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No photos available at this time
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Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5
(best):
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| Accommodations |
 |
Food |
 |
| Service and Attitude |
|
Environmental Sensitivity |
N/A |
| Dive Operation |
|
Shore Diving |
 |
| Snorkeling |
N/A |
Overall Rating |
| Value for $$ |
N/A |
| Beginners |
|
| Advanced |
|
| Comments |
Our dive operator, Living Underwater, recommeded the Caribe Blu motel for us. The motel was reasonably priced with nice rooms with balconies, a pool area overlooking the water, a beach entry for shore diving or snorkeling, and a dock where dive operators can pick you up. The motel was a 15 minute walk north of the downtown plaza. A small restaurant was on the property and served hot breakfasts and lunches. A motel affiliated dive operation was also on the property and offered boat and shore dives but we elected to dive with "Living Underwater". My only mild complaint was that we were on the fourth floor and there were no elevators. I got over it though when the owner had all of our luggage and gear delivered directly to our room.
The dive operator, "Living Underwater" was incredible! The owner, Jeremy, was efficient, friendly, and very professional! His original boat was damaged in the hurricane so he was leasing a 26' boat and limited the number of divers to 6. Julio, the captain was very proficient. Jeremy's new boat is being outfitted and he hopes to have it in service this Spring. Jeremy would lead the dives. We dove with them for four days, three dives per day. We had a party of four advanced and tech certified divers so we requested a chance to see areas of Cozumel that the cattle boats don't offer. On day one Jeremy assessed our skills on typical Cozumel wall, reef, and drift dives. On day two through four we were treated to walls and reefs on the north end of the island that were amazing! The currents were much faster, around 7 mph, than the southern end but the rides and scenery were worth it. Living Underwater provided us with new steel LP 120s so we could dive our limits. Our typical itinerary would be: Jeremy would pick us up promptly at 7:45am at our motel dock, make one dive then bring to the boat to a beach for our surface interval while he changed everyone to fresh tanks. We'd make the second dive and then take the boat to one of the beach resort restaurants for a leisurely lunch, Jeremy would again change the tanks and then join us for lunch. Around 1:30pm we'd make the third dive and Jeremy would have the captain drop us back to our respective docks between 3:30 and 4;00pm. Jeremy would provide refreshments and fresh fruit on the boat betweend dives and would take our gear home with him each night to rinse it for us.
The Cozumel reefs appear to be slowly recovering from the hurricane. We noticed a lot of broken coral on the bottom and the quantity of sea life on the reefs has not fully recovered yet. We were however treated to large eagle rays, dolphin feeding on the reef, big groupers, large morays, many green turtles, lobster, and a variety of reef fish.
I'm normally critical of resort area dive operators but I will eagerly give my recommendation for you to dive with Jeremy and his Living Underwater operation! I've been diving for 35 years and this is the first time I've felt compelled to write a public recommendation. There are only a handful of operators that I've encountered at Jeremy's level of professionalism, and very few of them are located in tourist resort areas! He is truly a delightful young man. |
Reporter and Travel |
| Dive Experience |
501-1000 dives |
| Where else diving |
NC, SC, FL, Bonaire, St. Thomas, St. Martin, Haiti, Caymans, Bahamas. |
| Closest Airport |
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Getting There |
|
Dive Conditions |
| Weather |
sunny, windy |
Seas |
choppy, currents |
| Water Temp |
72-75°F / 22-24°C |
Wetsuit Thickness |
5 |
| Water Visibility |
100-120 Ft/ 30-37 M
|
Dive Policy |
| Dive own profile |
yes |
| Enforced diving restrictions |
Living Underwater allows advanced diving, based on the diver's training. We observed decompression tables, nitrox MODs, safety stops, etc.
|
| Liveaboard? |
no |
Nitrox Available? |
N/A |
What I Saw |
| Sharks |
1 or 2 |
Mantas |
None |
| Dolphins |
1 or 2 |
Whale Sharks |
None |
| Turtles |
> 2 |
Whales |
None |
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
|
| Corals |
|
Tropical Fish |
|
| Small Critters |
|
Large Fish |
|
| Large Pelagics |
|
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5
(best):
|
| Subject Matter |
|
Boat Facilities |
|
| Overall rating for UWP's |
|
Shore Facilities |
N/A |
| UW Photo Comments |
Fresh water was available to rinse cameras. The only real restriction was due to the size of the boat. The operator's new boat is under construction and scheduled to enter service this Spring. |
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