Bonne Terre Mine Dive Shop — Local services in Bonne Terre

I strongly advise potential divers to carefully consider this review before booking a dive with Bonne Terre Mine Scuba Diving, as there are grave safety concerns regarding the leadership and management of this diving team:

Initial Camera Issue: Upon our arrival, we faced troubling inconsistencies regarding the use of cameras. Despite the waiver allowing camera use after the first dive, one instructor initially prohibited them, only for another to later allow them post-first dive. Although there may be a rationale for this delay to assess group competence, such conflicting instructions resulted in unnecessary confusion and potential risks.

Weight Calculation Discrepancy: There was a significant discrepancy in the instructions provided for weight calculation. One instructor advised a formula of 10% of the diver’s weight plus an additional 6 pounds, while another offered conflicting advice. These inconsistencies could have severe safety implications if divers are improperly weighted.

Group Management Issues: The most alarming aspect was the inadequate management of the group, especially when safety is at stake. During skills practice (mask removal and air sharing), my 12-year-old son struggled with equalization. Despite being his buddy, no instructors noticed our predicament or provided assistance. It was only after I managed to attract an instructor's attention that I was told to continue the dive, with a promise that my son would receive help. Unfortunately, "help" meant escorting him back to the dock, leaving him alone and distressed, unable to complete the dive safely. Consequently, I also did not complete the safety skill.

Visibility and Safety Concerns: As echoed in Chris Thompson’s review, only instructors had torches, forcing divers to cluster together to maintain visibility. This lack of visibility heightened the sense of vulnerability and uncertainty about our environment and safety.

End of Dive Chaos: The dive concluded with a series of dangerous mishaps. One instructor randomly sent divers up due to low air, while the surface instructor shouted contradicting directions, causing confusion and chaos. As the group attempted to regroup, it was discovered that a diver's brother was missing. Alarmingly, the instructors had failed to keep an accurate count of the divers, only realizing the oversight after re-checking. This led to a frantic and belated attempt to retrieve the missing diver.

Personal Disappointment: I am profoundly disappointed in the instructors’ failure to address my son’s equalization difficulties, opting instead to send him to the dock where he remained anxious. This was meant to be a memorable experience for us, turned into a distressing ordeal.

Several groups, including ours, chose to leave after the first of three planned dives. While the mine itself is fascinating, both the facilities above ground and underwater demand considerable improvements. I have lost confidence in the instructors’ ability to manage emergencies or ensure the safety of divers, particularly concerning my...

This is hands down the goofiest dive location I've ever experienced.

Only guides are allowed to dive with torches? Remember, this is underground, with zero natural light, so divers are basically towed around only able to see what the guides are looking at.

Head count is done after everyone is in the water and just yelled to....nobody in particular. This means, in the event that the guide had an issue during the dive, they are the only one with a headcount, so essentially nobody has a headcount. Twice, my guide yelled out the wrong headcount.

Nobody is monitoring divers exiting the water. I'm amazed they haven't lost a diver in this place.

Buddy pairs are never established. People surface early. Guides spent time on two of the dives searching for divers that had surfaced unannounced and surface swam back to the platform.

A guide told me I could dive with a camera. Once I was in the water, waiting on the surface, I was yelled at by another guide that I wasn't allowed to have a camera.

There don't appear to be surface markers or indicators of where the platform is. This means that if you surface early, you have no reference to where the exit is.

Their trail system is confusing and not well explained. Basically, if you want to see the cool stuff, you have to pay for multiple weekends of diving. For whatever reason, they believe that someone can't dive to 25m to see the train without having first paid to dive multiple weekends. They also require nitrox, but can't explain why.

I'm glad I paid for the experience, but wouldn't recommend more than 2 dives. Without a torch or the ability to dive to other things, you're basically looking at the same thing...

This is a review for the dive operators, not the general mine facilities. This was the most expensive dive day we ever did even compared with Hawaii, Fiji, etc, and we were expecting a certain level of service and quality of equipment as well as good dive experience. Overall it was sadly a disappointment. There were multiple issues with equipment which the operator was very reluctant to address, and only after repeated requests. Highly recommend the divers to thoroughly assess the rented equipment safety. Between multiple people in our group, the dive master promised to address concerns which then were ignored. It was a very fast moving dive. We weren't allowed to use lights with exception of very occasional moments. The dive leader's flashlights weren't enough to see well in many dark areas, especially with our group turning out to be much larger than they stated at booking (12 divers not including masters vs 8). Majority of the dive is very dark and one can't see the info on the rental computers like the current depth, which felt unsafe. After getting to the diving dock, entry and exit were very easy if a bit challenging in extra gear and weights. The trails were unique by definition but due to lighting, rather hard to appreciate. Features on one of the trails were interesting to observe; another trail seemed just darkness and rocks...

Giving it 2 out of 5 stars for the uniqueness of the site and environment that couldn't fully offset the poor operations; and glad we did it but would not recommend to every diver. Perhaps with improved customer focused operation it could be a much...