Dive Review of Living Underwater/Park Royal in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan

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Living Underwater/Park Royal, Nov, 2011, by Daniel Fazekas, VA, US ( Sr. Reviewer 11 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 6369.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Our second trip to Cozumel in two years, and no planning was necessary. Living Underwater was our choice two years ago, and we have no reason to look anywhere else. The owner, Jeremy Anschel picked up our gear the evening before our first dive, so that all we needed to do every morning was meet the boat at the pier with our dry bag. (Note: there is a pier fee of $2 per person per day, not for the dive operator, but for the pier owner.) At the end of the week, he returned to settle our bill. (Note: all tips are shared equally between DM, Captain and Crew, whether you pay them individually, or wait until the end and add it to your bill.) The boat arrived like clockwork at 0740 and we collected other divers on our way to the first dive of the day. Our DM was Mario for five days, and Ari for one day, Francisco and Ricardo (Captain and Crew) all six days. They are real professionals, and very friendly. The "Jewfish" is the fastest dive boat we have seen in Cozumel, which had us in the water first, even with the holiday crowd. Our group of eight divers were backward rolling off the side about 0830. Dives average about one hour, thanks to the steel 120 cubic inch tanks (Note: painted white, which helps keep groups oriented if another group passes through). Upon surfacing, the boat collects each divers camera and weights/tank/BCD before you come back aboard. By the time you are out of your wetsuit, you are arriving at Palancar beach, which has a restaurant and bathrooms, and the best fish tacos. After 90 minutes to off-gas some nitogen, soak up the sun and listen to Mario's stories, we would be back on the boat for the second dive. We never had to handle the tanks, the crew always had things ready to go. We would be back at our pier around 1-2 pm. The combination of fast dive boat, no handling of the gear during the week, and short walk from the resort to the pier could not be any easier, except for a liveaboard. Dive Sites visited were: Palancar Gardens – lg jewfish, small hawksbill Chankanab Bolones – six foot green moray, 3’ parrot fish, lg Nassau grouper, lg arrow crabs Palancar Caves – pristine, great swimthroughs Tormentos – basket sponges, lg angels, too much current to enjoy critters Columbia Reef – exc vis, nice swimthroughs, 3 lg spiny lobster @ 80’. Mario took time to fix his sign, algae covered bricks on the sandy bottom that spelled his name. Hawksbill, rays, snapper, garden eels. Cedarales Paseo – sleeping nurse shark baby. Small moray, large angel, hawksbill turtle Chankanab – Our fist night dive in Cozumel. In the water about 6pm, and it wasn't long before we found an Octopus. By the end of the dive, we had seen six, and others claimed ten. One was oblivious to the dive lights, and calmly floated from small coral head to coral head, expanding his body to maximum parachute shape to flush out his prey. One was returning to his lair, and methodically backed his way under a rocky ledge and into the sandy "cave" to await his next victim or outing. Also saw two large crabs, next to each other, looking ready to fight! Devil’s Throat – 126’ max, 57 avg. complex of swimthroughs among towering pillars. Enter first at 60 feet, descend to exit @ 120’, enter another tunnel and then slowly ascend through to exit @ 80’ cruise around and about coral heads for rest of dive. Awesome! Punta Tunich – Long drift dive with occasional drops behind coral head for rest and to see Drumfish. I found green blennie in coral head. All sizes of reef fish from juvie to adult, squirrel, file, trunk, cow, scrawled file, turtles and angels, large French and quenn pairs. We did not bring a camera on this trip, and of course, all the fish were posing for us, begging to take their pictures! Barracuda Reef – Thanksgiving Day. Fast current. Rule was to enter together, stay close, and surface as a group. The north end dive was a wall dive, not a photo dive, no way to stop. Healthy coral and sponges. Canterel reef – Lobster, banded coral shrimp under a large concrete block (van sized). Large crab and two coral banded shrimp – the large crab was sighted last. Bethann spotted tail of of a llg green moral, when I arrived, it was showing half of his 6’ length. Sharps eel fully exposed on sandy bottom near coral. Palancar caves – Our new DM Ari (short for Ariane). Nothing new, but fun dive. Delilah Reef – Last Dive. My wife found another long green moray, and HUGE spiny lobster. I spent most of the dive checking under coral near sandy bottom for a splendid Toadfish. I was attracted by a large arrow crab and coral banded shrimp, then glanced left, and their it was, a large toadfish. Small hawksbill turtle, very friendly. Lots of schooling grunts, snapper, large angel pairs.
Websites	Living Underwater Park Royal
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Bonaire, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, British Virgin Islands, St. Croix, Belize, Roatan Puerto Rico, Kona Coast Hawaii
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	choppy, currents
Water Temp	81-83°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	80-100 Ft/ 24-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Dive Masters established the max depth for each dive, and made sure that buddy teams ended their dive at the same time, so the boat could pick them up while other divers could continue. Drift dives that had strong current included rules to start and end the dive as a group, for safety.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Crew handled gear like it was their own. They pass and retrieve camera gear to divers after they roll in and before they climb back aboard. There is a separate fresh water tank for camera setups.

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Dive Review of Living Underwater/Park Royal in Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan

Living Underwater/Park Royal, Nov, 2011,

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

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

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

Dive Review of Living Underwater/Park Royal in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan