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Joined on
9/25/2006
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So I felt I needed to share this trip...
Last weekend I was scheduled to go down to the mine with Capt. Darrick and a few others. We typically drive down and stay in Bonne Terre on Friday night then dive our three dives on Saturday then drive up to St. Louis for the night and drive home on Sunday. Come Thursday I found out that I would need to be back home Sunday morning for work at 8am. I almost backed out of the trip due to that and the fact that I had been fighting a sinus cold for a couple weeks., but instead decided to drive down separately and come straight home after diving on Saturday. I am soooo glad I did.
Everyone in our group was at different levels in the mine (for those that don't know - you have to start at trail 1 and work your way up to other trails). This was my fourth time going but was finally getting to dive the third set of trails due to the other groups of people there. The plan was that I would dive alone on the first dive trail 10 (well not really alone - there would be the trail leader and the other poeple in the group). Darrick would dive with Matt who had never been there before on his first trail and then join me on the second dive, trail 11. My group was lead by Mike Cody (sp? - sorry Mike if I have it wrong!) and there were two other people in my group. I wasn't too worried about their skill level because they obviosly must have dove at least a little before in order to be on the third set of trails. So as we are getting geared up down on the dock the two guys are putting on their brand new dry suits. They obviously either bought them over the internet or from some dive shop that did them no favors. Neither one had dove dry before. The first guy couldn't get his dry suit on - apparently no one ever told him that he needed to adjust the latex neck seal and it was a little late for trying to do that now so he was out of the dive. So we get in the water and start our descent. The second guy didn't know how much weight he needed to add with a dry suit and couldn't get down. Mike tried pulling the guy down and had him down to about 40 feet a couple times and both times the guy wasn't happy and went back to the surface. After the third time, Mike sent him back to the dock. (Side note - I felt sorry for the guys. They obviously spent a lot of money on their suits and on the dives. If they bot them through a shop then shame on that shop for not educating these guys. If they bought them online to save a few bucks then shame on them. I remember rule #1 from classes - stay within your training level and get expert advice when you are ready to move on. The mine is not a great place to try and dive a dry suit for the first time. There are a lot of shallow trails where you go up and down and it can be tricky playing with your buoyancy for the first time.) Anyway, so its now just Mike and I. I couldn't ask for anyting more. So we start our descent, he is about 10 feet below me, I am totally excited to have a great dive, and wouldn't you know - my ears won't clear. I never have that trouble, but between my sinus cold and the previous ups and downs I have trouble despite taking some sudafed in the morning. So I signal Mike with my light and give him the signal for ear trouble and ascend to try to clear. I have to go all the way back to the surface. Good news is that on the second attempt everything cleared just fine. Wow, what a relief! So then we make our way through the trail.- did I mention that I love this place. All the caverns, pillars, caves, history is fascinating. #10 takes us past the time keepers shack. We stop there for a few, hover and peek inside. As I back away, Mike indicates for me to watch. He puts his regulator inside and blasts some air. The ceiling just erupted into a cloud of dust (a quick cold reminder how quickly things could go to zero visibility in a cave or wreck environment even when the water is crystal clear). Then we make our way around the giant pillar and there it is!!! The thing I have been waiting ever so inpatiently to see after first hearing about it - the locomotive engine. It was laying on its side. a section of track had beenwelded to the weels in hopes of setting it upright (but from what I hear thats a whole other story!) We spend some time looking at the engine and then reluctantly proceed on. The bottom at this point is about 80 feet. We travel along for a while and then Mike gives me the sign to buddy up as we go through this next section. I wasn't sure why until I looked down. It appeared as though the bottom just disappeared. I shined my light (10W HID canister) and nothing. Very cool! I would love to take a dive down just to see how far we could get. Anyway the dive ends after about 35 minutes and a three minute safety stop. I exited the water with about 900 psi left. That was the most awesome dive I could have hoped for.
Just to save on typing (my hands are getting a little tired) I will give a very brief dive two summary. Darrick had joined our group for this dive as well as the other two guys. They actually weren't too bad other than not knowing to stay back a little from the diver in front of them so they don't get kicked in the face. I took up the rear on this dive and must have seen each of them get kicked no less than 10 times a piece. So this dive was just as amazing, but totally different. This one led us through a bunch of "tunnels" where the trains used to travel pulling ore carts and people in and out. The tunnels were about 10 feet wide and 10 feet tall - so plenty of room. Cave diving has always been my goal and dreams and I am working towards them - so this was a great taste (at least in my eyes until I get into some real caves). As a side note - I hear that they are working getting the ok for full cave training at the mine and I will probably take them up on at least some of it.
Just my little story - thanks for reading :)
Steve
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Joined on
1/14/2006
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Steve,
Sounds like it was a good trip, sorry I missed it. Hopefully I can join you guys for the March trip, as I'm on my 3rd set of trails--4th upcoming trip as well. I would very much like to see the locomotive. In fact, my preference would be shorter dive times and get to see some neat stuff vs. hour long dives--starts to get cold for us wetsuit guys.
Chris Andersen
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