We had the pleasure to dive St. James Pit in Aurora, MN this weekend. Let me just say that those that feel Wazee has the most impressive wall think again. The wall in St. James puts Wazee's to shame in my opinion. We had 50 foot viz and the wall was absolutely incredible. The pit is almost 400 feet deep. We went down to about 145 feet and I'm guessing we could see from there down to 180+. I highly recommend this pit to the tech divers...you will be pleasantly surprised. This is by far the best pit I have dove and will definately return yet this year. To get to the pit take 135 into Aurora and stay on it straight through town. The road will come to a dead end so take a left turn at the end of the road and follow the public water access signs. Attached is a shot of the lake.
I concur. We had excellent vis on all our dives at St. James this weekend.
is there anything to see other than a wall?
It was our first dives at this pit so we didn't cover a whole lot of area. I'm not sure what else there might be in there such as old mining stuff etc. The wall was definately the highlight. If you don't like wall dives and having some of the best viz next to the Great Lakes then it may not be for you. There were some trees but we didn't see a lot of them where we were at anyway. The terrain is mainly all rock, we didn't really see any vegetation or fish in it like say, Wazee, Crosby, Ore Be Gone, etc. The lake was very clean and didn't have a lot of junk in it which was nice. We talked to a local there that said they are clearing land and planning on adding a campground up on the hill which would be kinda neat. All in all I highly recommend anyone to try it if you haven't dived there yet. It's a nice alternative to some of the other lakes that we all usually frequent.
Yep, this pit has the best vis I have seen in any lake this year. The visibility varied between 30-50ft. You know the vis is pretty good when you don't need a light at 150ft. The wall was neat because it stepped down in very distinctive drops with wide ledges defining each level. We checked out the drops at 90ft and 150ft. I didn't see any fish in the lake although someone said it was stocked with trout. I honestly think the Virginia-Gilbert-Biwabik area has some of the best diving in the region right now. The area has very accesible dive accesses and a broad selection of sites -- Ore-Be-Gone, Lake Mine, St. James, etc. The city is building a campground at the St. James pit.
huh, I thought Ore-be-gone was the only good site up there, how did you find this one, it sounds like it would be a good dive.
No, actually there are several mine pits up in that area. You can find maps and info on the DNR website under the trout lakes list. Here is a link to a map of St. James Pit for those interested.
We did a dive at St. James pit today. Viz was excellent...about 30 to 40 feet. Not a single person out there but Dan and I. Nice dive except Dan got a little chilly when his exhaust valve leaked and had a pretty significant suit flood. :o Luckily it was an easy fix after the dive though.
Did St. James for our 3rd dive today. Again the viz was awesome, down to 125, looked pretty good beyond too.
Dove three dives today at St. James Pit. I have to say, the best viz I've seen in any pit, from Ore B Gone to Lake Mine, to the Crosby mines. Had to be 40 to 50 feet in some areas, and I swear I could see the surface from 70 feet or so, when I looked up.
We made it down to 139 feet pretty quick. Pretty cool walls, and to the west of the boat landing I think we found the road they used during the mining. I can't imagine driving on something that narrow.
Very little vegetation. Saw some tiny little fish where there was plant growth to the west. Perhaps those were the trout that have been stocked. Lunkers, I tell ya! At least two inchers!
As previously stated, a very clean lake. I found a full bottle of Miller, but had to leave it in lieu of a couple of rocks for weight. I'm still monkeying with weight with this drysuit of mine. Finally got a tiny hole fixed. Amazing how a small hole can let so much water in!
I wonder if a guy can get to that pit to the west. (From the DNR map) Anyone tried it yet?