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Dive Review of Liquid Blue Divers/Melia in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Cozumel

Liquid Blue Divers/Melia, Jan, 2014,

by Alice Ribbens, MN, US (Contributor Contributor 19 reports with 19 Helpful votes). Report 7513.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations N/A Food N/A
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 3 stars
Comments Steve and Kami bought the business about a year ago and are trying to bring the best customer service they can to diving in Cozumel. We had not dove there in about 12 years and were pleasantly surprised by the diving--the corals look healthy, lots of fish, lots of turtles, etc. But for a small operation, Steve and Kami definitely bring their A-game! We were there with some friends who are both instructors. The four of us have dove all over the world and each have between 200 and 500 dives logged. I had contacted several dive operators in Coz before our trip and felt like Liquid Blue was the only one who actually read my email and respected our experience and the kind of diving we wanted to do (all of the others just responded with a price list of everything from day diving to OW certs). Steve set up a time to meet with us after we arrived in Coz, take care of paperwork, figure out if we needed any rental equipment, and collected our gear to take to the boat. He also gave us a prepaid cellphone to use for the week. (This is a great idea--it really came in handy on a couple of days when the weather was iffy and we didn't know if the boat would be going out.) Every day, we just met him and the boat at the marina. (We were staying at a time share on the north side of the island, but I think if we were staying in town, he would have picked us up.) Our gear was on the boat ready to go. Steve also rinsed and hung it up every night so it was pretty much dry by the next morning. At the end of the week, he and Kami brought everything back to us, clean and dry and ready to pack. Snacks (fresh fruit, baked goods, granola bars) and water on the boat every day.

Liquid Blue has steel 100's or 120's for everyone to use. The idea is to get the most bottom time you can, even if you do a deep dive. There is a DM who leads the dive, but Steve and/or Kami are also in the water so if anyone wants to come up early for any reason, the whole group does not have to come up. I think over 8 dives (including 2 to 100+ ft), we had 9 1/2 hours of bottom time, including a dive at Columbia Shallows that was more than 1 1/2 hours long. That would not have happened with aluminum 80's! (My husband really got spoiled diving 120's as it is the first time in years that I was starting to run out of air before him.)

We told them at the beginning of the week that we basically wanted to go where there weren't other divers. Not necessarily an easy feat at Cozumel, but they were happy to take us wherever we wanted to go and we only saw another group of divers underwater on one dive.

The diving was good Caribbean diving. No, it isn't Indonesia or Fiji, but the reefs look pretty healthy. Lots of anemones and little critters. Tons of fish, lobsters, turtles, conch, etc. We only saw a handful of nurse sharks, but were happy exploring the reefs generally and enjoying the diversity of the fish there, including one dive where we probably found 8 splendid toadfish.

If you are headed to Cozumel and want small group diving with excellent customer service and a really personal experience, I highly recommend Liquid Blue.
Websites Liquid Blue Divers   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving Fiji, GBR, Palau, Maldives, Indonesia, Sea of Cortez, Utila, Belize, Monterey, Hawaii, Galapagos, Grand Cayman, Turks & Caicos, Bahamas
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, windy Seas calm
Water Temp 75-80°F / 24-27°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 100-150 Ft/ 30-46 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions come up with ~500 psi, let DM know when you were ready to come up
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

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

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

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 3 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 3 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments It is a day boat, so not a lot of extra room for big camera rigs. We only had a Go Pro and a Sealife 1200. They had a separate rinse bucket for cameras.
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Subscriber's Comments

By john j appel in TX, US at Feb 10, 2014 12:13 EST  
I would recommend Liquid Blue to anyone that wants a great dive experience. No cattle boats,relaxed, unrushed, and lots of bottom time! Liquid Blue, keep up the great work! Jeff Appel, Brenham, Tx
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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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