Living Underwater Review

[RTodd]

We just spent the week diving with Living Underwater. I am posting a review since the glowing reports I read here didn’t exactly correspond to the reality. Personally, I would not dive with Jeremy’s operation again but there are some reasons for that and it may be the right dive operator for some.

First, some background so my biases are clear. I have been diving in Cozumel since 1994 and have several hundred dives there. Being very familiar with all of the dive sites on the west side of the island I am generally not too picky about where an operator takes us. But, I am not interested in going to the over dived sites close to town such as Santa Rosa Wall which aren’t as good and simply allow the dive ops to get back to shore faster and save a few bucks on fuel. My primary concern is a fast boat that (1) only has divers diving extended nitrox bottom times on the walls (30-45 minutes at an average depth of 90+ feet before beginning the ascent to the shallow portion) or (2) is willing to trust divers to continue their dive on the wall and shoot their own lift bag/ marker once they come off the deep section. Technically most operators will require you to stay with the DM. But there are plenty that can accommodate more experienced divers and will allow them to continue their dives if the DM moves shallow early with other divers.

The good points:

1) Low pressure 95 and 120 cuft tanks. The 120s are overkill for the dives my wife and I do but that extra bit of air the 95s provide is nice in making sure you have proper reserves.
2) The boat crew is very good and the boat is fairly fast.
3) Towels, jackets and snacks are provided. Nice touches that many budget operators don’t provide.
4) Surface interval is spent at a beach and are approximately 1.5 hour long which is nice.

The downsides:

1) The operation tended to cater to inexperienced divers. The advantage of added air appears to primarily attract newer divers that are concerned about their air consumption. For the week we were there, we were the only divers that dove more than two days with the operation. There were never more than 4 divers total, but every dive catered to these less experienced divers a
2) Time at depth was no different than other budge operators. As a result, we paid the $25-30 premium Living Underwater charges for its two tank dive over other operators primarily to use the steel tanks only to be limited to dives we could have easily done with aluminum 80s. We were required to stay within site of the group and move off of the walls after about 15-20 minutes. There was a single exception where the only other diver on the boat experienced ear problems and Jeremy led us on a dive where we were able to spend a little over 30 minutes at deeper depths on the southern portion of Punta Sur (not the throat).
3) More remote sites without an extra charge is advertised but site selection is generally poor. While my wife experienced some earl problems that made Maracaibo or Barracuda impractical, most of the sites selected were more northern walls such as Palancar Gardens and Santa Rosa Wall. While I generally don’t push for a particular site anymore, we were not ever given the chance to pick dive sites. On the one day where we had agreed to start late to allow other divers to catch the boat I spoke up and asked to dive Columbia Deep. Without ever informing us of where we were diving, the boat stopped and dropped us at Santa Rosa Wall. I have to admit, this treatment after graciously accommodating a change in schedule really demonstrated that the operation doesn’t quite know how to actually provide a premium service.
4) One day I was the only diver scheduled so Jeremy arranged for me to dive with Liquid Blue instead. This frankly was the last straw. Liquid Blue Divers is the worst dive operation I have ever had to dive with in Cozumel. A summary is here:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cozumel/225396-liquid-blue-divers-review.html#post3444310

For less experienced divers Living Underwater is a nice operation. But, while I am perfectly willing to spend more for better service, I am not convinced that they really provide any extra value over other small boat operations. For more experienced divers, I would only use Living Underwater if I had the entire boat booked for my group. Even then, I would personally choose to use a different operation.

 

[diveborg]

wow, just..... wow

 

[scubawife]

Wow is right. I've done just about all my Cozumel diving with Living Underwater and that doesn't sound anything like the experiences I've had. We have had mostly experienced and very experienced divers and divers are usually booked for 4-7 consecutive days. We always choose sites by consensus off the divers that day, and our bottom times have never been limited.

You're either a really tough customer, got a very odd week with Jeremy, or didn't make your expectations known when you booked. For the complete diving freedom you seem to want - independent of a DM or any restrictions that come with group diving - your best bet in a destination like Cozumel would be to get a couple other divers and charter your own boat for the time you are there.

I had a week last year with two guys who were about as uncompromising and demanding as I've ever seen anywhere. During that time there were a couple days that we also had two less experienced divers onboard (and with a one-boat operation you always have a chance of getting a mixed group). Jeremy had his other DM with us and the two of them were able to give everyone what they wanted. We dived Punta Sur Sur a couple days and Columbia Deep and Pinnacles and other southern sites. The 2nd DM stayed with the less experienced divers.

Just out of curiosity and to better understand your disappointment, who have you dived with before in Cozumel that you were pleased with?

 

[Christi]

First, some background so my biases are clear. I have been diving in Cozumel since 1994 and have several hundred dives there.

So which operation(s) have you been diving with since 1994? What made you go elsewhere? Or were you unhappy with them too?

Being very familiar with all of the dive sites on the west side of the island I am generally not too picky about where an operator takes us. But, I am not interested in going to the over dived sites close to town such as Santa Rosa Wall which aren’t as good and simply allow the dive ops to get back to shore faster and save a few bucks on fuel.....

...More remote sites without an extra charge is advertised but site selection is generally poor. While my wife experienced some earl problems that made Maracaibo or Barracuda impractical, most of the sites selected were more northern walls such as Palancar Gardens and Santa Rosa Wall.

So just which sites were you hoping for (besides Columbia deep) if Maracaibo and Barracuda were not practical due to your wife's ear issues, Santa Rosa is "lame", and Palancar is "too north" for you?

FWIW, and in LU's defense, the winds were horrendous from the south last week, and we too had to stay closer in a couple of days..and it had nothing to do with getting back earlier or saving fuel. In fact, we used double the fuel today again due to the really strong winds from the south...and we only made it to Cedral Wall, which is BEAUTIFUL by the way.

My primary concern is a fast boat that (1) only has divers diving extended nitrox bottom times on the walls (30-45 minutes at an average depth of 90+ feet before beginning the ascent to the shallow portion)

You sound like a perfect candidate for a private boat. We (dive ops) cannot control the divers booked with us during any given week and what their preferences, dive styles may be. If there are only one or two of you diving nitrox, we cannot control that. If you only want your wishes and skill levels to be considered, then charter a private boat or bring enough people with you to fill a boat.

 

[loudives]

__________________

Lou

 

[loudives]

My primary concern is a fast boat that (1) only has divers diving extended nitrox bottom times on the walls (30-45 minutes at an average depth of 90+ feet before beginning the ascent to the shallow portion) or (2) is willing to trust divers to continue their dive on the wall and shoot their own lift bag/ marker once they come off the deep section. Technically most operators will require you to stay with the DM. But there are plenty that can accommodate more experienced divers and will allow them to continue their dives if the DM moves shallow early with other divers.

So why did you not go to one of them?

The operation tended to cater to inexperienced divers. The advantage of added air appears to primarily attract newer divers that are concerned about their air consumption. For the week we were there, we were the only divers that dove more than two days with the operation. There were never more than 4 divers total, but every dive catered to these less experienced divers

Isn't the responsibility of the operator to adjust his dive profile for the least experienced diver? An inexperienced diver has no business at 90' for 30+ min.

If you communicated your proposed dive profile with Jeremy prior to making reservations he would have told you he probably could not accommodate your wishes while he had inexperience divers.

Maybe you are more at fault than you think.

 

[Jim Baldwin]

My wife and I have been diving Cozumel for many years. We have several hundred hours under the water in Cozumel and like some others have dived the majority of the reefs.

For the past eight years that I can remember we have dived with Living Underwater, Liquid Blue and Aldora with the majority being with Living Underwater.

Both Jeremy Anschel at LU and Michaela at LB have gone out of their way to make our diving as enjoyable as possible. My wife and I made a nice long 17 day,
Dec 24-Jan 11, trip with five days of which we dove with Living Underwater.

Jeremy has a new, less than a year old, 34-foot custom built dive boat with a full canopy, camera rinse tank, fresh water shower and room for eight divers along with twin Yamaha 115's on the back. I'm pretty sure that this is one of the newer dive boats on the island. And it's also pretty darn fast.

We dove Punta Sur, Columbia Deep, all the Palancar reefs, and several others. These sites were chosen by the divers. One day we had a full boat with eight divers. Four were brand new and Jeremy added an extra divemaster and split the group. The new group did about 60 minutes and we did 75 plus minutes with our profile starting in the 100 foot range.

One day we also had some very serious winds and even with the bigger boat we didn't go very far south. As we finished our safety stop we grabbed each other's tank valve and had an underwater conga line as we surfaced. This kept everyone from drifting apart in the chop and current. High waves make it very hard for the boat captain to see the diver's bubbles and stay up with the group as well as maintaining a good position and not getting swamped by a big wave.

As far as rescheduling for another operation, diving operations are a business. Taking the boat out, paying the captain, first mate, and divemaster for a day's work plus the cost of the fuel with one diver is a losing proposition. And Jeremy like many others require deposits and even with that some people simply cancel with little or no notice.

The times we dove with Liquid Blue they had mid pressure, 3450 steel tanks that have the screw out insert allowing the use of yoke or DIN 1st stages. I dive high pressure, 3500 steel tanks with DIN and carry a converter so that I can dive yoke tanks.

I see that you are DIR leader. When you got on either boat your setup was not nearly the first they had seen. I dive with a backplate and wing and 7 foot hose and have been diving equipment like this for nearly 30 years. As far as allowing divers to do different profiles and shoot their own bags it really becomes a safety issue trying to keep up with fast or slow moving divers and recovering the divers quickly when they surface especially when there is a good current.

You are clearly entitled to your opinion but instead of beratting two excellent dive operations perhaps you need to make your expectations very clear to the dive operator you want and maybe a private charter is the only thing that will meet your requirements.

We will continue to recommend Living Underwater and Liquid Blue to anyone that asks be they new or veteran divers.

 

[diveborg]

Thanks for posting this...it's exactly what was relayed to me as well.

Sounds like a classic case of "ugly customer" syndrome...wants private service for the regular charter price and believes the rules apply only to others and/or that SOP should be deviated from just because he wants it...then has a temper tantrum when he doesn't get his way.

That sounds like a pretty accurate summary to me Christi.

 

[MMM]

Since I am here on the island diving with Jeremy right now, I mentioned to him your comments about his op and well as Liquid Blue¨s. Jeremy is not one to come on the board to provide his point of view and in fact, I think this is probably the first negative review I¨ve seen of his op in the past 6 years or so.

Here is what Jeremy told me about his experience with you and your wife. First, he said you were an excellent diver. He also said your wife was a very lovely and gracious woman. Your wife, however, experienced ear problems and could not descend below 70 feet. So he adjusted his diving plans to accommodate your wife¨s abilities. When he asked how everyone enjoyed the dives, she said she liked them very much.

Second, he said you wanted to go off separately from the rest of the group on your own, shoot your own sausage and have the boat look for you when and where you surfaced. He told you that was how divers got lost and died in Cozumel and that he would have a problem with that. At which point you turned your back on him.

Third, the winds were blowing from the south and going south was extremely difficult. (yesterday, for that very reason, we dived the north side¨Canterral and San Juan).

Fourth, when Jeremy asked how he could improve things for you, you got huffy and threw your gear on shore yourself (I¨m not sure of the order of this) and when you landed with Liquid Blue, you didn{t even wait for the boat to stop before you threw your gear off the boat.

I think you should have made clear to Jeremy what your expectations were before you booked with him. You can accept advice on the board here, but you take what you get when it is free.

 

[Christi]

Since I am here on the island diving with Jeremy right now, I mentioned to him your comments about his op and well as Liquid Blue¨s. Jeremy is not one to come on the board to provide his point of view and in fact, I think this is probably the first negative review I¨ve seen of his op in the past 6 years or so.

Here is what Jeremy told me about his experience with you and your wife. First, he said you were an excellent diver. He also said your wife was a very lovely and gracious woman. Your wife, however, experienced ear problems and could not descend below 70 feet. So he adjusted his diving plans to accommodate your wife¨s abilities. When he asked how everyone enjoyed the dives, she said she liked them very much.

Second, he said you wanted to go off separately from the rest of the group on your own, shoot your own sausage and have the boat look for you when and where you surfaced. He told you that was how divers got lost and died in Cozumel and that he would have a problem with that. At which point you turned your back on him.

Third, the winds were blowing from the south and going south was extremely difficult. (yesterday, for that very reason, we dived the north side¨Canterral and San Juan).

Fourth, when Jeremy asked how he could improve things for you, you got huffy and threw your gear on shore yourself (I¨m not sure of the order of this) and when you landed with Liquid Blue, you didn{t even wait for the boat to stop before you threw your gear off the boat.

I think you should have made clear to Jeremy what your expectations were before you booked with him. You can accept advice on the board here, but you take what you get when it is free.

Thanks for posting this...it's exactly what was relayed to me as well.

Sounds like a classic case of "ugly customer" syndrome...wants private service for the regular charter price and believes the rules apply only to others and/or that SOP should be deviated from just because he wants it...then has a temper tantrum when he doesn't get his way.