St Maarten Trek Helmet Dive

[cruiselover0213]

What can anybody tell me about this excursion? My entire family is signed up to do it but my doctor has advised me not to do it b/c I have a pacemaker and he doesn't want me 20 feet below the surface. I still want to go along so I can at least snorkel with everybody afterwards and maybe try and get some picture of the kids.

 

Do you think they would let me snorkel above while everybody else does the "walk"?

 

How do you get to the walk path that is below the surface? Do they put weights on you and you sink down? Or doo you start at the beach and slowly walk down on the path to the max depth of 20 feet? I am asking b/c I am wondering if I can at least start and maybe just go down 10 feet or so if it is like a zero depth entry. I can turn around and come back up before going too deep down.

 

Any info you could give me would be appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[Hidden Minnie]

You can definitely snorkel while your family does the dive. On our excursion, we were in two groups, and one snorkels while the other group when under. My husband and daughter chose to stay on top and snorkel.

 

You take a boat out to kind of a floating platform. When it is your turn to go down, they have you step out on a ladder over the side. When you are about waist deep, they put the helmet on you. It weighs 50-70 lbs, so that is what keeps you on the bottom. You just climb a ladder straight down and then climb it back up after.

 

I have to say, I was really looking forward to this. But I found the currents on the bottom, combined with the way the clear part of the helmet is beveled, to be disconcerting. I was a little queasy by the time I came up. Also, you don't really get to linger and look around too much. They kind of walk you from point to point and take your picture, then they sell you a cd of your photos at the end. It was kind of cool, but if you don't do it, you are not missing anything great.

[poohtaz]

My family did this excursion and loved it! There were a few adults and children who just snorkeled while we were down.

Luckily for us the weather cooperated so we were able to see everything very clearly under water. Feeding the fish was incredible and the pictures they took we used as our next years Christmas card.

If your family is adventerous they'll enjoy this.

I have claustrophobia and was still able to handle having the helmet on. The key to this excursion is to clear your ears as instructed as soon as your helmet get below water.

I hope you enjoy :)

[Hidden Minnie]

I forgot about clearing your ears! Yes, that is absolutely key. You will definitely feel the pressure as you descend.

 

OP - if you Google Sea Trek St. Maarten, and choose the gallery on their website, you will see some photos of people going up/down the ladder entry and have the helmet put on them.

[cruiselover0213]

Great. Thanks everybody for the feedback!