how it could be.” However, every year The Hunt just gets bigger and better. They have introduced bigger prizes, adjusted the rules for the better, and generally improved the organization of the event. Also my chip locating acumen has improved each year, and this year I walked away with one of the top prizes - an all inclusive one week dive trip on The
Rocio Del Mar – a 5 star live-aboard ship based in the Sea of Cortez! In previous Hunts I had won another vacation and assorted dive gear, but the truth is, even without these prizes I would still attend the event just for the camaraderie and fun.
Hundreds of divers and sponsors descended like 13 year locusts on the small town of Bonne Terre to participate in the friendly competition and get the word out about their SCUBA related businesses. It was a great opportunity to meet dive enthusiasts as well as some of the top companies in SCUBA from around the world. Employees and owners from industry icons like Ikelite, IST, Sealife, Mares, DUI, and more, were there to represent their products, answer your questions and ultimately to give away the prizes that they had donated. For those of you who did not attend, if you want to read about what you missed, please check out the details here on
ScubaBoard and on
Bonne Terre Mine’s official sitehttp://www.2dive.com/treasurehunt.
Last, but not least, a *HUGE* thank you to Doug and Cathy for their consummate hospitality, to the attendees for their great attitudes, to the sponsors for their contributions, to Steve the “Ninja Diver” for envisioning and breathing life into the event, to Aussie Kevin for getting us all signed up, and most of all to “Bear” and his unparalleled staff for their hard work, patience, help and support. Without you all, there would be no Treasure Hunt, there would be no Bonne Terre Mine Dive Resort, and the dive community would be all the poorer for it. So at the risk of being repetitious, it bears repeating: “Through repetition comes perfection!” I could not imagine a more perfect Treasure Hunt! Seeya next year!
Dave Packman