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Dive Review of Living Underwater/Playa Azul in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Cozumel

Living Underwater/Playa Azul: "Best Diving in Cozumel", Nov, 2019,

by Matt Radtke, CO, US (Sr. Reviewer Sr. Reviewer 8 reports with 5 Helpful votes). Report 11352.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 3 stars Food 3 stars
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 3 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments We have been diving in Cozumel since 2005. Since Jeremy and the Living Underwater team run such a fantastic operation, we try to visit at least once a year and the diving never disappoints. Living Underwater’s boat, The Jew Fish, holds a maximum of eight divers plus the crew: Captain Andreas, first mate Ricardo, and dive master Pepe or Lydia, all of whom are excellent. Depending on where you’re staying, pickup is usually at your hotel dock or the town pier, after which The Jew Fish’s twin 125 HP outboards will get you quickly to your first dive site of the morning.

During our most recent trip, the southern part of the marine park was closed to all underwater activities. The intent is to allow the heavily visited Palancar and Columbia reefs to “rest”, and also to allow scientists to study the disease that is affecting certain types of coral. While we very much enjoy diving those areas, other sites like Dalila, La Francesa, Santa Rosa, San Francisco, Tormentos, and Tunich provided plenty of great diving for the week. We saw everything from tiny Painted Elysia, Lettuce Leaf sea slugs, and several types of cleaner shrimp to huge Hawksbill and Loggerhead turtles, nurse sharks, six-foot green morays, and a couple of Spotted Eagle Rays. In between those size extremes, we encountered all the sea life that is so common to the Cozumel reefs including hundreds of lobsters, large angelfish, splendid toadfish, many varieties of crabs, mantis shrimp, jaw fish, and many others.

Both Lydia and Pepe are great dive masters who are very focused on keeping their customers happy. They make sure to point out the treasures that they find to everyone in the group, identify unknown critters using an underwater slate, and go slowly enough to allow the photographers and videographers plenty of time to capture footage. Since a 100cf tank will last me “only” 60-70 minutes on a typical dive, both Pepe and Lydia offered to stay down for an extra 10-15 minutes with my much more air-efficient wife/dive buddy. It’s easy to see why Living Underwater has such a loyal following and so many repeat customers.
Websites Living Underwater   Playa Azul

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 501-1000 dives
Where else diving Eygpt, Galapagos, Carribean, Indonesia, Palau, Mexico
Closest Airport CZM Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, windy Seas currents
Water Temp 82-°F / 28-°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Since all diving in Cozumel is drift diving, divers need to stay in contact with the DM and group.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

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 4 stars
Large Pelagics 3 stars

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

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 3 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments Fresh water rinse tank on the boat.
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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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