West End Diving

St. Louis, MO, December 07, 2009 --(PR.com)-- The world's largest freshwater dive resort only 60 minutes south of St. Louis, Missouri, Bonne Terre Mine is being featured in Life After People - Episode 9 which airs on the History Channel.

Bonne Terre Mine was discovered by Doug and Catherine Goergens owners of West End Diving in 1978. They had a vision and after obtaining the rights to the mine they developed it into a haven for Scuba divers. Doug and Catherine Goergens the owners of West End Diving and Bonne Terre Mine with their vision and knowledge of the scuba diving industry has turned an abandoned lead mine into the world's largest fresh water dive resort.

West End Diving's Bonne Terre Mine has been featured through the years by the likes Jacques Cousteau, National Geographic Magazine, People Magazine, Discovery Channel and many more. Now the History Channel's Life After People will examine how "man's majesty over nature has always been an illusion" and what will it be like when man no longer exists on earth, Bonne Terre Mine represents such a place. Once the world's largest lead mine, and now the world's largest man made caverns, it is a time capsule into mining history. When the pumps were shut off, the 500 plus foot deep mine filled with natural pure spring water creating the world's largest subterranean lake 150 feet below the surface of the earth. Now when you enter the mine you get an eerie feeling as the only noises you hear are the occasional tour guides relating the history of the mine and the sound of the air bubbles from the scuba divers exploring the underwater time capsule.

Thousands of divers and tourist have explored the mine and journeyed through its history both above and under water. A virtual time capsule to all wishing to examine what life is like after the miners are gone. The History channel's "Life After People" will examine and focus on what life is like at Bonne Terre Mine then and now. Interviewees will include Mark Eberhart from the Colorado School of Mines and Doug and Catherine Goergens owners and developers of the largest freshwater dive resort in the world, West End Diving's Bonne Terre Mine "Billion Gallon Lake Resort."

The Goergens, as owners of the oldest dive center in St. Louis, Missouri have used their diving business as a spring board. They not only developed, own and operate Bonne Terre Mine but have also developed the 1909 Depot, in Bonne Terre as a Bed & Breakfast Inn which is located within the St. Joe Minin Companies historic train depot which is listed on the national register of historic places, and the Maya Palms Resort south of Cancun in Costa Maya, Mexico.

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