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One thing that was on my bucket list to dive when I moved back to Taiwan was Divecube, located in the city of Taichung.

I think every freediver should have a deep indoor pool on their bucket list to experience; they are  enormous fun. Diving in Taiwan is awesome and Divecube is one of the many reasons why.

I have been fortunate to dive there a number of times and excited to be your guide to this fabulous urban freediving experience and hope you find this helpful as  Divecube's English website leaves a bit more to be desired.

Divecube is Asia's first deep indoor pool with a maximum depth of 21 meters and is located in Taichung, Taiwan in the center of Taiwan and easily accessible from the major cities in the North and South and even from some cities in Asia by air.

The building complex features the Divecube Hotel, a vegetarian Italian restaurant and a diving equipment shop (too bad they don't have a dive bar 😂🤣😆)

As mentioned earlier, set in Xitun District in Taichung which is located in central Taiwan and its name in Mandarin literally means "middle of Taiwan). Xitun District is nestled in the west of the city center. 

Taichung is home to many industries including a microchip fab of the largest semiconductor manufacturing company in the world TSMC and home to one of the most popular brands of cycles in the world, Giant Bicycles. Even popular diving brand Problue is based in Taichung.

It is also famous for its suncakes (太陽餅) and Chun Shui Tang teahouse, the founder of the now internationally famous bubble tea.

It's also the closet major city to the famous tourist attraction Sun Moon Lake.

With a population of nearly 3m people it is the second most populous city in Taiwan surpassing Kaohsiung in 2017 due to natural birth rate.

The climate of Taichung is humid and mostly warm to hot during the day year round (highs in January 22C and in 33C in July) but due to its plain's strong cool radiating effect it's one of the few cities in Taiwan that dips below 20C during the night so bring a jacket out at night if you are sensitive to the cold.  Due to the mountain ranges surrounding it, it is usually relatively unaffected by typhoons.

If you are coming in from outside of Taiwan your best bet would be to fly into Taipei or Kaohsiung. Although there is an international airport 20 minutes away from Divecube which has some flights from larger cities in Asia like Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo and Ho Chin Minh, flight times and frequencies may not fit your schedule.

If you are not in a hurry, a bus is one of the most comfortable and cheapest ways of getting around Taiwan and getting to Taichung is no different. But be careful, there are three bus stations in Taichung. Taichung Bus Terminal which is located near the city center and further away from Divecube.

Chao Ma Bus Terminal which is located across the river from Divecube and about 5-7 minutes away by car.

And Zhongang Station which is less than a ten-minute walk away from Divecube.  There are also numerous bus companies which serve the city of Taichung How convenient!

You have two choices when it comes to the railway: taking the slow train with Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) which has a very strong feeling of being in Japan or the ultra modern bullet train from the Taiwan High Speel Rail (THSR) 

There is only one station for Taichung if taking the THSR which is in the southwest of the city and about a 10-15 minute cab ride away. A couple options on where to stop if coming in on the TRA but seems like getting off at the Taichung Railway Station in the city centre would be the most convenient.

The Taichung International Airport is located northeast of the city about 20km away from the city center and has both commercial and military use. It was at one time the US Air Force's largest base in the Far East in 1966.

It is the third international airport in Taiwan.

It has flights to and from nearly ten cities in China, Hong Kong, Macau, three cities in Korea (Seoul, Busan, Yangyang) and two cities in Vietnam (Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh) and one city in Japan (Tokyo-Narita).

Having an airport so close to Divecube can be convenient if you are travelling here internationally, or from one of Taiwan's outlying islands, but the frequency of flights is not. For example, there is only one flight from Hong Kong to Taichung operated by Hong Kong Express. If you have a flexible schedule, it could work out and worth investigating.

But most people I would imagine would fly into either Taipei or Kaohsiung first to see the bigger city. That way they can play tourist in one of Taiwan's larger cities before they continue on to Taichung to dive. If you fly into Kaohsiung, Xiaoliuqiu is but a short trip away which is one of the best spots in Taiwan to freedive.

Taichung is a sprawling city and not a great of a walking city like Taipei and taking a taxi or Uber everywhere could add up to become costly. 

Until the MRT opened on April 25, 2021, the best way of getting around was by city bus which is very and convenient to use for anyone who knows how to use Google Map. The MRT run from northeast of the city to the southwest but the nearest stop to Divecube is about a 30-minute walk.

As with most cities in Taiwan, scooter rental services are available if you have the correct license.

To dive here, you first need to select a time slot to go as seen below, each session is 1.5 hours and the price of to play ranges from $1200-$1500 (US$40-50) depending on what time of the day you go and if it's a weekend. You sometimes can find lower prices on Shopee or Klook but I already think that's a good deal as its about the same price as taking a boat out for training. Also required is a dive certification and a buddy/instructor with you which they do check when you check-in.

The pool itself is 18x18 meters and contains  2100 cubic square feet of water with 5 levels of varying depth with the deepest part at 21 meters, led down by a 10m vertical tunnel which is large enough for two divers.  The entry to the pool is located on the fourth floor of the building which offers a stunning view of  Taichung city.

There are also underwater caves and a fake shipwreck with the interior decorations created by scenographer of Life of Pi directed by Taiwan's most famous and Oscar-winning director Ang Lee. Freedivers, however, may not enter the cave and ship for safety reasons. 

The Divecube Hotel is located on the first and second floor of the building and contains about two dozen rooms. The ship-themed hotel rooms are spartan and rather no-frills but it's very, very clean. The room I stayed in during my stay contained a private bathroom and two bunk beds with each bed containing its own TV. There are 4 types of rooms, all with bunk beds - 1 person room, two person room, four person room and 6 person room.

Each floor contains a common area, each with a high top table which I did some work from with electric plugs nearby to charge your computer or mobile phone. This area also contains a machine dispensing filtered drinking water of various temperatures to enjoy during your stay.

If your only reason to be in Taichung  is to dive at Divecube, I would definitively consider just a stay at the Divecube Hotel.

But if you plan on other activities or experiences in Taichung, I'd recommend at stay at a hotel near the city centre would be more convenient as Divecube is located in bit of f suburban-ish area and not much activity to enjoy in hits immediate vicinity.

If you do want to stay at the Divecube Hotel please consider doing it through our affiliate partners Agoda. I love the reviews on Agoda and never done me wrong before in my experience.

Floor 1

Before you enter the lobby, to the left is a set of doors to the restaurant. Once in the lobby you approach the service counter where you check into your hotel room if you booked one or check-in service for your pool time. Walk past the counter and to the left is the dive shop where you can buy both freedive and scuba equipment and accessories.

A little further back is the elevator to the right and further down is the sliding glass entrance to the hotel rooms which require a swipe card.

Floor 2

There is not much on the second floor except more hotel rooms and little windows that give you a little view inside the interior of the ship.

Floor 3

You take the elevator to the third floor where there is another service desk to check-in for the diving in the office with all the PADI signage.

Next to the elevator doors is a signed poster by the deepest no fins diver in the world William Trubridge with a Post-It note message hand-written "Hanako was here" slapped on top of it which I am going to assume is from Hanako Hirose, the female 2019 AIDA World Champion, as the Japanese national diver visited Divecube with fellow national diver Sayuri Kinoshita (RIP) when they visited Taiwan in December 2018.

Near the office is a sliding glass door with restricted access. After these doors you may not wear shoes in, so leave them at the cabinets by the sliding glass door. Food and drinks also not allowed beyond this point. Once through these doors are the locker rooms which have lockers (bring your own padlock), toilets, blow dryer and shower. There's even a spinner to use to dry your wet clothes.

Pack up your gear you need for diving like your fins, mask, snorkel, wetsuit, water bottle and camera equipment and head up to the fourth floor via the stairs. 

This is the top floor and the surface of the pool. The pool has five levels of depth with the first level ideal for dynamic at only 1.3 meters, though you don't come to a deep pool to do dynamic so this area is mostly empty. The second level is 3 meters, ideal spot for practicing your duck dives or practicing your free immersion entry and equalization.

When I first went to Divecube, it was nice because of the novelty freediving in a deep pool for the first time.

But it was more than just the novelty factor, it exceeded my expectations and I had a real hard time figuring it out why exactly it was so much fun.

I had to ponder for a while before I could posit is that diving in the pool you feel much safer. Despite being extremely comfortable freediving in the ocean, I guess there is always a subconscious worry about the unpredictable dangers of the ocean. 

Though Divecube certainly not risk-free (just ask this guy who blacked out there), there is no doubt  being in a confined water space is substantially lower risk and thus can fully appreciate the meditative aspect of diving on one breath.

Moreover, the photos taken in the pool can be absolutely stunning. And going during different times of the day will give you different lighting from the sun, even at night you can capture the lighting from the ceiling like the video below.

But even more stunning is during the day  you get rays of sun beaming through the water much like you can get in a Mexican cenote.

If you have wanted to try freediving but the ocean is a bit intimidating, consider taking a course at Divecube (see below)

There is just one restaurant at Divecube though it does not seem related to Divecube other than being located in the same building. Before you enter into the building to the left is an Italian vegetarian restaurant called Tomato Times. Get the table near the window to watch divers like a human aquarium.

There are resident freedive instructors under the PADI banner at Divecube. Unfortunately, there does not appear to be any English-speaking instructors at this time. There are English-speaking scuba instructors though.

However, external freedive instructors are welcomed at Divecube and occasionally one of the few English-speaking freedive instructors offer courses there.

If you want to learn freediving with me at Divecube, check out my service offerings first and contact me. 

I hope this post was helpful in finding out more about Divecube and please share via the links below with your dive buddies. If you are interested in learning more about freediving in Taiwan, join the Taiwan Freediver's Syndicate Facebook group and if you are interested in coming down to Xiaoliuqiu to freedive, then join the Xiaoliuqiu For Foreigners Facebook Group.

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