Mermet Springs, Vienna

Nice quarry with a lot to see in the water. Best part is the paddlefish population which gives great photos. Like to cruise through the 727 and follow the lines all over the place. We went in winter and had them open specially for our group. Not a lot of people so we could really enjoy the diving. Very experienced diving group so silt was no problem. Worth giving this a try.

I love diving at Mermet Springs. I live about 10 miles from there. I have taken all of my classes and bought all of my gear there. I am now a master scuba diver thanks to their wonderful instructors.

Enough can not be said about the great staff there. I had planned a weekend dive with a friend, and we were to meet their on a Saturday. It is a 5 hr drive for me to get there. After my wife and I and another friend checked into the hotel Friday night I got a call from my dive buddy saying he couldn't make it. We went to the Springs Saturday afternoon so I could teach our friend to snorkel. When we went up to the office to get a soda we were talking to one of the staff and he asked how my dive was. I told him what happened, and then he excused himself. He returned with another guy introduced him to me. He went out of his way to find me a dive buddy for the day. When you go diving there don't forget to take along a couple of hotdogs to feed the big catfish that hang around the dive platforms.

I truly enjoyed the time spent at Mermet. Fantastic staff, and many sunken items to explore. The quarry is set up for all types of training dives. I still find ways to dive this quarry, and explore new areas each time I go. It's really just all in the dive planning. Water conditions are continually changing, but they are real good at updating on their Web site. All the information needed can be found on their site. This is our favorite place to dive fresh water, since my wife and I were both certified here. You can make easy entry to water from floating docks with specially made steps to the platform at water level. Surface swims are easy and relaxing. Swim out, and drop down to a new adventure. There are many different activities during the year to take part in. You can pumpkin carve, or do my favorite which is the polar bear dive weekend at the start of the new year. The quarry has a varying contour, and depth range. You can make wall dives down to aprox 120 ft. I usually like to surface swim to the far side of quarry, and then drop down to a deep dive. I'll swim along a wall gradually ascending, and exploring along the way. Finally to the safety stop, and exit at the floating dock platform. There is a navigation course set up for training, and skill practice. There are also large stable platforms at depths from 20 ft to 100 ft.

My wife and I did our OW certification dives here. Awesome staff, not enough can be said about them; you are in the best hands with them. Once you've seen all the sunken treasures (727, Airplanes, helicopter, semi truck, boats, jet ski, etc) you'll probably start to get a little tired of the site, but that's when you should go do some of the walls. Especially head out to "spoonbill point" and try to find the spoonbills; they are awesome to watch! Weekends are usually crowded with all the students that come here for training, but that should tell you a little something about this site. Nearly all the shops I know of around this area come here for training dives, it's that good!

Awesome dive site, even better staff. Glen and his staff make everybody feel right at home. Can't say enough about Mermet Springs!

Did our open water qualification dives here and have returned time after time. Excellent local resource just a few hours from St. Louis, Chicago, Memphis, minutes from Paducah. Good vis to 30'-40' in calm weather, nice sunken features, several large dive platforms to 85', depth to 130'. A very safe place with outstanding staff, even underwater sound system for diver alerts and some fun music. Good wall dives, but limited fauna... feed the 4'-5' albino catfish and maybe get lucky enough to see the big spoonbills. Definitely a fun weekend or weekday dive.

Great place to learn to dive. Good facilities, friendly staff and a safe place to visit. Lots of fish including spoonbills.

In land-locked Illinois, it's a very nice place to dive. They've sunk some fun things like a 727 jet, an ambulance, train car, bus... It's worth a trip, but I've found subsequent trips get boring quickly due to lack to marine life. The 1 exception is the huge paddle fish that swim around the quarry. They're definitely worth seeing. Facilities are nice and there are very few people in the quarry during the week (weekends tend to get flooded with OW divers).

There is a lot to do at Mermet. I think the best is the Boeing 727.