I spent 3 days in Cozumel diving with Aldora. I wont bore everyone with another long Cozumel trip report, but there are a few specific things worth mentioning. My group of 3 arrived Thursday afternoon and departed Sunday afternoon with the goal of squeezing in as much quality diving as possible.
Aldora:
I have never dove with them before, but have heard all about their operation. Having dove with Living Underwater last year, I wanted the long bottom times that the large tanks offer, but I did not want my dive site selections limited due to inexperienced divers like they were with Living Underwater. I had a good time with Living Underwater, but as a solo diver on a boat with mixed abilities I didn't get to dive the advanced sites.
I booked early with Aldora and let them know we wanted advanced sites after they saw us dive. We arrived Thursday afternoon and did a long easy night dive at Chankanaab with another experienced diver making us a group of four. It was a nice dive and Aldora had the opportunity to assess our abilities.
Friday morning had a pleasant surprise when we found out there were 10 divers going out, but they were splitting the 10 into 3 different boats. Dave, the owner of Aldora would be on our boat along with 1 other experienced diver. 10 minutes on the water we had boat problems. Dave radioed for another boat to meet us at the marina. Another boat shortly arrived but it was not an Aldora boat. That meant Dave was paying extra to rent a boat from another shop on short notice. We dove Columbia Deep/Daves Throat and Punta Tunich.
Friday evening we did a night dive with just the 3 of us. Many operators have a 4 person minimum for night dives, but they took the 3 of us out anyway.
Saturday morning Dave met us at the dock, asked us how we liked the night dive and discussed where to go for todays dives. We agreed on Punta Sur Sur. Bill was our divemaster since Dave wanted to spend time with his other customers on 1 of the other boats. Again there were 10 divers split into 3 different boats, but one of the boats was the rental boat we used yesterday. That meant Dave could not get his boat fixed in time. Dave could have split the 10 into 2 Aldora boats and saved himself the cost of the rental boat, the extra captain and DM, but he decided to think of his customers needs instead of his wallet.
My diving experience with Aldora was everything I wanted and more. Dave is totally involved in the day to day operations and I highly recommend them.
Thu evening dive: Chankanaab, 86 minutes, max depth 51, avg depth 41.
Fri morning dive #1: Columbia Deep/Daves Throat, 60 minutes, max depth 133, avg depth 53.
Fri morning dive #2: Punta Tunich, 63 minutes, max depth 77, avg depth 48.
Fri evening dive: Paradise, 87 minutes, max depth 44, avg. depth 34.
Sat morning dive #1: Punta Sur Sur, 61 minutes, max depth 110, avg depth 55.
Sat morning dive #2: San Francisco, 83 minutes, max depth 80, avg depth 43.
Hotel Bahia:
A steal for divers looking for a basic hotel. Clean, cable TV, air conditioning, free continental breakfast, free high-speed internet access on the lobby computer, balcony, kitchenette, refrigerator, private bathroom. Located downtown, across the street from the Aldora boat pier, $47/night.
If anyone has any questions I would be happy to answer them.
Ron
Aldora:
I have never dove with them before, but have heard all about their operation. Having dove with Living Underwater last year, I wanted the long bottom times that the large tanks offer, but I did not want my dive site selections limited due to inexperienced divers like they were with Living Underwater. I had a good time with Living Underwater, but as a solo diver on a boat with mixed abilities I didn't get to dive the advanced sites.
I booked early with Aldora and let them know we wanted advanced sites after they saw us dive. We arrived Thursday afternoon and did a long easy night dive at Chankanaab with another experienced diver making us a group of four. It was a nice dive and Aldora had the opportunity to assess our abilities.
Friday morning had a pleasant surprise when we found out there were 10 divers going out, but they were splitting the 10 into 3 different boats. Dave, the owner of Aldora would be on our boat along with 1 other experienced diver. 10 minutes on the water we had boat problems. Dave radioed for another boat to meet us at the marina. Another boat shortly arrived but it was not an Aldora boat. That meant Dave was paying extra to rent a boat from another shop on short notice. We dove Columbia Deep/Daves Throat and Punta Tunich.
Friday evening we did a night dive with just the 3 of us. Many operators have a 4 person minimum for night dives, but they took the 3 of us out anyway.
Saturday morning Dave met us at the dock, asked us how we liked the night dive and discussed where to go for todays dives. We agreed on Punta Sur Sur. Bill was our divemaster since Dave wanted to spend time with his other customers on 1 of the other boats. Again there were 10 divers split into 3 different boats, but one of the boats was the rental boat we used yesterday. That meant Dave could not get his boat fixed in time. Dave could have split the 10 into 2 Aldora boats and saved himself the cost of the rental boat, the extra captain and DM, but he decided to think of his customers needs instead of his wallet.
My diving experience with Aldora was everything I wanted and more. Dave is totally involved in the day to day operations and I highly recommend them.
Thu evening dive: Chankanaab, 86 minutes, max depth 51, avg depth 41.
Fri morning dive #1: Columbia Deep/Daves Throat, 60 minutes, max depth 133, avg depth 53.
Fri morning dive #2: Punta Tunich, 63 minutes, max depth 77, avg depth 48.
Fri evening dive: Paradise, 87 minutes, max depth 44, avg. depth 34.
Sat morning dive #1: Punta Sur Sur, 61 minutes, max depth 110, avg depth 55.
Sat morning dive #2: San Francisco, 83 minutes, max depth 80, avg depth 43.
Hotel Bahia:
A steal for divers looking for a basic hotel. Clean, cable TV, air conditioning, free continental breakfast, free high-speed internet access on the lobby computer, balcony, kitchenette, refrigerator, private bathroom. Located downtown, across the street from the Aldora boat pier, $47/night.
If anyone has any questions I would be happy to answer them.
Ron
