Cannonball cave, Missouri November, 2010

[diverdarren]

Dove cannonball with Kal last Sunday. (11-21) Flow was not too hard at the entrance restriction, temp. in the lake is 51 degrees F, 57 degrees F in the cave, and the vis is about 50 feet! Unfortunately, it has rained several inches this morning, so the vis could be somewhat diminished now. I would still advise that this would be a good time to dive the cave, before the water is raised to the winter level, which might be at least 20 feet higher, as it was last year. Good diving! Darren

[ScubaGypsy]

Those water temps are warmer then we currently have locally in the ocean and Bay. Can you dive this cave year round or does the water ice in and over during the winter? Does the winter raised water level cause the flow and/or viz to negate the ability to dive the cave?

[FW]

Those water temps are warmer then we currently have locally in the ocean and Bay. Can you dive this cave year round or does the water ice in and over during the winter? Does the winter raised water level cause the flow and/or viz to negate the ability to dive the cave?

The flow can get pretty high, and the viz can get pretty low. I don't think icing over is ever a problem, too far south. You can get condition reports from Ozark Dive Co shop. www.ozarkdive.com/

[adam0321]

are there a bunch of caves in mo or just that one. I want to retire where I can cave dive and mountaing bike/hike.camp

[FW]

are there a bunch of caves in mo or just that one. I want to retire where I can cave dive and mountaing bike/hike.camp

There are lots, just most have serious landowner issues (especially the state owned ones).

[adam0321]

ahh I see. I would love to find caves in montana or colerado or oregon,,,,but I hate the heat and I hate flat terrain so to me the caves are about the only good thing in florida

[FW]

ahh I see. I would love to find caves in montana or colerado or oregon,,,,but I hate the heat and I hate flat terrain so to me the caves are about the only good thing in florida

There are some in Colorado, but the water is damned cold, and they are inside "dry" caves.

[adam0321]

hmm thats not a DEAL breaker

[ScubaGypsy]

I found this article link earlier today where page 4 has a discussion of the more popular cave diving sites in Missouri.

[diverdarren]

I read the article that you found about dive sites in Missouri; the info on cannonball and Roubidoux is a little misleading. At Roubidoux, the Ozark Cave Divers Alliance have a deco habitat in the cavern zone, then you swim back to about 400 ft. where there is a quick drop from 70 to 140 ft. that they call the staircase, then it sort of levels off for a several hundred foot swim to the first big room at about157 ft. deep. The second is quite a distance beyond that, which explains the need for a habitat. It is diveable year round unless heavy rains have blown it out. At cannonball, it is also diveable year round from the shore, you just have to know how to get there! The corps of engineers control the lake level, I suspect to abate flooding, and maybe for waterfowl habitat. This means that a forty foot average dive in summer becomes a 60 foot one in winter. Been diving cannonball every couple of weeks for the past 2 years and have never seen the lake frozen yet, but the temp. has been as low as 38 degrees F. However the cave is always 57 degrees F. Any certified cave divers who would like to dive cannonball, PM me and we'll talk about a dive plan. Darren