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

Dive Palancar/Occidental Grand Cozumel, Aug, 2006,

by Robert Morris, Pa, USA . Report 2965.

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 2 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments Due to the great numbers of divers in Cozumel, if possible get together with a small number of advanced divers and you may be able to do some more exclusive sites further out or some that are really only for experienced divers like "Devil's Throat" (Punta Sur). This is a coral tunnel complex that starts at 80 ft. and twists and turns down to the exit at 130 ft. Not many fish on that dive but very interesting none the less. Requires a light and you will need to do a short decompression due to the time below 100ft.
The reefs were in fairly good condition considering Hurricane Wilma spent 50 hours on Cozumel. Some broken coral and some sand in odd places on the walls. But many normal Caribbean fish of all types and in great numbers! Not much large life other than turtles, nurse sharks and Southern stingrays. Mostly drift dives in strong current; you cover a lot of reef and so you see a lot. Some unusual fish seen included Large Eye Toadfish, Splendid Toadfish (endemic to Cozumel), Sargassum Triggerfish and Yellow Stingray. Also saw Queen Angels and Cowfish in apparently mating behavior.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 101-250 dives
Where else diving Cayman Islands, Belize, St.Croix, Utila, Nicaragua, Guadalupe, Key West, Jamaica, La Jolla
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas currents
Water Temp 82-84°F / 28-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 1
Water Visibility 70-80 Ft/ 21-24 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions These dives were mostly drift dives and so were led by the DM and some involved decompression so were limited by air and computer.
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 4 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 4 stars Large Fish 2 stars
Large Pelagics 1 stars

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

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 1 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 3 stars Shore Facilities 1 stars
UW Photo Comments No camera-only rinse buckets were provided and no area to lay equipment out between dives. A litle difficult to compose images while drifting fast over the reef. But I managed to get some good photos due to the amount of fish and colorful inverts on the reefs.
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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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