Helmet diving was my first choice (apart from island hopping) when planning our itinerary for our holiday in Boracay. On our third day here, we found this small corner lot (somewhere in station 2) where we took up the package for helmet diving. It was 700 peso per head...compared to those who wanted to offer us 2000 peso for two people.
There're various activities to do here and I'm sure there will be one that will interest you.
We were not able to dive along the beach side where were due to the strong currents. *Bummer*
The staff were kind enough to accompanied us to the other side of the beach where the helmet diving take place. Took us 20 minutes to walk there. Great way for us to explore the surroundings.
We were given a ticket and required to sign a Disclaimer Form before undertaking this activity. In short, they will not be liable if in the event we get hurt...or even death. *Scary*
After signing the form, we were told to board the speedboat.
To be honest, I didn't like the boat ride to the platform. They were really FAST...secondly...there was NOTHING to hold on while riding on the speedboat. They increased the speed because they thought it was fun for us to enjoy the thrill ride...which by the way I didn't like it at all. I was terrified and I was hanging on to my friend with my life. *No kidding*
I was relief when I finally stepped on the floating platform.
Once we arrived, one of the staff came over and have our pictures taken before the dive. We were then taken aside and an instructor explained to us what we need to do, how to equalise (relieve pressure in your ears) and taught us basic hand gestures for communicating underwater. He explained to us that the air is pumped into the helmet so we can breathe normally and advised us to have our head held upright and one hand holding the helmet.
It's funny how the feelings change...from excitement one minute...and nervous the next. When the helmet was finally put on me with half of my body in the sea...I was praying (and equalise) as the sound of the air pumped into the helmet... and of course, trying to breathe normally when climbing down the ladder.
When we're at the seafloor, there were fishes everywhere...and it was amazing to see them up-close. We wanted to walk a bit further but we can only walked short distance since the hose was attached to the helmet.
The diver gave us bread to feed the fish so that he could take pictures and videos of us when the fishes swam over.
Helmet diving lasted between 10 to 15 minutes. Time passed quickly when we are engrossed admiring the fishes and surroundings. The other couple who went down before us were the first to go up. There was only one diver instructors in the water with us (there were only four of us). He was the same diver who took pictures and videos for us too. My friend and I were left alone at the bottom of the ocean....without a diver. We were fine at first cause we thought we get to stay a little longer to admire the fishes. HOWEVER.....the water started to rise inside our helmet! Both of us have to held our head high up so that the water would not go through our nose. It was then we realised we were having difficulty breathing in the helmet.
Fortunately, after few seconds (which seems like forever) we finally felt the air in our helmet and the water finally subside. However I was already in panic mode and struggling to climb on to the ladder when the diver assist my friend to the top...with me being the last one at the bottom. >.<
Once I'm finally up and the instructors pulled my helmet off....I was super relief! I feel so much better when I breathe fresh air into my lungs! I was terrified earlier and when we told the instructors and the staff...they don't seem to care and walked away. =.=
After the whole diving experience, we were back into the speedboat...and another scary speed ride back again. We followed the couple who was with us earlier as the staff did not inform us that we need to follow him once we were on land. Fortunately I was able to catch a glimpse of the couple although the surroundings were crowded with tourist. Anyway...to cut the story short, we were given 1 CD with our pictures and videos inside.
My overall verdict??? The experience was both amazing and nerve wrecking. It was my first experience trying out helmet diving so breathing in the helmet was easier as compared to scuba diving (I had tried scuba diving before). However, the nerve wrecking part was the part when there was no air in the helmet for few seconds with water rising in the helmet. That was the scariest part! 
The couple earlier who went down with us were experiencing pain in their ears...and one was having headache and nauseous. Fortunately my friend and I didn't have those problems.
The couple earlier who went down with us were experiencing pain in their ears...and one was having headache and nauseous. Fortunately my friend and I didn't have those problems.
Would I go again? Hell no. Once is good enough for me. I guess my friend and I were fortunate that nothing bad had happened to us. Although it is something you should try at least once....for the experience. However, I do wished that the staff would be more considerate and aware of this situation so that such thing would not happen ever again. I wouldn't want anyone to go though this terrifying experience. If one panics...things can go very wrong.
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