I first heard about Bonne Terre Mines through a dive shop in Springdale, Arkansas, where my family and I were buying scuba gear in the 1980's. That dive shop was putting together a winter trip to go scuba diving in an abandoned mine in Missouri. I was intrigued, but never got around to actually planning a dive trip there. Fast forward almost three decades, and I find myself entering the double doors, seen in this photo, of DEEP EARTH DIVERS.
The parking lot of the location had the remains of an old ore car railroad track. The only reason I knew what it was is because I had seen a similar contraption when I stepped inside the Flooded Mine Train in Silver Dollar City, near Branson, Missouri.
The building shown in this photo, with the ore mine train in front, is where one buys their ticket to take a tour of the Bonne Terre Mine. At this point, I should mention that I found out just a couple of years ago, that the Bonne Terre Mine experience is not restricted to just scuba divers. These days, non-divers can also take a mine tour, provided they are able to walk.
This photo shows the entrance to the mine. At first, it is just a gentle slope downward, and you are covered by a metal shed, with dozens of antique mine equipment on display.
The gentle slope soon changes to a steep slope, and one must be able to navigate the 62 stair steps shown in this photo, if they want to see the mines.
This is a photo of the young mam who was the tour guide on the day I visited, and he is standing beside an old ore car, full of examples of the ore the miners were extracting.
No need to do a "StairMaster" exercise machine on the day you tour the mine, as your thighs will get an ample workout on the steps inside the mine!
The mine stays a constant 62 degrees Fahrenheit year-round, so heavy clothing is not required, as illustrated by the lady wearing shorts and short sleeves, in this photograph.
This photo shows one of several elevated walkways that the visitor will encounter on their tour.
You may have heard of a "chasing waterfalls", in reference to trying to find hidden waterfalls in the woods; in contrast, this is an example of "chasing calcium falls", which is what the cascade of white is on the side of the earth in this photo.
Our guide pointed out the two shovels that had become embedded in this very large calcium falls.
The shapes
taken on by the calcium falls can be reminiscent of the frozen icicles I have seen oozing out of bluffs along Ozark hillsides,
This photo was the first glimpse of water we got on the tour, Our guide told us that the water if 375 feet deep in some places! I read that my scuba diving hero, Jacques Cousteau, dove here, and I am curious about how deep he was able to get with the equipment that was available at the time of his dive, several years ago. I earned the specialty certification of "Deep Diver" during my training, but at the time, the deepest a recreational diver was supposed to go was 100 feet. However, new diving technology, and nitrox breathing mixtures, have extended the limits of the recreational diver in recent years.
This photo lets you see the columns that support the various levels of the mine. Some of the columns are 50 feet high.
Besides me, the only other people on this tour were the mother/daughter pair shown in this photo. The daughter told me that her mom used to live in this part of Missouri, and had always been curious about the mine, but had never toured it. It was interesting to hear her tell stories from long ago, about the people she knew who were associated with the mining operations.
Our tour guide also listened to her stories, and commented that many locals have concerns about the mine, and the possibility that if it collapsed, the town of Bonne Terre would be destroyed. Those concerns may have been compounded by a television show on the History Channel, that had a segment about Bonne Terre Mine. The title of the program was "Life After People: Depths of Destruction".
The guide also mentioned that some local residents are concerned that since the mine extracted lead, it might affect the town's drinking water in a bad way. The guide said tests have shown no lead contamination in city water. He said the blue color of the lake is due to reflections, and not contamination.
The marketing brochures advertise that the visitor will see gigantic cavernous rooms, supported by massive stone columns. This photo shows just such a room!
When we were about 120 feet below the parking lot, we came to the wooden deck that contained the scuba gear, as shown in this photo, as well as the blue tarp-covered structure that contained the scuba air compressors, and could be used for a staging area/dressing room, for the divers going into and out of the water.
This long storage box of dozens of scuba diving air tanks, is a reminder to say that Bonne Terre Mines is the world's LARGEST fresh-water dive resort! It is open all year, with a constant water temperature, and 100 foot visibility. When divers are underwater, they will see mammoth architecture, ore carts, scaffolding, grating, staircases, pillars, slurry pipes, calcium falls, and an elevator shaft.
But, as I mentioned earlier, many of these sights are visible to the above-the-water visitor as well. Such visitors get onto the pontoon boat shown in the photo, and (after putting on a life jacket), enjoy a cruise around Billion Gallon Lake. I was told the lake has one, and only one, fish!
This photo shows the pontoon boat we are in , with the floating dock from which we departed, located to the left.
There are 17 miles of navigable shoreline on this underground attraction!
The French phrase "Bonne Terre" means "good soil", and you can see some of that soil in this photo of an air shaft that we traveled under. If you know your Missouri history, you will remember that this part of the state was originally settled by the French in 1720, after lead ore was discovered. It was this lead ore that caused the mine to be a target of Confederate General Sterling Price, during the Civil War. The mine was a strategic icon for his goal of capturing Missouri for the Confederates.
Most of the visitors to the mine are not local, as the town of Bonne Terre, Missouri, only had a population of 6,864 people in the 2010 census. I think the town motto is very clever, because it says, "Good Earth, Good People"!
This photo shows our pontoon
boat approaching the landing dock, as we finished our boat tour.
If you are a scuba diver, you will probably recognize the items in this photo as the lead weights that fit around the divers waist, to help them achieve "neutral buoyancy". One's buoyancy is affected by their body size, percent of body fat, and the thickness of their wet suit. I took the photo because to me, it was ironic to see such an extensive lineup of LEAD weight, in a LEAD mine!! I was curious if the lead in these weights actually came from this particular mine!
When I inquired about why the two columns shown in this photograph looked difference from the other columns, the reply the tour guide gave was not particularly "comforting". I understood him to say that those two columns had shown some structural "issues", so they had been encircled with steel cables for additional support. I suppose that is understandable since the building of the mine started in 1864! There is a long history of ore mining in Missouri---Bonne Terre Mine was the first in the network of St. Joe Minerals Lead Mine Company, which produced 70% of lead used in the USA!
There is an underground garden in the mine, made possible by the addition of "grow lights". Although it is small and experimental now, there is a very LARGE underground structure in London, England , that is being used to grow fresh greens for a population of millions. That is because the bomb shelters that were built to protect British citizens from Hitler's bombing raids, are now being used for a very beneficial purpose! They are an underground garden that supplies fresh produce for the people in the city above them! This concept serves the visual aid for one of my First Place 4 Health (
www.FirstPlace4Health.com ) memory verses that says, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." Genesis 50:20
There have also been at least two weddings in this underground garden, with one of them being the wedding of the couple that bought the mine. When Doug and Cathy Goergens bought the mine in the 1970's, water had filled about 88 miles of passages, with its three lowest levels being completely flooded. After extensive pumping, the walking surface is now at the floor of Level 2.
After the hour-long walking tour, and as we climbed the stairs to exit the mine, I pondered how many people must have used these steps since the mine closed in 1962. I was also curious if these steps were ever underwater when the mine flooded after the pumps were turned off in 1962! Thankfully, present day pumps maintain the lake level at a constant depth, to facilitate the boat and walking tours.
In answer to this scuba diver's question, "Who's with me?", the reply is "Bunches!". That is based on the fact that Bonne Terre Mine was named America's best underwater attraction by the readers of USA Today!
Bonne Terre Mine was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and if you would like to add it to YOUR list of places visited, just call 1-888-843-3483, or log onto
www.bonneterremine.com . I know it will give you "MILES OF SMILES"! Tricia
For years I have read about and seen television programs about how one can dive/snorkel with the manatees, in certain parts of Florida. One of the cities most noted for this opportunity is Crystal River, Florida---located on the western side of the Florida panhandle. As luck would have it, I found myself driving down Crystal River's "main drag" after dark, on December 30. 
Then I saw it! A neon sign on the end of a large building, beckoning me to "SNORKEL WITH THE MANATEES". I didn't really think they would be open, since it was 6:10 PM, but I decided to open the front door and find out. 
Although they close at 6 PM, the door was still unlocked, and the clerks were behind the counter, in the process of closing up for the night. A very nice and patient young man stopped his closing-down tasks to answer the one gillion questions about snorkeling with the manatees that I peppered him with. They only had one spot left for a trip the next morning, and it would be departing before daybreak. I paid my money, signed the paperwork, and proceeded to my hotel to check in and try to get a little sleep before my big adventure, scheduled for VERY EARLY on New Year's Eve! I took this photo of the front on their store, before we departed (by a caravan of private cars) to our destination of Homosassa Springs.
I would like to say that I thoroughly researched the various outfitters that operate manatee trips, and after a thorough analysis, chose the American Pro Diving Center ( 
The American Pro Diving Center has a well-stocked store of all items needed for diving and snorkeling. Plus, there is an indoor pool, where they teach scuba diving.
This is the patient young man that signed me up on the night before the trip, and he was in the shop early the next morning as well. He is shown here getting the numerous thermos bottles ready, and filled with hot chocolate, for loading onto to each of their boats going out that day. 
The folks who will be snorkeling go into the shop's equipment room, to be fitted with their dive fins and wet suit. They also provide the dive mask. I had a copy of my eyeglass prescription with me, so they were able to fit me with a dive mask, with lens to correct my visual inadequacies.
Before we departed the dive center, we were all required to watch a video that told about the manatee, and the rules that swimmers/divers/snorkelers/boaters must follow, in order to not disturb, harass, or endanger them. Manatee information if provided by the Florida Department of Fish and Wildlife, and is available at 
It was just starting to get daylight as we finished loading the pontoon boat at Homosassa Springs. The location we used is considered their "premium" tour because there are fewer people, fewer boats, and less boat traffic. Plus it is a shallow location, making it easier to spot the manatees. Our guide told us the manatees would look like giant brown potatoes, laying on the bottom. One reason the tour leaves so early is because as the day wears on, the manatees leave their overnight site at Homosassa Springs, and head out into the Gulf waters during the day. 
This photo shows the youngest and oldest females on the trip. I will let you guess which one is me! 
Our boat captain gave each of us a squirt of the special solution to put on our masks to keep them from fogging up when we got underwater. Likewise, he reminded that it was THE LAW that we had to keep our snorkel tops above the water surface at all times. Diving down to touch the manatee is forbidden. However, he told us that IF the manatee approached us, it was okay to let them nudge us. They are mostly herbivores (plant eaters), and do not have teeth that would cause injuries to humans. 
As we motored to our snorkeling location, the captain gave us some information about manatees. They are marine mammals that grow up to 12 feet long, weigh as much as 1300 pounds, and have paddle-like flippers. The word "manatee" is a reference to the mammary glands that are under the flippers of the female. They are also sometimes called "sea cows" and dugongs. Their closest living relative is an elephant, which is one reason their thick, wrinkled skin resembles that of an elephant. 
Since manatee spend about 50% of their day sleeping, one section of our snorkeling location was completely roped off, and swimmers were NOT to go beyond those markers. That was the official "Manatee Sleep Zone"! It would have been rude to wake them up early---especially on New Year's Eve! However, the manatees have to surface for air about every 20 minutes, so pedestrian visitors who use the viewing dock shown in this photo, are likely to see them if they wait around long enough. When the manatee are not sleeping or surfacing for air, they spend the rest of their time grazing in shallow waters of 3 - 6 feet.
When our boat arrived around daylight, there was only one other dive boat in the vicinity, so our captain was quite pleased! The light boat traffic is probably one reason we were able to see about a dozen manatee during our swim. I felt very fortunate, because on the previous day, the group had only seen two! The "close encounter" I had with a manatee was magnificent! As soon as I got into the water, I could tell the excitement had my heart beating really fast, so I just held onto the anchor line, to let myself get calmed down and get comfortable with my mask and snorkel. After the silt cleared, I realized I was floating directly above one of the creatures---maybe just one foot above it!! About the time I realized how close I was, it rolled over, looked directly into my eyes, and raised both flippers above its head at the same time---like it was giving that same gesture that I have with the photo at the end of my blog! That is the Hebrew symbol for praise! Believe me, I was praising God, right along with that manatee!
When we came out of the water, we were all quite cold, and told to get out of our wet suits as soon as possible, to keep from getting even more chilled. The captain poured up hot chocolate to get the warm-up process started. It really hit the spot!
The pontoon boat was equipped with clear vinyl sides, that we lowered for the trip back to the dock. That helped keep us a little warmer. Also, as you can see there are life jackets on the boat, so that anyone who wants to snorkel with the aid of a life jacket is able to do so. 
When we got back to the marina, the captain started a pot of fresh coffee for us, and proceeded to download the video he had taken of all of us swimming with the manatee. He had told us in advance that he would come around to each of us when we were swimming to get a close up of us for the video, so it was fun watching not only the manatee, but also waiting for our "cameo appearance" in this SPECTACULAR New Year's Eve video!
Considering the low light conditions and the amount of silt stirred up by our movement, I thought the videographer did a good job! The videos were available for purchase when we got back to the diving center in Crystal River.
Once we got back to the diving center, we turned in our gear, and looked around for a souvenir to remind us of our experience. Seeing all these books about manatees brings to mind a trivia question for you: "Are manatees mentioned in the Bible??" The answer is "YES!" In the Old Testament, there are detailed descriptions from the LORD, to Moses, about what the Israelites are to bring as an offering for the Tabernacle. Exodus 25:5 says, "These are the offerings you are to receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; ram skins dyed red and hides of sea cows;..." I am thankful that these magnificent mammals, known as "sea cows" or manatees, were around in the ancient days, and are still here today! Likewise, I am extremely thankful that I had this opportunity to see them up close and personal, as it gave me "MILES OF SMILES!" Tricia