Tag Archives: Mermet Springs
Mermet Springs 2019
Stories Galore.
Let me restate that… Stories Galore. Seriously! I know we’ve mentioned this before, but if you hang with us, you’ll have stories. I can’t stress this enough. This year proved to be no different. In fact, we might have had enough stories for 2 years.
If you have ever thought of going on a group trip, I highly recommend it. Say you’re sitting on the fence trying to decide, go or no. Just GO! Then you will be first hand on the stories.
Yes, Lance, we were on the money here. Quick trigger finger. See… there’s a story. Continue reading
Mermet Springs 2018
Welcome to the recap of Mermet Springs 2018… or should we call it Gordon isn’t welcome on this diving adventure 2018. If you don’t remember or know what I’m referring to, take a look at this post! Hurricane Gordon made its way all the up to Metropolis, Illinois. But, my friends, that didn’t stop us from making the trek across the state of Missouri and across the state line into Illinois to dive at Mermet Springs. We’ve written a more in-depth post about Mermet Springs, but the claim to fame would be the 727 that was featured in the film, U.S. Marshalls with Tommy Lee Jones and Wesley Snipes.
What Happens when Hurricane Gordon Shows Up Uninvited
Hurricane season officially began June 1, 2018, and ends November 30, 2018. But when we think of Hurricane season, we tend to think August through November. When I was on vacation last month, I overheard on the weather channel that there wasn’t much going on in the Atlantic in August. They figured it would pick up in the month of September. By golly did it ever.
If you haven’t been watching the news, I’ll let you in on a little secret… The Carolina’s have been asked to evacuate. And Hurricane Florence isn’t the first hurricane to greet us with their presence this month. Last week, Hurricane Gordon fizzled out and came all the way up into the flyover states, gracing us with rain. Torrential downpours in fact.
The other thing I should mention… last week we made the trek across the state and the state line into Illinois to go SCUBA diving at Mermet Springs just outside Metropolis, Illinois. Some of us came in Thursday, the rest came in on Friday. Saturday Gordon rared his ugly head. It poured. And with water sports… the rule of thumb… 30 minutes after the last lightning strike. Every time a new lightning strike comes, the time starts over. Continue reading
Mermet Springs: 14 Things to Pack
Can you believe we are just a little over a week out from the annual Mermet Springs trip? Who is ready for cold water diving and Fat Edd’s? {raises hand} Even though I’m not a fan of the cold water diving… With Labor Day coming up, now is a good time to start thinking about what to pack for Mermet Springs. We have created a list of 14 items NOT to forget to pack. I’m sure we have missed something, so please, comment and let us know what we forgot!
Mermet Springs: 14 Things to Pack
1. 5 mil, 7 mil, or Dry Suit.
You’ll want a warm suit. If you have never dove at Mermet Springs, you’ll want to make note that it is chilly. On the surface, the water temperature is around 75˚F or so but at the nose of the plane or even at the 108’ Platform you won’t be so lucky for those temps. Dan La Due dove in a 1.5 Mil suit last year more on a dare, but unless you want to try it, I wouldn’t. Continue reading
Junior Diver Interview – Calder La Due
I hope you’re enjoying this 31 in 31 gig we have going on this month here on the blog. Our goal is to hit a lot of different topics quickly. It is partially there to break up the monotonous of January.
Today I have a fun topic for you. So, Diver Dan makes a lot of headlines around this blog… but here’s the thing… today I have a treat for you. We’re going to meet Diver Dan’s grandson Calder. Oh wait, that’s right, you guys know Calder. He’s been around this group since before he was born, or something like that. The thing is, he’s finally SCUBA certified.
A year ago October he turned 10 and last New Year’s Day he finished up his SCUBA certification. Yes, you read that right… he did the New Year’s Day dive. The dive that some of us (hint hint: me) are too chicken to do. He took the plunge and got SCUBA certified on New Year’s Day. So, now it is time to make him Blog official and have a Junior Diver Interview.
Junior Diver Calder La Due
A Day in the Life of a Diver – Mermet Springs Edition
Are you thinking of becoming a diver? Are you thinking of going to Mermet Springs? How about we learn about a Day in the Life of a Diver… The Mermet Springs Edition.
Morning:
Mornings come early. Whether you are going to the Lake, going to Mermet Springs, or are boarding a boat in Cozumel. Mornings come early. If you hang around these parts long, you’ll realize there are 2 musts… Coffee and Snickers. Or in this case, maybe just the coffee. I think we forgot the Snickers on this trip.
During the summer hours which range from May to October, gates open at 8am on Saturday and Sunday and 9am every other day of the week except Wednesday. They are closed on Wednesdays. Good thing we were going on a Saturday (give or take a couple days…).
Because the gates open at 8am, breakfast is typically 6:30 and we’re on the road by 7:30. Not everyone albeit, but most of us. It’s about a 10-20 minute drive from Metropolis, IL to the front gates at Mermet Springs. Not bad, not bad at all. I think the speed limit was 55mph. Something to keep in mind ;).
And remember, it’s located in the middle of corn country. Beautiful!
Italian Grill on Broadway {Paducah, KY}
Do I have the restaurant for you today!!! Okay, first the background story…
Two years ago we were diving at Mermet Springs on a Friday. We included a lot of people and I’ll bet our group was every bit of 12 people. That evening we decided to go to dinner. Now Saturday nights are the trip to Fat Edd’s so we wanted somewhere different and started searching for local restaurants. Metropolis is on one side of the river and Paducah is on the other side so it’s not that big of a drive really. Once we decided upon Italian, we went on the search for Italian restaurants. We stumbled across a restaurant called Italian Grill on Broadway and decided we’d give it a shot. Yeah, no. The wait was 2 hours. That must mean it’s good, right? That night we wound up at another restaurant with less than steller service….
Jump forward a year (to last year) and we decided we were going to eat there no matter what, so we made reservations a couple weeks in advance. We didn’t want to miss out. We had 8 in our party. Like I said, we were going to eat there. The wait was totally worth it!
Italian Grill on Broadway
Mermet Springs 2016
I just have to ask… did anyone realize there wasn’t a blog post recapping our Mermet Springs 2016 dive trip? What happened?!?! Maybe you should fire the blogger. She isn’t doing her job… 🙂
As you hopefully know, Mermet Springs is located across the border in Illinois. I can’t remember, is Mermet Springs located in Mermet Springs or Mermet? Bueller, Bueller? Either way we tend to stay in Metropolis which is like what, 15 miles away or something like that. Chump change :).
Mermet Springs, just a hop skip and a jump away!
Now for those of you who don’t know… Metropolis, Illinois is like a good 5 and 1/2 to 6 hour drive or you could fly in to Paducah, KY, which would take you a little over 7 hours (so google maps tells me). But sometime the fun in the trip is the experience getting there!
When you get to Mermet Springs make sure you immediately check in. They keep your C-Card until the end. No big deal, at the end of the weekend you get it back. If you go with our group then Deb and Grady get it back and you collect from them. See no big deal. Here are their summer hours in case you’re interested. We are approaching summer quickly after all!
This… this is how you know you’ve made it. And you have to get your picture taken with the giant fish at least once! :).
Extreme Interview: Glen Faith, Owner of Mermet Springs in Metropolis, IL
Boy do I ever have the interview for you today… Have you met Glen Faith? Do you even know who that is? Well, if you’ve been to Mermet Springs, surely more than once you’ve seen him as he is the mastermind evil genius… I mean the owner of Mermet Springs in Metropolis, Illinois.
Last September when we took our annual trip to Metropolis, Illinois to dive the quarry, I got the opportunity to catch up with Glen, set him down, and interview him.
The first question I asked was… Glen, how did you get started diving?
I started my diving career on my secretary of state police dive team. We did a lot of vehicle insurance investigations and stuff like that. So for almost 24 years that’s what I did. I dove for guns, cars, bodies, etc. Everyone knows what dive teams do.
I started diving in 1988. I have just a little over 3,000 dives. But one of my biggest achievements is I’m an instructor trainer. I eat, breathe, and sleep scuba.
Here at Mermet Springs Sunday’s are slower. Saturdays average 100-120 people, but as the weather starts to cool it will slow down.
Now, the latest news at Mermet Springs: We brought in wifi. We brought in a fiber optic network. We’ll be able to provide all the dive shops and divers
Elogs (training records/digital)
The quarry is located between 2 cornfields which doesn’t provide much opportunity for any kind of internet, but we finally were able to get the fiber optic network in so that all of our people can come dive, but stay up-to-date on the world around them.
We have professionals of all sorts that come out here to dive. This opportunity allows them to stay connected with work and families. Depending on your phone network you can even call home. The best story is we’ve had a lady out here who was a real estate agent who was able to do a dive, do a virtual home tour, and then continue to dive.