Flew into Cancun and took Mayair over to Cozumel, this was the best decision we made. It was such a simple and easy way to get over there as opposed to flying direct or doing the bag drag. Mayair gets a +1 from me.
We stayed at Cozumel Palace resort. I have never had good experiences with all inclusives but we were going for a wedding that was being held there so that decision was made for us. I was very impressed with this resort. The food was fantastic and obviously plentiful being an all inclusive. The facilities as a whole were impeccable and it was a 10 minute walk to town. In addition to staying there when we checked in we were informed that we had 1500 resort credits, needless to say this made the non diving wife very happy as she spent a lot of time at the spa. Now on to the good stuff.
I had been to Cozumel twice prior to this but only via cruise ships, i had dove there before but no idea who it was with. I chose Aldora off of recommendations on this board but also because of their tanks. 120 steels are absolutely amazing, i think the least bottom time i had all week was 66 minutes and it was not because of me or deco it was because others had run low on air.
First day of diving, i was picked up promptly at 7:40 at the hotel dock, we were easily one of the first boats on the water and we were the first to the dive site. We had 6 total divers and 1 DM on board. out of the 6, 4 were a family with 2 brand new certified divers from utah (they were given a huge treat on their first ocean dives). We went to Palancar Caves where the DM gave by far the most comprehensive pre-dive briefing i have ever heard. I had a picture in my head of what to expect from her brief and it was spot on. during the dive 1 of the newly certified divers ran through their tank kind of quickly so the DM handed them her 6 foot long hose so everyone else could extend thier bottom time. On the second dive of the day we did Santa Rosa Wall (one of my favorites in Coz), as we were approaching some of the swimthroughs she pointed them out for me to go through with my buddy and then took the other divers around the ones that were not suitable for new divers. I was very impressed with her for allowing this, she did not restrict our dive because of the newer divers.
That was just 1 day of diving, i experienced more of the same on the other tow days with them, an absolute First Class dive operation that has my business for life. Some of the other advantages:
SI was held on a beach everyday
we went to Maracaibo - no one else was that far south
Always first boat on the dive site in the AM
Gear was always taken by the shop rinsed and dried and waiting on board the next morning strapped to my tank
120 steels
90 minutes of bottom time
120 steels (not sure if I mentioned that one yet)
I am sure that i am not saying something else that was amazing about their service but think everyone will get the idea about how impressed i was. I know that there are a lot of dive ops on the island and i am sure that some of them are just as good as Aldora but i just dont ever see myself wanting to try someone else after having such an excellent experience.
We stayed at Cozumel Palace resort. I have never had good experiences with all inclusives but we were going for a wedding that was being held there so that decision was made for us. I was very impressed with this resort. The food was fantastic and obviously plentiful being an all inclusive. The facilities as a whole were impeccable and it was a 10 minute walk to town. In addition to staying there when we checked in we were informed that we had 1500 resort credits, needless to say this made the non diving wife very happy as she spent a lot of time at the spa. Now on to the good stuff.
I had been to Cozumel twice prior to this but only via cruise ships, i had dove there before but no idea who it was with. I chose Aldora off of recommendations on this board but also because of their tanks. 120 steels are absolutely amazing, i think the least bottom time i had all week was 66 minutes and it was not because of me or deco it was because others had run low on air.
First day of diving, i was picked up promptly at 7:40 at the hotel dock, we were easily one of the first boats on the water and we were the first to the dive site. We had 6 total divers and 1 DM on board. out of the 6, 4 were a family with 2 brand new certified divers from utah (they were given a huge treat on their first ocean dives). We went to Palancar Caves where the DM gave by far the most comprehensive pre-dive briefing i have ever heard. I had a picture in my head of what to expect from her brief and it was spot on. during the dive 1 of the newly certified divers ran through their tank kind of quickly so the DM handed them her 6 foot long hose so everyone else could extend thier bottom time. On the second dive of the day we did Santa Rosa Wall (one of my favorites in Coz), as we were approaching some of the swimthroughs she pointed them out for me to go through with my buddy and then took the other divers around the ones that were not suitable for new divers. I was very impressed with her for allowing this, she did not restrict our dive because of the newer divers.
That was just 1 day of diving, i experienced more of the same on the other tow days with them, an absolute First Class dive operation that has my business for life. Some of the other advantages:
SI was held on a beach everyday
we went to Maracaibo - no one else was that far south
Always first boat on the dive site in the AM
Gear was always taken by the shop rinsed and dried and waiting on board the next morning strapped to my tank
120 steels
90 minutes of bottom time
120 steels (not sure if I mentioned that one yet)
I am sure that i am not saying something else that was amazing about their service but think everyone will get the idea about how impressed i was. I know that there are a lot of dive ops on the island and i am sure that some of them are just as good as Aldora but i just dont ever see myself wanting to try someone else after having such an excellent experience.
