Such a fun and interesting excursion! We met at the landing dock behind a shopping center and from there, it was only about a 20 minute boat ride out to the loading area and once they, they gave us detailed instructions about what to expect. They only take 10 people out at a time and while awaiting your turn, you have the option to go snorkeling which I suggest as the water is crystal clear and beautiful and you might get the chance to swim next to a large sea turtle or two!
Once it is your turn, you climb down the steps and when the diver swims up to you, you grab the rim of the hood and they take you out a few feet. They will tell you to hold your breath and then go under the water and come up inside the hood. The crazy part is that you can breathe normally as the water only comes up to your neck. I have a fear of closed in spaces and it took me a minute to get my breathing under control, but once I did, it was a very cool experience. The divers take you down, take photos of you and they also look out for any hand signals o make sure you are ok and not in distress. We dived for about 20 minutes and it was plenty of time to fully appreciate the experience. Although we have a go-pro, we also bought their photo package because they got some really cool angles that we were not able to get.
The crew was great and I am glad we went with this company and that we also booked 4 months in advance because they were sold out.