Bonne Terre Mine Trip Review

I just did my first trip to Bonne Terre Mine. I had seen a few reviews, but almost none of them talked about the logistics of the trip, just the diving. And while the diving is certainly the important part, the logistics take up way more of the time and energy of the trip, so I thought I would write up my experience.

tl;dr: The diving experience was decently fun. I will likely do it again. The logistics experience left something to be desired, but with some advance warning (and maybe a better perspective) it would be more manageable. Hopefully this review will help with that. I will cover the diving experience, but I will spend more time focused on the logistics before and during the dive: the part that everyone seems to skip over.

A quick shout-out to Pizza 101 South, and Karrie in particular. I have an entire section about it, but it's at the bottom of this review, and this (like everything I wrote) is unbelievably long. I don't want it to get overlooked! Best food we had for the weekend, and it was a really pleasant experience. tl;dr: this should be at the top of your list of places to eat in Bonne Terre. But make sure you read more about it below – skip the rest of my drivel if you want, but check that part out.

First, a very brief overview: Bonne Terre Mine is an old lead mine about one hour south of St. Louis. Missouri. It's in the very small town of Bonne Terre, MO. It was an operating mine for almost a century until it closed the early 1970's, and since then has been run as a tourist attraction. I personally have only thought and heard of it as a diving destination, but it seems that a lot of people also sign up for a walking/boating tour of the mine as well! Of course, I was only there for the diving…

While it's been on my list of places to visit for a decade or more, it's been pretty low on that list during that time. I'm not a 'tourist-trap' kind of person. And the way that Bonne Terre has been presented to me in the past gives me overwhelming tourist-trap vibes. This includes the fact that all dives are conducted as follow-the-leader dives. You must go out as a group with a guide, you will stay with that guide the entire time, you will only do the specific trails they have created, and you will do them strictly in order. It sounds like an underwater grade-school field trip, and that just really didn't seem appealing to me. Hence my hesitation.

But, when you live in Michigan, how else are you going to get in the water in January? So I decided to give it a go.

Like I said, this is unimaginably long. To help you out, here's a brief table of contents:

Gathering Information: The information I needed to get to plan the trip and how I was able to get it.

Making Arrangements: The process of actually booking trip, which was not simply click-and-go.

Arrival and Lodging Experience: The lodging is unique: make sure it has what you need.

Dive Check-In: Be prepared to be flexible (and a bit confused)!

Getting Organized and Into Your Suit: There is a process, and there's a method to the madness.

Moving Gear to the Bottom and Gearing Up: The dreaded stairs, and what it's like at the bottom.

The Actual Dive Process: How do you keep everyone safe in an unsafe environemnt? There are compromises…

How the Dive Experience Changes: Don't stop with the first day – you'll be missing out!

Other Items to Be Aware Of: Stay patient, stay warm, and stay on Nitrox.

Diving Impressions: It's interesting, it's fun, and it's dark.

Food / Shopping Options: Limited, but enough to get by – and Pizza 101 South rocks.

Changes to consider: Learn from our experience, and maybe try something different.

Gathering Information

The website is annoyingly broken up. There are parts that talk about the mine, parts that talk about the diving, parts that talk about the lodging, but not a lot that pull that all together into a coherent whole. I read every bit of the entire site, but was still left with questions. The website gives little more than an overview – certainly not enough for me to feel comfortable making choices based solely on that material.

So, I was forced to call. Each time I called (and I called an annoyingly large number of times…), I spoke with Doug. Doug was quite nice to work with: friendly and relaxed and did a decent job in answering my questions. I don't think I ever really had a feeling that Doug could not or would not tell me what I needed to know; the biggest issue was really just one of style. I'm an extremely tightly-wound and fast-paced person, and Doug is not. I want specific, detailed answers to my specific, detailed questions. Most humans are not nearly as specific or detailed as I am, and that makes getting what I want difficult. In this way, Doug was no different than most typical human beings. I'm certainly not going to blame him for my, erm, unique requirements, but it was a difficulty nonetheless.

In the end, though, he was able to answer my questions with enough detail for me to finally feel comfortable. However, getting specific information was a continual problem. Not just with Doug, but with the entire operation. This was a continual source of frustration for me throughout the entire process. Things were either left vague or unsaid, or would change throughout the entire process, especially if multiple staffmembers were involved. I've already described myself as being extremely (even inhumanly!) sensitive to this, but my more neurotypical companions were also often left wondering exactly what we needed to be doing or where we needed to be going. So be prepared to either be very flexible, or make sure that you kindly push to get the information you need.

Making Arrangements

The need for flexibility started right from the beginning, when we were making arrangements. For example, the website offers several places to stay. It provides only the barest details about these places. But then when you call, you may find that not all of the places are available at any given time. This isn't just driven by whether they are booked, but whether there is enough people to justify opening a particular place or not.

Initially, I was the first to book. I explained that we would be four people booking separately. I was told that we would need to stay in the train cars, and I was put in one of them. Then, after a couple more people booked, they were told we could be moved into the depot. It wasn't any additional people: it just the same people I had already told them were booking, just later that same day. Maybe they thought I was exaggerating the number of people? We ended up all moving over to the depot…

This type of thing happened not infrequently: one person was given one answer, and someone else another. Some of this could certainly be attributed to each of us understanding the answers slightly differently, but not all of it: sometimes we were given straight-up different answers. This might have been because circumstances changed and therefore so did the answers. But regardless for the reason, having things change as we went along was frustrating.

To give you an idea of how that went, despite asking lots of questions and trying to narrow down exactly what we would be getting, the reservations ended up getting made or adjusted three times because of changes in the process. I can say that at least for me personally, what I was asking for and stating we would have did not change, but what we were told or offered did. At no point did I feel like we were being taken advantage of or cheated; it's just that things kept changing, and for the most part for our benefit. I'm just not sure why things needed to keep changing.

In the end, though, we finally got the arrangements finalized: Two rooms in the depot, each for a pair of people: 4 people total. Arrival Friday evening, departing Monday morning: we had a 10-hour drive. Three dives each on the first day, renting only tanks (filled with air), and four dives the second day, where we were required to upgrade to 32% Nitrox due to the additional dives and the more compressed timeframe of those dives. Because all of us were new to the mine, we would all dive together staring with trail #1. So far, so good!

Arrival and Lodging Experience

We arrived Friday afternoon. Check-in was very easy: we were told where our key would be left for us to pick up on our own. A few details: the depot is a two-story building that doesn't seem to have any parking. There is a parking area shared between the depot and a commercial building next door, but all of the parking was along the commercial building. But there's no place else to park, so that's where we ended up parking. It didn't seem to be a problem. It took us a bit to find the entrance: it's on the far side of the building from the parking area. There's just a single door in the middle of the side of the building. (You may need to jiggle the key a bit: a member of our team who shall remain nameless struggled getting us into the building… :) ) That door leads immediately to stairs that take you to the second floor where all of the rooms are.

I don't even know how to describe the depot. It's old but attractive and reasonably comfortable. There are all kinds of unusual details. It was warm and comfortable, but not well appointed from the perspective of a modern hotel room. For amenities, each room has little more than a pair of single beds and a bathroom. I mean, there is furniture and decoration and things, but no facilities: no refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, television, etc. In the end, I'm just there to sleep, so I was quite fine with it, but don't assume that whatever facility you might need is there just because every other hotel room you've ever stayed in has it – make sure you confirm in advance.

There is a common room you can use as well. It has a bit more facilities, but only a bit. It has a tiny sink and a tiny dorm-room-sized refrigerator, as well as a small coffee maker and small microwave. There's a TV on the wall and a small table in the center with a few chairs. It was comfortable enough: we watched an NFL playoff game there (and as Detroit fans, we are *not* going to talk about it… :( ) and had a nice time. But if you need a sizeable amount of refrigerator space or want to heat up more than a sandwich, you may need to make other arrangements.

Also, the website mentions 'rolls and juice'. Our Juice consisted of a bottle of water and a bottle of juice for each person total (not per day), and I saw no evidence of rolls anywhere. As a low-carb person, I wasn't planning on using them so I wasn't upset to not have them, but if you were planning on them, that would have been a problem. Oh, and maybe most importantly: Internet access at the depot was just fine. Fast and reliable enough for my mobile devices, which is all I used while I was there.

I don't want to make it seem that the lodging was uncomfortable or unpleasant. It wasn't: it was quaint and cute, very clean, and what facilities there were worked just fine. I actually thought the building and the rooms were quite interesting to experience, and we had just enough to be comfortable if your expectations are low. Mine are. However, given the price of the lodging and what facilities were provided, next time I will investigate other possibilities. But if that were to fall through, I would stay in the depot again without hesitation and know that I would be comfortable enough.

I wish I could say more about the train car lodging. They are literally train cars sitting alongside of the depot, which have been converted into lodging rooms. I really wanted to poke my head into one and see what they were like, but I wasn't able to make that happen. I did speak to one person who stayed in a car and they said they were quite comfortable, but I can't really supply anything more about that.

Dive Check-In: Be prepared to be flexible (and a bit confused)!

Arriving is a bit of an experience. My first impression was that the mine site looks a bit like an old-West town exhibit. Paint them all dusty-wood-brown, and you'd think you were on the set of a Western – one of the buildings even has swinging saloon doors! :) There is a collection of separate buildings, each with a different purpose. There is a couple of larger buildings toward the front of the property (where you drive in), and a row of buildings along the back.

You are expected to be there before 8 AM. We arrived about 7:50 AM. You start by going into the 'dive shop' building, in the front. There you will check in and fill out some paperwork, have your ID and certifications checked, etc. Some might have been done in advance, but not all of it. If you've rented equipment I think this is also when you are going to get that equipment assigned and fitted. You're also going to be divided up into groups. For our weekend, there were two different groups of divers, with all of our divers assigned to the first group. You are then told to go to the lounge and wait.

This is where more of that vagueness comes in. The check in process went decently smoothly: we had all filled out the paperwork we could in advance, and most of us had submitted electronic copies of our ID and certs. Also, none of us were renting anything. From there, though, it was less clear what was happening. The dividing us up into specific groups was not explained. New divers would show up and someone would ask what group they were in. Sometimes it was the divers who would ask – sometimes it was the staff! And nobody knew how to answer that question. If they had said, “You guys here, you are in Group A. Now go here and to this…” it would have very much helped. It took us close to an hour to figure out that there were actual assigned tour groups, not just 'we're a group of divers taking this trip together' groups. The staff would ask “What group are you in” and we would identify our party, and then they would ask us “But what group are you in?” and we had no idea what they were talking about. Then additional divers would show up and nobody knew what group they were in – not us, not them and not the staff! That got even worse when divers started showing up who were actually in the second group and again had no knowledge of this…

Like I said, everything was vague. At least you'll have an idea of what's going on: the divers will be divided up into specific groups of 10 or so. At least, our two groups were 10 or so. This will determine which guides you go with, what time you need to be ready, and where you will be at that time. Again, none of these details were particularly clear. Times were reasonably specific (but not exact: 'be ready by 11 AM or so'). But sometimes they weren't clear where they wanted us to be – or what one person told us did not match what the next person expected.

For an operation that seems to do the same thing each and every time, this lack of specificity was confusing. Every staff member knew what the steps were and in what order. That part never seemed to change. But exactly what time or place we needed to be at for the next step *did* change each time and from each person. I would really have appreciated just being told “Be at this place, at this time, and with you and your gear in the following state.” And then, of course, stick to that. But that is not how it went.

Again, in the end, it worked out. Sometimes things were 5-10 minutes behind because what we were told did not match what the next person expected. But it did work out. I think it was a combination of Midwest-polite not wanting to tell people what to do, and the fact that most of the staff are actually volunteers and may not do this regularly. So remember what I said in the beginning: prepare to be flexible. Try to remember you're on vacation and be ready to go with the flow. And ask questions, likely of each person you're dealing with, to make sure you understand what you need to do.

Getting Organized and Into Your Suit

Once we were checked in and at least nominally divided into groups, we were told to make our way to the lounge in order to start suiting up. That's right: suiting up above ground.

This was the part I was most concerned with. I was diving dry, and I hate having to work once I'm inside my drysuit. And I know that we need to carry our gear down to the bottom of the mine: why are we doing that in our drysuits?

Because that's how they want you to do it. And it's not without reason. This is not at all well explained to you in advance, which is why I'm writing this review, so you'll know all the things I wish I knew in advance! The area at the bottom near the water is more like a dock than anything else. There's not that much space to hang out down there, and almost no way to do so comfortably. That's what the topside lounge is for. It's also fairly hazardous: some of the decking is in poor repair. You really need to be careful moving around down there.

In addition, it's fairly uncomfortable. It's dark down there. On the dock, there is a fair amount of light, but think waking along a suburban street. There's streetlights, but the area is not exactly flooded in light. It's dim, there's shadows, etc. It's also wet down there. There are drips from the ceiling everywhere. It's not like being in a rainshower, but it's also pretty difficult to find an area you can be certain you will stay dry. So there isn't a great place to suit up if you want to stay dry.

Of course, I didn't really want to suit up down there, I just wanted to drag all my gear down there before I suited up, so I didn't have haul a bunch of gear down while bundled up inside a waterproof bag while wearing winter gear underneath. But that wasn't an option, either. I was told it was because they didn't think I'd have time to haul it all down and be back in time to suit up. I really don't think that was the case. I think that was more Midwest-polite. I'm pretty sure the answer was they simply don't want you down there by yourself, and there isn't enough time to try to coordinate everyone to drag everything down, get things arranged, then come back up to suit up and go back down again. So they do it this way. In the beginning, I did not understand the situation fully and was not overly happy with it. After seeing the situation for myself, I understood why they did it that way. Either way is going to have problems, and their way is probably just easier in general. Didn't make the situation more pleasant, but I was less frustrated once I understood the difficulties a little better.

So, we suited up in the lounge.

A little bit about the topside facilities. There's the lounge, a room that's maybe 20×30 with a couple of restaurant-style booths in the back corner, a restaraunt-style counter in the other back corner, and some open space with a few small tables and chairs. For 10 people at a time, there was plenty of space for everyone. There is also a changing room. This is a much smaller space: maybe 10×15 with a couple of benches and a bathroom-style counter and mirror. There are supposed to be showers, but they did not work at that time – and while the wording of the signs made it seem that this was supposed to be temporary, I got the idea that it had been 'temporary' for some time… The locker rooms are gendered, so I have no idea what the women's changing room is like: I assume similar. They also have a closet-style bar to hang things from, where you can leave your gear to dry for the next day. The changing rooms were much warmer than the lounge (like 65 vs 80 degrees). I spent very little time in the changing rooms: I did not need privacy for gearing up in my drysuit and simply did it in the lounge.

There is also a small bathroom building at the end of the back row of buildings, close enough to the lounge, about what you would expect to find in a medium-size restaurant. Once you complete check-in, there's no reason to go into the dive shop further. The only other building to note is the building that contains the mine entrance: it's a red steel building up near the front of the parking lot. There's some mine artifacts in that area, but mainly it's just the start of the stairs and ramp down to the mine.

Anyway, back to suiting up. During this time, different staffmembers came in and talked to us from time to time. Each time we got a few more details about how the day would work: sometimes about the schedule, sometimes about the dive process, including what they expected from us. At one point we were told – and expected to repeat back a couple of times – 'I will not go below 50 feet!'

Now that we're all suited up and have at least some idea of what is going on, it's now time for the hard part: getting our gear to the water at the bottom of the mine.

Moving Gear to the Bottom and Gearing Up

This was the part I was most concerned about. I had not seen any details about how exactly you get to the water at the bottom of the mine. I just had this general idea that it involved a lot of steps… and SCUBA gear is not exactly known for its lightness and portability…

To put your mind somewhat at ease: it's not that bad. A person of reasonable fitness should not have a problem with this. However, it's not the easiest. By my count, it was 68 steps plus just under 400 strides (as in 200 movements of each foot) to make it to the water. Most of this is on a sloped surface, not dissimilar to a typical wheelchair ramp. The stairs are not generous, however: they are approximately 6 inches tall by 8 inches deep. Your foot will not fit entirely on the stair. They're not that steep, but they are not relaxed, either. Fortunately, there aren't too many of them, and they all come in the first 1/3 or less of the entire walk. You're not really pressed for time: take it slow. However, if you have mobility problems that make stairs difficult, make sure you are prepared for this. These stairs will be a challenge, especially carrying your gear! And don't forget about the drips: there are areas of the stairs where it is practically impossible not to get dripped on from above.

As for carrying your gear: I recommend that you have everything you need (beside the suit you're wearing) in a single bag. Personally, I fashioned a very rudimentary backpack for all my gear. I purchased an 'Extra Large Sport Ball Bag' on Amazon for less than $10. It is a large-volume mesh bag designed for carrying a bunch of basketballs or soccer balls to and from a practice field. It is not heavy-duty or durable, but it does hold a large volume. I then put all of my gear into it, most of it in smaller bags. I had a regulator bag for my regs and related items, a reg bag for my computers, lights and camera, etc. I put my fins vertically in the bag on either side, and the bags in between the fins, with my wing on top. I then used my backplate as a backpack frame. I wrapped my waist and crotch strap *backwards* to hold the bottom of the sport-ball bag, and used a couple of extra weight belts to wrap around that bag and behind my plate, one toward the bottom and one toward the top. It actually worked out really well: it was reasonably comfortable, and kept my hands and legs completely unencumbered for climbing the stairs. Recommended. But most everyone else just used big SCUBA duffle bags and seemed to make it OK.

The only people who seemed to struggle were those that had more than one bag. I would not recommend this. It doesn't seem like having a backpack and a bag, or two smaller duffles would be that big of a deal, but those who had something like that were not pleased with the situation. And make sure you have enough space to put everything in your bag for the trip, including non-diving things you might want to take down there like a coat or a water bottle. You really want everything in that one bag that you can manage with no more than one hand, and keep at least one hand free for things like railings.

Once you get to the bottom, now it's time to actually gear up. The biggest disadvantage of my backpack idea is that once I got down there, my backplate and wing are in pieces. In fact, that kind of forced me into using a single-tank adapter for this application. Normally I just wind cam bands through my plate and wing, but I did not want to be winding cam bands at the bottom of a mine… But either way, I was going to need to assemble everything when I got down there. Which I also hate: I'm the type of person who brings my gear fully assembled so that I know I have everything, tested and ready to dive. But not this time.

Unfortunately, it was worse than I feared: the tanks they provided for us were “Super AL80's”, which are short and stubby 8“ tanks! And of course, my cam bands are set for 7-1/4” tanks… Plus my cam bands were wound backwards and could not easily adjust, so unwind and rewind cam bands I did… (I had never used this STA before and I had never seen someone wind cam bands where the loose flap was on the *inside*! Very weird.) Sadly, while most of the tanks were 8“ tanks, not all of them were, so you probably can't even set them in advance confidently. You might be able to ask, but I would not count on getting a firm answer – or that the answer won't actually change when they give you the tanks. Fortunately, it seems that the tanks will stay the same throughout the day, so at least you only have to struggle once… :)

If you're diving Nitrox, you must analyze each tank yourself at an analysis station next to the fill station and complete and sign the fill log for each tank. This process went smoothly. Also, it seems that the standard fill was between 3000 and 3200 PSI. If you have less, let them know so that they can give the tank a quick top-up. That was a problem for one of our divers: their tank was filled to 2800 or so, and they ran short of gas during the dive. After the dive, we mentioned their starting pressure and were told, “Well, why didn't you ask us to fill the tank up?” So make sure you do that! :) Also, note that each tank is given a cylume stick: green for customers, blue for guides.

The rest of the process went fairly smoothly at that point. We were the first group of the day, so there was plenty of bench space. I choose to stay at the far end away from the water, which meant I had no one around me (which is exactly what I wanted), but it also meant that I was in the area that was most drippy from above. I suggest you pay attention to that before you select a spot – it was a hassle keeping my regs dry between dives. I wasn't smart enough to think about that until the second day…

While you're gearing up, there will be a couple of dive briefings. One focuses on what they want you to do: how to get in the water, how to group up, how to get back out of the water, how the guide and safety divers work etc. The other focuses on a bit of the details of what you will experience: where you will go, what there will be to see, what you might be able to go up to or over or through, etc. If you've ever taken a boat charter it will all seem very familiar.

Finally, after all of this time and effort (it's literally now like 4 hours since you first checked in!), you're ready to head into the water!

The Actual Dive Process

I'm not going to focus too much on where you go or what you see. First of all, my mind does not really record visual information, so I can't really tell you anyway! :) But mainly because I think that other reviews tend to focus on that part. Instead, I will focus on what the mechanics of the dive are like, and how that affects your ability to experience the dive.

The website is clear: no lights are allowed, and cameras are not initially allowed, either. However, from other reviews I had found that lights and cameras are allowed later, just not in the beginning. So I did bring lights and a hand-mounted GoPro. Of course, your dive guide has a light, and you are expected to follow them, using their light to see by. It is also stated that the surface area above the mine is lighted, so you can always find your way up to the surface.

And while it's true that there are lights on the surface area, the lights are sparse. Like subtle-glow sparse. Of course, when things are dark, even a little light is noticeable. So there was always an indication of where the surface was. But not even remotely enough light to see by: just enough to know which way was up, and where the open water was.

Also, while the dive guide does have a bright light – even a couple of them – they are not designed for lighting up an entire area. They are decently spotty. That makes it good to see a decently far way into the water, but not to see a decent amount of area. What that means is that you are going to be diving in the dark. Imagine walking through a forest where only the leader has a light. You can imagine that you aren't personally going to see much. And that's what these dives were like.

This is *not* what I expected. I expected a lot more light on the surface – I was thinking something more like stadium lighting than naked bulb hanging from a distant ceiling! :) Also, I expected more light from the people in the water. In the end, it was just those one or two lonely lights from the guide at the front.

Now, I get why they do it that way. I have experience with diving in the dark, and light discipline is vital. If you don't have it, it's actively dangerous. And that's with a team of two or three, not 15. With that many people, when the guide turns around, he'd have 10+ people shining lights directly in his face. No bueno. So I get it: he gets a light, and no one else, so when he turns around he can see – and count – who's behind him.

This is a good time to stress how careful the guides are. Everything is structured to keep everyone safe. It's the only way you're going to make it work with a random bunch of open-water divers. Please note that there are safety divers behind you as well. I think the standard is two safety divers behind the group, so that one can take a diver to the surface while the other makes sure everyone stays with the group. And those divers will occasionally turn on their lights to help show something. But for the most part, it's just the front guide and his single light. It's safe. But that means that it's also going to be dark for everyone else.

What was even more odd was that most of the people stayed far away from the dive guide. My buddy and I were the closest – because I told my buddy I wanted to be up with the guide and his light – but when he was leading the dives, he never seemed to want to get closer than about 10 feet away. That's way too far away to really be able to benefit from the guide's light. And we were the closest: many people kept something like 20 to 30 feet back! I really did not understand that. (When I lead, I stayed about 3 feet away from the guide like a good buddy should! :) ). Hey, if that's what they wanted (and obviously they did, because they did it by choice), then good for them, but for my money, I want as much light as I can get! For me, it was very weird. I always wanted more light than I had. Always.

The other thing is they are very serious about gas consumption and monitoring. To the point that the guide will check each and every person's SPG at multiple specific locations throughout the dive: usually two or three times. And if you do not have enough gas, you will be pulled aside and a safety diver will come and take you to the surface to swim back. And there isn't a lot of buffer built into these dives: on nearly every dive someone got taken early to the surface. Now for the most part, the difference between being taken up and staying down to finish the dive usually boiled down to a short surface swim vs swimming back at depth, so those that went up weren't missing much at all. Specifically, don't stress out about this part. Personally, I find the thing that elevates my gas consumption the most is worrying about my gas consumption, so do whatever you need to put your mind at ease! If your gas consumption is average, you're likely to be fine: relax. And if you don't make it, you won't miss much at all, so again, just relax. But if you are going to worry about this, ask about renting larger tanks: they do have a few to offer.

How the Dive Experience Changes

I have to say, I was very pleased with how the dives developed. On the first dive, it is stated that they will do a “weight check”. This was a very simple thing: you needed to show them that you could sink without difficulty right in the beginning. If you could, you were fine. That was a lot less involved than I assumed – and feared. It really had very little impact on the dive. The first dive is clearly a “let's see what we're working with today” type of path: no real overhead, no real navigation difficulties, etc. But even that first dive was an enjoyable experience. I've done liveaboard trips where that first dive feels like a total waste: a completely sheltered place with nothing to see, just so they can make sure everyone is squared away. This was not like that. We went places, we saw things. It was clearly an introduction dive, but still enjoyable.

The other think I thought was well done was how the paths built upon themselves. On one dive we might be shown something at the bottom of a dropoff, or a cavern area on the other side of an opening. On the next dive we might then come to that same spot, but this time from the bottom of the dropoff or the other side of the opening! So we ended up crossing the same area of the mine multiple times (of course we did: we always started and stopped at the same spot!), but often from a new direction or perspective. I was surprised how little we really overlapped each time.

Also, the rules on lights and cameras loosen as you go. Now, part of that might be determined by the skill of the divers involved and the mood of the people running the dives. At one point our guide clearly told us, “No lights or cameras for the first dive, but you can have them on future dives.” However, even when you are allowed to carry a light, you are asked to keep it off unless you are specifically looking at something. I already explained what it's like for the guides having random lights flashing around, so again I understood this. In the beginning, I kept my light off almost completely, but as you do a couple of dives you get a feel for the rhythm of the process and can better judge when a light might not interfere. Just remember to keep it down and away: if you're shining it anywhere near the guide, they can't see their people!

Of course, in harmony with the theme of vagueness and inconsistency, at one point I mentioned how I did not like being in the dark so much and our guide said, “Well, you're not supposed to have a light at all!” That guide was the type of person who liked to give people a hard time (pretty much to everyone all the time) so I just kind of laughed it off and stated that we were specifically told we could have a light. But just keep that in mind: it seems the official rule really is no lights, but the guides can make exceptions if they wish, so don't abuse it and make sure you keep your light out of the way.

Also, our group did two days of diving: three dives on day 1 and four on day 2. While none of the dives felt like throw-away dives, the later dives were definitely more interesting than the earlier ones. If you only go for a single day and only do the first three dives, you will have an enjoyable time; however, you will not really experience what it's like to dive in the mine. As you go farther into the mine, you get more unique mine experiences. I mentioned this to a couple of the guides and they agreed: they said that it isn't until dive 5 or 6 that you start to get those elements. So if at all possible, try to do the whole weekend: it dramatically increases the quality of the experience.

Speaking of that: even out of the water, the second day has a much different feel. The first day feels 100% touristy. The day moves so slowly. Everyone is figuring out where everything is, making sure they have the right gear, that everything works, etc. Like I said, I think it took a full 4 hours from arrival to getting in the water, and even between the dives was something like 2 hours of time. We were expected – required, really – to go all they way back up to the lounge between dives to warm up, maybe eat something… It. was. slow…

The second day is the opposite. For one thing, they wanted us there an hour early (7 AM Central, for people adjusted to Eastern Time), and there was a lot less time built into the schedule. I got the idea that many of the guides would be driving home that night, and they had lengthy drives they wanted to get started on. And so things moved much more quickly the second day. We didn't have to go up to the lounge between dives. For one thing, there was just a few of us, so there was space for us to hang out because there wasn't a second group gearing up to get in the water. And for a second thing, they wanted to get back in the water as quickly as possible. I think we targeted 40 minutes of surface interval before gearing up, which practically meant 60 minutes before we submerged on the next dive, which was plenty for me.

This all led to a different feeling that second day. By then, they kind of expected us to know how things were going to work, so there was less need for handholding. We would just kind of negotiate what we wanted or needed and it just seemed to work out. It felt less touristy and more like a group of buddies diving. I much preferred that experience, but be prepared if you are expecting more hand-holding. It's entirely possible you might be able to get it, I'm not sure. I just know we didn't need it and weren't looking for it, so we didn't get it. :)

Other Items to Be Aware Of

The biggest thing to keep in mind: the mine is reasonably cold. We went in mid-January, which means that the surface was also cold – very cold in fact: Sunday's high was like 12 degrees F, and was mostly in the single digits. Of course, the mine stays nearly the same temperature year-round, but it's not that warm: I think the water temp was like 58 degrees. Three of us were diving dry, but one was diving wet. He ended up getting chilled on the first day, though he did all of the dives just fine. One of our drysuit divers bailed on a dive, likely because of being cold. So staying warm can be an issue. If you're diving wet, It would be a good idea to keep a coat with you down in the mine: it's just cold rocks down there, and everything saps heat from you. And in general, it's almost impossible to warm up once you get cold.

Having said that, it's not because there aren't facilities to warm up in. The lounge was not overly warm, but you wouldn't want it to be: that's where you're going to be hanging out suited up, and you don't want to overheat. As it was, I would have to step outside from time to time to cool off. And the changing room was noticeably warmer. The bigger problem is that you really aren't in a hurry to do that walk back to the surface, even though it's warmer up there. So you dilly-dally, and you get chilled. And then you won't have enough time to warm up again. So make sure you keep warm. Either make yourself get topside quickly (and hang out in the changing room to really warm up), or wear a water-resistant coat below – or both!

I know I've harped on this, but if you're as tightly wound as I am, you're going to need to be patient. And express when you're confused: rarely did anyone volunteer specific information, but if you told them where you were confused they would usually clarify things for you. So be polite and friendly, but you may have to also be a bit pushy. But try to keep it Midwest-pushy. :)

Finally, one thing I was surprised by: how much better we all felt the second day. I realize that the plural of anecdote is not data, but here's our experience. I haven't done a dive on air in probably a decade. However, on the first day of our trip, we dove air. That's mainly because we were being cheap: the dives were all shallow and with a ton of time between dives, and I figured that we wouldn't get that much benefit from Nitrox. And bottom-time-wise, we didn't. However, at the end of the day, we all felt rough. Yet, on the second day, we all used Nitrox. And even though on that second day we got up earlier and did more dives closer together, we all felt noticeably better. During my diving career I've heard people state that they feel better after a day of diving using Nitrox than they do when they use air. I've personally never really experienced that. But that weekend, I really think I did. So for myself, I would definitely spring for the Nitrox for all of the dives. It would have been worth the extra money to feel better at the end of the day.

Diving Impressions

So that's a lot of logistical details! But what about the diving? Was it worth it?

The short answer is yes. The longer answer is how much you get out of the experience is determined by what exactly you want to get out of it, and what your previous experience is.

In our group of four, I am the only technical diver. The others had between 50 and 200 dives of experience, with no real overhead experience. For them, it seemed to be a very exciting experience. Even in the seven dives we did, we got to the point where we swam through small openings and tunnels, into rooms of stone and through metal structures and equipment. Some stated that the combination of darkness and smallness was at the limit of what they were comfortable with, but that they enjoyed it very much. One mentioned that he consistently stayed at the back of the pack so that he was as close to the rear safety divers as possible. I'm not sure why that felt safer than being near the front guide (with the light!), but it worked for him, and that's all that matters. All of them said they were excited to do a future trip to the mine.

For me, I have technical and cave diving experience. This meant that this was not the first time I had experienced either dark or rock. However, my focus for these dives was not a personally-challenging experience. If I wanted that, I would have headed to Cave Country. For me, the biggest purpose of this trip was to create an opportunity for non-technical divers to experience some of the things that make me passionate for technical diving. And again, it was January, and we live in the northern Midwest: there are only so many options for winter diving for divers who aren't yet ice-diving trained. So I was less worried about how exciting the experience was going to be for me.

And from that standpoint, I very much enjoyed the trip. I was afraid that the experience would be so curated, so sanitized that there would be very little technical feel. That was not the case. Even the first three trails gave you little bits and pieces that had a bit of technical flair. But the second day of dives greatly increased those bits and pieces. I will never forget my first introductory tech-adjacent experiences: my first shipwreck, my first cavern, my first trip down a cave tunnel. Looking back with more experience, I see that these were merely the smallest hint of what these would eventually become, but that realization does not change that first feeling one bit. I think the same might be the same for the guys I was with: for an experienced technical diver the tunnels and rooms are pretty darn big, but when you see them through the eyes of open-water divers, they become a lot more interesting. When you can see their excited eyes even behind a mask doing something you yourself very much enjoy, it's a lot of fun.

But what about the experience just for me, without anyone else in mind? That is a little more difficult to quantify. On a sheer objective scale of excitement, it was fairly low. I've already mentioned I'm not a visual-experience person, so for me diving is more about the challenge than the scenery. And for the most part, it's a very simple experience for a technical diver. However, even then, there were some technical bits. There weren't any 'scrape your stomach and tank at the same time' restrictions, but there were definitely bits where you had to do a bit of wiggling to keep yourself from hitting the walls or ceiling. The comparisons to a cave are obvious, but I certainly appreciated the differences. The artifacts were interesting, especially some of the little details, like where miners had written on the walls or a decades-old box that used to hold dynamite. And some of the items I really enjoyed, including a large metal framework you swim through a bit or the 'tipple', where mine cars were tipped over to the loading area below. It's not as exciting as a full-up cave dive, but it's way more interesting than even a well-ornamented quarry dive…

For those that are visual-experience people, how does it feel? I can't say for certain, but I will say that you will want to be prepared to be in the dark. There is a light to follow, but there really isn't a light to experience. That was, for me, the biggest surprise. I expected to have a visual experience similar to a cave dive. But in a cave, I have a multi-thousand-lumen light strapped to my hand, and it stays on 100% of the time. And basically, wherever I'm looking, that light is pointed. So to my eyes and brain, the cave is pretty much 100% lit up. That was not the case in the mine. It was like being in a dark room and only looking out through a crack in a door: you're seeing only a narrow slit of view at a time. I was not prepared for how dark it was going to be all the time.

I will say this: the only person who seemed affected by this was me. No one else really mentioned it. So maybe I'm just more sensitive to it – or maybe I'm the only one who had experience in smaller, dark areas with my own really bright light! :) So I'm not describing this in detail to try to frighten you, but to make sure you're mentally prepared. I never felt unsafe being in the dark, and for the most part it was just a mild annoyance, but there were times where the near-total darkness was disorienting. Again, make sure you have the right expectations. But with those right expectations, it can be an enjoyable experience.

Food / Shopping Options

Outside of the mine, we didn't do a lot in Bonne Terre. We did, however, hit some restaurants, and we had to stop by a couple of stores to pick up some supplies.

El Jarochito - American-Mexican around the corner

First the restaurants. For some reason, the staff at the mine encourages you to go to the local Mexican resturant, El Jarochito. We were told that it was the best Mexican food in the county, but that might have more to do with the county than the food. From a convenience standpoint, the appeal is obvious: it's literally within walking distance – well, when it's not January… And it was solid American-Mexican food. The restaurant felt comfortable and the staff was friendly and helpful. Food was delivered quickly and menu prices were very reasonable: many entrees were between $13 and $17, which is pretty darn cheap for 2025! There were a variety of meat/filling choices for your typical taco-burrito-enchalada-chimichanga entries; from memory: bean, chicken, ground beef, asada, pastor, chorizo and shrimp. The style is exactly the style of American-Mexican food I remember from my 1980's/1990's childhood: one-color light brown refried beans, orange rice, a light crumble of melted queso fresco sprinkled on top, shredded iceburg lettuce and cubed winter-pink tomatoes… If you keep that style in mind, the food was extremely solid, even satisfying. None of us had any complaints. But it's not pushing any boundaries. And when you're on a diving trip, sometimes hot, cheap and tasty is exactly what you want.

Twins BBQ: St. Louis barbecue past the highway

Another place we went to was Twins BBQ. This in Bonne Terre, but on the other side of the highway. This is a new location for them: they had just moved a few months before. There was some trouble moving the liquor license, so at least when we were there, no beer. Not a deal killer for us, but the menu and website are wrong about this for the moment. The location is roomy and open, like a typical barbecue joint, which means it's not as cosy as you might expect from a more typical restaurant. I'm a big barbecue fan, and my favorite thing to do is to get a multi-meat combo so I can try different things. Unfortunately, they don't have a multi-meat combo… So I went with sliced brisket – there was no choice for chopped brisket. As a fan of Texas-style brisket ('like licking an ashtray' I've heard it described), I could have used more smoke flavor, but it was tender and decently flavorful. You could also purchase ribs by the bone, so I added a couple. They were also properly done (ribs should not 'fall off the bone'!), and were not covered in sauce! There were only two choices for barbecue sauce, but the standard sauce was decent. I'm not a fan of swimming-in-sauce, but others were and got the pork-belly burnt ends. The pork was well-cooked, but for me buried in candy-sweet sauce. I would have enjoyed them without sauce, but the people who got them enjoyed them. Again, the best way that I can describe the experience is 'solid'. About the worst part of the experience is that they were out of deep-fried jalapeno pieces! :) The barbecue was surprisingly reasonably-priced: entrees were mostly between $15 and $20, except for ribs which are always pricey. One other issue we experienced was that the service was slow. It wasn't like we were left hanging wishing for a server and no one showed up. it's just the entire process took a long time. It was probably something like 40 minutes before we had our food. We weren't in the biggest of hurries, but it was noticeable how long everything took. I wouldn't recommend it if you're pressed for time.

Pizza 101 South: A wood-fired pizza gem

But the jewel of the trip was Pizza 101 South. We ate there on Sunday, after our diving was done. At that point, we didn't have any strong feelings for what we wanted to eat. I was hoping for something creative, and was in the mood for pizza. Against all hope, I searched for 'wood fired pizza' and something came up right in Bonne Terre. I thought there was no way this could be possible. But there it was. So I looked at the menu to see what it might offer. I very quickly scanned the toppings and was immediately disappointed: they had a good list of toppings, but they all seemed to be exactly what you'd find at any other pizza place. I basically closed the tab and went back to looking.

Fortunately, another guy was looking at the menu, too, and mentioned that they had like a dozen types of sauce. Really? I completely missed that. Then they mentioned that one of them was Garlic Anchovy Oil. OK, I've obviously missed something… So I took a second look.

With a little bit longer look, things looked a lot better. Yes, the majority of the toppings are pretty darn typical – but they're typical because they're also very enjoyable. Would I prefer prosciutto instead of ham, or maybe some other cured meats beside pepperoni? Yes. But the sauces hinted that there might be more going on here than just wood-fired Domino's. So we decided to give it a shot.

When we pulled in, it was a bit worrying. It was 4 PM on Sunday, so I wouldn't have expected the place to be crowded, but it was actually empty. Literally no one eating inside. And the restaurant space was rather large: a dozen tables, maybe more? Like I said, a little worrying. But it's pizza: I don't think we have to be worried for our health, so whatever: we'll keep going.

So we sat down at a nice spacious table and started to look at the menu in more detail. The more I looked, the better it got: their specialty pizzas were intriguing, and there were non-pizza items that looked interesting as well. Then someone noticed that build-your-own pizzas with unlimited toppings were basically the same price as the specialty pizzas. What? That opened up all kinds of doors! Now I'm starting to get excited.

Our server, Karrie, came over and began to help us. She was friendly and engaging, and did a great job of steering us through the menu. They had beer on tap and several options beyond the typical choices. They had Guinness and Angry Orchard on tap, so I wanted a Snakebite. Trying to avoid sounding pretentious (which you wouldn't think I would actually try to do, given the pretentious tone of this entire review, but especially the food portion of this review!), I ordered it as “half Guinness, half Angry Orchard”, and she said, “Do you mean a Snakebite?” “Yes, I very much do mean a Snakebite! :)” One of our guys was drawn to the cheapest local lager and was asking about it. She told us that it was a popular choice but served as a “Redneck Margarita”, which she let hang as a surprise. Intrigued, he ordered it. I won't spoil the surprise if you care to try it, but we all tasted it and very much enjoyed it. At one point someone ordered a particular appetizer (pickle chips? I can't remember), and she subtly but definitely steered us away from that and toward a different appetizer: fried green beans. They were tremendous: the batter was light and crispy, the green beans were slightly crunchy, well-seasoned and with a tasty sauce.

The pizzas were great, too. We each ordered a pizza, with the intention to share across the table. Most of us took a specialty pizzas, sometimes modified with an additional topping or a different sauce. One guy went off the board, to create the best pizza of the night: garlic Parmesan sauce, Parmesan cheese, garlic anchovy oil and various Italian toppings. It. was. tremendous. Yes, even with the garlic anchovy oil. Especially with the garlic anchovy oil. It was so good I got a bit on the side and added it to all of the pizzas. You must get the garlic anchovy oil. Just do it. (Seriously: it does not 'make everything taste like fish'. It doesn't taste like fish. It adds umami flavor. If you're scared, get it on the side. But get it.)

Karrie told us that all sauces are made from scratch in-house, as is the dough. The pizzas were really good. The crust was as you expect a wood-fired pizza to be: thin, lightly crispy with a bit of char. They were not the most charred: if you really lean into the char, you might want your pizza cooked a little longer. The pizzas were not wet and sloppy. The sauces were flavorful. The toppings were just like you'd expect.

All-in-all, it was the highlight of the dry portion of the trip. I understand if you're tired and lazy and just want to roll into the Mexican restaurant right around the corner. You'll likely be satisfied. But Pizza 101 South is just a touch farther, still right there in Bonne Terre. And if you enjoy a wood-fired pizza, you will not just be satisfied: you'll be happy. Recommended.

Shopping Options

We needed to pick up a few supplies when we got in on Friday evening. Unfortunately, Bonne Terre seems to roll up the sidewalk at 8 PM. There aren't a lot of options, and they close early. We wanted to stop by the local grocery store, but it was closed before we could get there. There was a local gas station if you're looking for coffee or snacks, but unfortunately for me they have zero decaf. We ended up going to the Circle K on the other side of the highway. They did have decaf coffee, but in the evening all of the half-and-half was put away. I might have been able to ask, but I just drank it black.

We ended up having to go about 10 minutes down the highway to Deslodge to get to a grocery store. We actually wanted to go to the Aldi that was listed there (iykyk). Well, Google Maps listed it: Apple Maps did not. When we got there, we found out why the difference: the Aldi is under construction! I think it said September, 2025. That did us no good in January… but for those of you in the future, good for you! We ended up at the Walmart, which was exactly as you'd expect.

Was it worth it, and what would I change?

So, after 10,000 or so words, what is my final judgement? Was it worth it?

I would say yes, from a few different perspectives. If you're an open-water diver who would like to get a taste of a technical diving environment without changing one iota of how you dive, and do so in a safe manner, Bonne Terre Mine is perfect for you. But make sure you do more than just the first day: only on the second day will you start to get bits of that true technical environment.

If you live north of the Mason-Dixon line and you hate drying out your gills though the winter, consider Bonne Terre Mine. For us, it was a 10-hour drive, and we had four divers sharing the driving expense, so it was an affordable trip. That's the limit of how far I'd drive: if I had to drive farther, I would pick a destination that had more to offer in total. It would be even better if it were, say, 6 hours or less away, and you could drive home Sunday afternoon and save a day of lodging and work vacation. But if you're within that area, it's way better than even a local ice dive.

If you're a technical diver who is looking to introduce your buddies to why you enjoy technical diving, Bonne Terre Mine is great. Here in Michigan, I don't have a lot of underground opportunities in general, and especially to share with others. We have shipwrecks that can even include simple penetration, but then I'm the one that's taking on that responsibility. The mine makes a much more engaging experience, and with a great deal more assistance during the dive.

If you're a technical diver looking for a technical diving experience for yourself, it's probably going to leave you wanting more. I'm actually looking forward to get to the farther trails, and if I can share the experience with a group of buddies to make the introductory-level trails more enjoyable I will. But for a technical diver on their own, you probably have other options that will give you a more challenging and enjoyable experience.

Changes to consider

What would I do differently? For the most part, the trip went smoothly, and I don't think there were too many opportunities to improve the experience. The number one thing I would do is get the Nitrox for both days. For just a few dollars more, I would rather feel like I did on Sunday than I did on Saturday. From a logistical standpoint, I don't think there was much we could change to make it better. The items I went in thinking would be the worst weren't quite as bad as I feared, and there really wasn't a practical way to do them differently, so it doesn't really matter anyway.

Lodging is the only area I would substantially re-think. With double-occupancy, each room was approximately $200 a night. That's an awful lot for what we got, especially when there are less expensive options right in Bonne Terre. For example, there is a Super 8 down the road offering a room with two queens for about 1/3 of what we paid per night. Now, I have zero idea what that hotel is like, and while I've stayed in clean and comfortable Super 8's, I've also stayed in dirty and scary Super 8's as well. But given that difference in price (and for 3 nights in our case), I'd save the several hundred dollars and give it a chance!

Thank you for reading my review! I hope it was useful for you. Hopefully it will help you to have a good idea of what you're getting into, and how you can get the most from your trip.