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Dive Review of Living Underwater/Occidental Grand Cozumel in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Cozumel

Living Underwater/Occidental Grand Cozumel, Mar, 2008,

by Craig Grube, va, usa (Sr. Contributor Sr. Contributor 21 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 3977.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 5 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving 1 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments With Living Underwater, Jeremy and crew pick you up at your hotel dock generally within 5 minutes of the time they say they will be there. For the first 2 days of diving we were on his boat, Jew Fish, which was covered, had seat cushions and more than enough room for the 4 divers on the boat. The dive sites were usually no further than a 10 minute boat ride and a quick flip backwards and you are in the water. The first dive was typically out by the wall and down to 100’ plus and lasted 80 minutes as we came up. The second dive down to 60-80’max and for over an hour. Between dives we were served fruit and beverages, the crew had towels and jackets to keep you warm. The safety stop was at a beach club were you could get eggs, water, lemonade, etc while you sat at a shaded table on the beach. We saw abundant marine life including more angel fish of all types than anywhere we have been previously. A fair amount of hawksbill turtles, huge midnight parrotfish, white spotted filefish, trunkfish, and many others. One dive we followed a 6’ green moray swimming for about 5 minutes. We saw several eagle rays, a couple of nurse sharks, lots of schools of barracuda. The drift diving currents can be quite brisk, but it sure is a fun ride with all the marine life around. I do not recommend Cozumel for new divers until you have a good handle on buoyancy control due to the currents and underwater terrain.

Two of the dive days Jew Fish had larger fill so Jeremy put us on a smaller boat run by Gustavo. There were between 3-5 divers total on that boat. Same good service, but no fresh fruit. Dives were not quite as long as with Jeremy but still close to an hour. That could also be the function of one dive a diver going too deep for too long and needing a decompression stop and the other dive some new divers ran out of air and had to be taken back, but the 3 remaining divers kept diving and the boat found us shortly after we surfaced. Gustavo was very good at finding interesting critters like splendid toadfish and scorpionfish. All in all, we will definitely go back to Cozumel and dive with Living Underwater as Jeremy runs a smooth operation, has nice covered and fast boats and generally lets you dive to your air and computer. Communications were no problem as all DM’s have great command of the English language.

We stayed at the Occidental Grand Cozumel and will most definitely stay there again, it was the best all inclusive we have ever stayed at. Great grounds, nice rooms, excellent food, wonderful customer service. No bugs to speak of. Avoid the Vacation Club pitch, it will take more time than they will lead you to believe.


Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 101-250 dives
Where else diving Hawaii, Tahiti, Nassau, Turks & Caicos, Florida Keys, Little Cayman, Jamaica
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, windy, cloudy Seas choppy, currents
Water Temp 78-79°F / 26-26°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 75-125 Ft/ 23-38 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile no
Enforced diving restrictions Generally follow DM, but had wide berth. Dive over by 500 psi.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 4 stars
Large Pelagics 2 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 4 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments Will provide salt water rinse bucket if request. Captain will handle camera getting in and out of water.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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