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Dive Review of Living Underwater/Hotel Presidente InterContinental in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan

Living Underwater/Hotel Presidente InterContinental, Sep, 2007,

by Matthew Radtke, CO, United States (Sr. Reviewer Sr. Reviewer 8 reports with 5 Helpful votes). Report 3677.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 5 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving 3 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments My partner and I recently escaped to Cozumel for five days of diving. Between the two of us, we've logged over 600 dives, including shore dives, boat dives, and live-aboards. We both agreed that the Living Underwater dive operation provided service that is second to none.

We contacted Living Underwater in advance, and arranged to have them pick us up at our hotel's dock. Jeremy (owner) and his team, Gustavo (dive master) and Francisco (captain), arrived five minutes early and greeted us with big smiles. We passed our gear aboard, and never touched most of it again until it was time to get in the water. The crew stowed our dry gear in overhead cargo nets, placed fins, booties and wet suits under our seats, connected our BC's and regulators to fresh tanks, and added appropriate weights to our BC pockets.

As we were nearing the dive site, we put on our wet suits and fins. After a concise dive briefing from the DM (Jeremy on the first day, Gustavo for days 2-4), Francisco helped each of us into our BC, lifting the heavy steel tank up onto the seat and holding open the straps of the BC. When everyone was geared up, we just moved from the seat up onto the gunwale, and on the count of three did a backwards roll into the warm water.

The actual dives were a lot of fun. Both Jeremy and Gustavo like to take their time, patiently coaxing toadfish out of their holes, pointing out tiny pike blennies and pipe horses, and still keeping a keen eye out for turtles, rays, lobsters, eels and sharks -- all of which we saw on a regular basis. The French and Queen Angelfish were amazing - some of the biggest I've ever seen. There are also a number of intriguing coral formations which include tall pinnacles and easy swim-throughs. And all of this is made more interesting by the ever-present current, which whisks you along your dive route with very little swimming effort unless you want to stop to look at something.

After a dive which typically lasted 55-75 minutes, we surfaced with the dive master. In most cases, the boat was waiting less than 50 yards away, and never did we have an issue with not being picked up very quickly. Following Jeremy's instructions, we slipped out of our BC's while still in the water next to the boat. While Francisco pulled our heavy gear aboard, we were free to remove our fins and climb the aluminum ladder relatively unencumbered. As soon as we were aboard and had our wet suits unzipped, someone was always waiting to put a warm dry towel around our shoulders. Fleece-lined dive parkas were offered regularly as well. And once all the guests were situated, the crew brought out fresh fruit, cookies, cold water, and soda. While we munched away the surface interval, they switched our gear to fresh tanks in preparation for the second dive.

At the end of each day, we left almost all of our gear on board the boat. The Living Underwater team rinsed everything out and hung it up to dry overnight, so that when we got on board the next morning everything was ready to go again. Truly amazing service... I can't think of a single thing they could have done better!

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 51-100 dives
Where else diving Grand Cayman, Turks and Caicos, Roatan, Bonaire
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas currents
Water Temp 79-83°F / 26-28°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 75-200 Ft/ 23-61 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

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

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

Subject Matter N/A Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments [None]
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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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