Bubbly Basin is the underwater town added in Part 1 of the Pokémon Pokopia Expansion Pass. Reaching it takes a specific chain of tasks in the Bleak Beach region, capped off by learning the new Dive move and opening a gate hidden beneath the ocean.
Quick answer: Own the Expansion Pass, complete Bleak Beach’s “Raise the environment level!” request, learn Dive from Manaphy, then dive to the gate west of the Bleak Beach Pokémon Center and scan your Trainer Rank to open it.
Requirements to access Bubbly Basin
Three things must be in place before the gate will work. The Dive move arrived in the free 2.0.0 update on August 5, 2026, the same day Part 1 of the DLC launched, so make sure your game is up to date.
| Requirement | How to meet it |
|---|---|
| Pokémon Pokopia Expansion Pass | Purchase the paid Expansion Pass DLC from the Nintendo eShop. |
| “Raise the environment level!” request | Complete this Bleak Beach request by reaching Environment Level 5 in the region. |
| Dive move | Learn Dive after starting the Bubbly Basin questline (steps below). |
You cannot reach the underwater gate without Dive, so learning it is the core of the whole process. The Bubbly Basin missions only appear once the Bleak Beach environment level task is finished.
Learn Dive from Manaphy
The whole Dive sequence takes only about five minutes once you have reached the island.
Meet Popplio and open the Bubbly Basin Gate
Note: If the gate will not react to the panel, confirm you have actually learned Dive and finished the “Raise the environment level!” request. Both are hard requirements, and the gate stays sealed until each is done.
Once you swim through the open gate, you are inside Bubbly Basin, an underwater town built on the remains of Cerulean City. It brings new Water-type Pokémon such as the Popplio, Corphish, and Mudkip lines, along with fresh furniture, outfits for Ditto, and Pokémetal Fragments to gather as you develop the area.
