I can’t believe it has literally been a year since we were in French Polynesia! When my husband and I planned our trip to Mo’orea, I knew there was one excursion I absolutely HAD to check out after seeing another friend do this on their honeymoon to Mo’orea–THE BUBBLE HEADS! 😀
So no, that’s not really what they’re called, but I just thought they made you look like you were wearing a bubble head. It was more like a funny yellow helmet, like something Curious George would wear as an astronaut in space! Ooo…UNDERWATER ASTRONAUTS!
I had never seen a helmet dive excursion elsewhere before (the days before I started following travelers on Instagram…!), so I knew I wanted to give it a try when we were there. However, since then, I’ve seen that you can actually do helmet diving elsewhere around the world like Boracay, Cairns, St. Lucia, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, etc.
It’s a really fun way to see sea life at more shallow depths in very clear tropical waters, and Mo’orea is definitely a fun place to do it with their beautiful variety of sea creatures and ecosystems! When I found out Aquablue Helmet Dive in Mo’orea was actually AT our resort (Intercontinental Mo’orea), it was just another cherry on top!
So, I’m sure you have questions about what the heck this helmet dive is, so read on!
- What is a helmet dive?
- What does the Aquablue Helmet Dive tour consist of?
- How much does Aquablue Helmet Dive in Mo’orea cost?
- How do I book Aquablue Helmet Dive and what days can I go?
- Where is Aquablue Helmet Dive located?
- How do I get the best underwater photos?
- Final thoughts
What is a helmet dive?
A helmet dive is just how it sounds: you wear a large and heavy helmet and submerge under water to explore the bottom of the sea! No respirators, masks, or tanks needed on yourself. Even though the helmets are super heavy above the water (80lb!), once you descend under water, the buoyancy of the water will help to lighten the load on your shoulders significantly. Aquablue’s helmets are slightly unique in that they are almost like a suit and authentic Russian dive helmets that the owner, Vincent, purchased back in the late 90’s. They look much more “vintage” and old school than some of the other white modern helmets I’ve since seen at other excursions!
The helmet is hooked up and connected to oxygen tanks that stay above the water on a small boat (pictured above), and you are delivered a constant supply of air through long hoses. This means you really can’t walk that far away from your oxygen tank, but I didn’t feel the need to walk that far on our tour because our guide almost brought all the sea life TO us and we anchored right next to a lot of underwater coral. Also, because you are hooked to the oxygen tanks, you are also limited in time under the water because you need to surface before the tank runs out.
The cool thing is that you don’t need any other special mask and your head stays completely dry inside! (I guess that means I could have put on a face that morning but I thought my makeup would totally get wet in the water..lol) At one point my husband and my dad also lifted off their helmets under water while holding their breaths and then they were able to put their helmets back on without water entering the helmet. It involves cool laws of physics about pressure in ways I cannot explain. (Physics was the only science subject I was not fond of. =P)
Travel Pearl: You do NOT need to be licensed/certified to do a helmet dive. You don’t even know how to swim!
What does the Aquablue Helmet Dive tour consist of?
Aquablue Helmet Dive takes you on a helmet dive just a little ways off the shores of Intercontinental Mo’orea–about a 10 minute boat ride. I believe there is a maximum of 8 people that go out on the boat and 4 helmets total for participants. Vincent, who guides you in the water, wears actual diving gear with a wet suit and his own tank so he can swim around more freely and help you out. I’ve read there is one child helmet for kids 6 years and older.
Four people enter the water at a time with Vincent, while the other guide, Stephan, stays on the boat to man the oxygen tanks. Each group gets about half an hour under the water, which does go by pretty fast, but it’s magical under the water! The water really isn’t as deep as I imagined–about 12 feet or so, and the water is so clear that I could actually see all the way to the bottom! Vincent gives you a rundown of how he will communicate with you when you’re under the water since you obviously can’t talk to each other and teaches you a few hand signals.
Stephan mans the pulleys to lift the super heavy helmet up and lower it onto your head right before you step down the ladder off the side of their boat to get in the water. As I mentioned before, the water buoyancy will help lighten the load of the helmet drastically once you’re fully submerged! But honestly, right as I was about to submerge, there was a terrifying moment where I wondered if the water would really stay out of my helmet and I could actually breathe under water. And I literally just had to take the plunge!
If you “hear the music,”you are a-okay, as Vincent will ask you to signal to him. The music is the hissing of the air in your helmet, which is definitely a comforting sign. We walked towards a bigger coral rock where lots of different fish swam. At one point, Vincent gave us a can of dead fish to hold which attracted lots of other butterfly fish and others to swim around us! He even brought a sting ray to play with us! They’re very friendly to pet and quite soft too. It’s best to pet them on the underbelly (so don’t do what I did in the pictures below!)
On his signal, you can try to lift your helmet up and put it back on. There was a picture I included above earlier. My mom and I decided to opt out of that but the men both did it with success! It’s a very cool experience and once we surfaced, we were given snorkel gear to swim around the boat area while the other 4 guests took their helmet dive.
Overall, the tour took a little over 2 hours and it was super fun because Vincent and Stephan were funny and personable. My dad had quite the banter going with Stephan and it really warmed my heart that they were so friendly with us. I felt very safe the whole time doing this because of the guys, but it probably helped that it was not even that deep underwater!
Travel Pearl: Tips for communicating when underwater: the A-OK signal means you are okay. The thumbs up signal means you would like to ascend to the top. And holding out your hand, palms down, rocking side to side means that something is wrong!
How much does it cost?
89000 CFP, or about ~$89 USD per person (as of today March 2018, closer to $91 per person). It feels a bit pricey for being underwater for half an hour, but I thought it was a cool experience that I was glad to have tried out!
Vincent did tell me that cash or credit card is okay, minus American Express cards. This was communicated in our emails prior to arriving. Payment is given once you show up for your tour, so there is no deposit or cancellation fees. But I’d think it goes without saying that it would be good courtesy to give him a heads up for cancellation!
Travel Pearl: I personally like using my Chase Sapphire Reserve card, which does not have foreign transaction fees. Also charge in local currency and the credit card company will convert for you later for the best rate possible!
How do I book Aquablue Helmet Dive and what days can I go?
I used email to communicate with Vincent prior to our arrival in Mo’orea and you can email him at aquablue_pf@hotmail.com. It was helpful to plan beforehand so he could reserve a spot for 4 of us (me, my husband, and my parents). We didn’t have to pay until we got there, which was kind of nice in case we wanted to change our plans due to weather. Vincent is also quite prompt with answering emails, and I found it very easy to communicate with him!
There are two tour times in a day, Morning 9:00am or Afternoon 1:30pm. They are CLOSED on SUNDAY! Since we were in Mo’orea for 3 nights and one of those nights was Sunday, it did limit our choice of dates. So it was a good thing we reserved the schedule beforehand.
You can also book through the concierge at the Intercontinental Mo’orea if you’re staying there, but I’m not sure if it costs more through them or not.
Where is Aquablue Helmet Dive located?
If you are at the Intercontinental Mo’orea, it is located at the Dive Center. This resort is quite large, so head down towards the beach front. There is a little pier and hut where you can rent snorkel gear and kayaks to the left of the resort. Behind this hut where you will surely see during your stay here, you will find the Dive Center.
Perhaps if you’re lucky that day, you’ll meet the little black pelican-looking bird! The bird follows Vincent at the dock and also follows us out further in the water!
Their website says they also will pick you up from your hotel or rental for free!
How do I get the underwater best pictures?
Normally we would have just used our GoPro underwater, but alas, the unfortunate loss of our GoPro happened right before this excursion. In a way, it was probably actually good we lost the GoPro prior to this excursion otherwise I would have relied solely on the GoPro for pictures and then lost those too!
Luckily, I had brought a back up camera, so I used my Panasonic Lumix underwater camera. My husband got me this camera a few years back for my birthday because I kept ruining other digital cameras. I had dropped one on its lens in the sand in Cancun, and I’m just a klutz in general. So this camera is waterproof and shockproof and can be taken under water, which is perfect for klutzy, accident-prone me!! It’s definitely useful underwater!
But on top of that, Vincent also took photos for us using his special underwater camera. He shows you all the photos he took after the tour when he gets back to the shop and you can decide for yourself if you would like to purchase it. We ended up getting a CD for $45-$50 since our tour group of four was me, my husband, and my parents and we could split the cost of the CD. Vincent also throws in some of his favorite underwater sea creature photos he’s taken over the years. He edits the photos a bit for better clarity too and the CD was left at the hotel concierge for us to pick up later in the day!
My question to him was, what if the CD didn’t work when we returned home? He said he would make sure to get us our photos via email or some other way if the CD really did not work out. A tip I have is perhaps you can try to bring a flash drive if you think you might purchase photos. This way Vincent can transfer your photos to the flash drive for better file access later on that doesn’t require a CD drive later on.
Final Thoughts
I recommend water shoes since you’ll be walking along the bottom of the ocean, but I guess it’s not completely necessary. I cannot remember if they made us wear them, but I feel like they asked us to bring them or borrow from them if we didn’t have our own.
The day we went on our tour there were stronger currents under water as the weather was not as nice and it sprinkled briefly in the morning. But the water was warm and Vincent provided a rope that we could grab onto when the currents were too strong. The waves were strong at times and having the rope was definitely useful. I could definitely see how some days it may not be ideal to do this excursion and the water gets murkier when the currents are strong since the sand at the bottom gets kicked up. Ask about the water currents if you’re worried about this!
I have seen some of the other helmet dive headwear and the other seems a little more modern/high tech with the entire front screen being clear. These helmets made it hard sometimes to see on your side and you had to turn your head more to see to your side. However, it was still manageable and I thought they looked pretty cute and totally old-fashioned! I loved this excursion and I would totally do it again or take kids to do it because you don’t need to be good at swimming (or even know HOW to!).
Have fun, and do let me know in the comments if you have ever done a helmet dive and where you did it at! I’d love to know where else people loved doing this! 🙂
Happy travels,
Xoxo
Jasmine
P.S. If you loved this article, help me pin it! 🙂
So fun! What a detailed, comprehensive post, Jasmine 🙂 That really sucks you lost your GoPro before this excursion but at least you had a backup!!
My mom and I did one of these helmet dives in Boracay 🙂 At first we felt kind of panicked wearing those helmets but once we saw all the beautiful fish we forgot about it!
Thanks for sharing!