Spring 2025 News
We would like to thank everyone for a busy winter dive travel season! Seventeen of our MSD divers have just returned from a great group trip to Roatan, Honduras. There were some first time ocean divers that joined us - it's always fun to witness their excitement. It often reminds many of the older "saltier" divers of their first time in a marine environment. In addition to wonderful daytime dives, we did a dawn dive and a night dive that featured a prolific display of lights from the often elusive "string of pearls."
As we are now turning the corner to summer, we are anxiously awaiting the approaching local dive season. Fun dives start up on Thursday, May 1st and conclude with our annual underwater pumpkin carving contest on Saturday, October 25. We are excited to see you all very soon!
50 Dive Sites Just Minutes from
MSD Brainerd!
Located just 12 miles from our Brainerd location near the towns of Crosby and Ironton, the Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area - home to some of the best diving in the Midwest. This beautiful park with its crystal-clear water filled mines boast submerged mine shafts, building foundations, vehicles, road beds, forests, shear walls and depths of up to 530 feet. The mines have been stocked with trout, bass and northern pike. It's also not uncommon to see loons swimming by. The main attraction though would have to be the visibility which ranges from 30 to 60 feet. ​
These are some of our favorites...
WOMBAD
Point
Pit: Mahnomen I
Dive Site Features:
Lots of Underwater Trees
Fish Life
Sheer Walls
Railroad Tracks
Eternal Bliss
Pit: Louise
Dive Site Features:
Bartender
Sparky
Marissa the Mermaid
Jack Sparrow
Jason Voorhees
Fish Life
Stairway to
Hell
Pit: Alstead
Dive Site Features:
Staircase
Car
Fish Life
Sand Chute
Gulch
Pit: Mahnomen II
Dive Site Features:
Coffin with Skeleton
Pumping Pipes
Fish Life
Connecticut
Two-Bit
Pit: Huntington
Dive Site Features:
Great Visibility
Fish Life
Roadway
Walls
Railroad Tracks
Foosball Table
Flamingos
Gettin' The
Shaft
Pit: Huntington
Dive Site Features:
Vertical Mine Shaft
Fish Life
The Minnesota School of Diving has created over 50 unique dive sites in the Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area - appropriate to all levels of experience. Our experienced staff of divemasters would love to show you some of their favorites. We sponsor group fun dives to the area up to 3 times a week in the summer. Divemasters can also be hired to lead you on individual dives. If you would rather go it alone, stop in the store for some suggestions and pick up some of our dive maps of the area. They describe what you'll see underwater at each of the different dive sites, and are the only maps that accurately depict the often confusing roads.