Aldora and 3 P's Reviews

[uncfnp]

Ok, since you moved here and mentioned the two ops specifically I will give you my time to first dive with each op.

Aldora and pier pickup. At pier 7:30 each morning and time to splash for first dive average 8:40. That roughly an hour and 10 minutes boat time.

With 3P and marina departure but counting meetup time at the shop, arrival at shop by 7:40 but it was usually 7:45 by shop departure and first splash averaged 8:46.

So virtually no statical difference in time from departure to first dive between the two.

 

[cicopo]

While diving with 3P in Feb we ended up at southern reefs on 2 or 3 different days at roughly the same time that Aldora 3 or Aldora 4 did so I have to agree with the above.

 

[Christi]

With Blue XT Sea - downtown pier departure at 8am, splash time is between 8:45 and 9:00

Return to downtown pier between 1:00 and 1:30 after two 60-70 minute dives and a 1:15 - 1:30 surface interval

Pedro and Arturo just returned to the office - today it took them 20 minutes to get from the entrance of the marina to the stop light at the cruise ship pier - then another 20 minutes to the shop. So 40 minutes in the truck after the dive.

 

[deepsea21]

Maybe I can help get this thread back on topic?

I would like to hear reviews on using ground transportation to get to the marina. I started a new thread on this topic, "Downtown pier pick up or taxi to the marina" Must say I'm surprised how long it takes to return to town in the afternoon really 45 minutes? I think a beer cooler would be required for that trip.

How about a review on actual process and time it takes to return to town?

Regards,
Keepdivin

We've been diving with 3P's the last three years for 2-weeks at a time. At the end of the day all that really matters is time departing town to and returning to town. The courtesy transport from 3P's shop in town to the marina generally leaves at 7:40-7:45AM. Dives time is governed by your own air consumption, DC, or 70 minutes (whichever comes first). Surface intervals are always an hour and sometimes longer as the crew wants to see an hour SI based on the last diver to surface on the first dive. The SI is usually spent at a dock at one of the beach clubs so you can walk about, use facilities, swim, whatever. The only time this SI changes is if the group elects to dive Columbia Shallows (max 30') for lots of time and bright UW photo ops in the very slow drift there. Then the SI is shortened so all can spend lots of time on (up to a max of I'd say 90 minutes but most everyone has seen all they care to see and photographed everything they want to photograph and surfaced sooner than 90 minutes). On average, arrival time back at the shop is around 12:30PM. Sometimes it can be 12 noon and other times it can be 1PM as that all depends on the traffic and how many cruise ships are in that day. With so many cruise ships and their passengers now infesting the island like a drunken swarm of mad hornets and island infrastructure that was developed before the island ever saw a cruise ship it can get pretty congested at times. Cozumel's "rush our" seems to run from about 11AM to 3PM.

Oh.. I do need to add that our past three trips have been over X-mas so I can't comment on traffic and what takes place Jan-April which I assume is busier but the reality is the cruise ship ports seem to be pretty much fully loaded year round now... Remember the days when there would only be 1 or 2 ships in and peak day was one day a week with 5-6 in? No more.. the ships seem to be cramming the island with passengers year 'round now.

 

[waynel]

I don't understand this having to ascend as a group, unless it's a cattle boat with 24 divers and there's a lot of new divers. I've been diving little boats for the past 10 years in Coz and divers just ascend when they need (or want) to. The boat is drifting along behind us and just picks em up in the drift. Of course, if it's just the op's policy that's fine. I'm a building contractor and my General Liability insurance is a huge bite. I can't even imagine what dive ops have to pay.

 

[gopbroek]

When I am driving a 3P truck (about one dive trip per month) rarely does it take me more than 15 minutes per trip to or from the marina but in the afternoon I let folks know that Cervesa is available at the ramp bodega.

 

[deepsea21]

I don't understand this having to ascend as a group, unless it's a cattle boat with 24 divers and there's a lot of new divers. I've been diving little boats for the past 10 years in Coz and divers just ascend when they need (or want) to. The boat is drifting along behind us and just picks em up in the drift. Of course, if it's just the op's policy that's fine. I'm a building contractor and my General Liability insurance is a huge bite. I can't even imagine what dive ops have to pay.

Most of the quality dive ops that tend to attract more experienced divers do not require all divers surface as a group. To do so would limit the most experienced and air conservative diver on the boat to the abilities of the newest diver on the boat and that simply isn't right. Quality dive ops will have DM's that will surface with the less experienced divers as needed, see they are at the boat, and descend again to rejoin the group. A DM is a "guide" by definition and nothing more as every diver and their buddy if they practice the buddy system is expected to be able to take care of themselves - THAT IS WHAT BEING DIVE CERTIFIED MEANS! I don't know where this concept got lost over the past 15 years but watching certified divers put their wet suit on backwards and zipping up the front then watching them realize something isn't right can get a little disconcerting. Luckily, I don't see that anymore as our cattle boat days of diving were left behind long ago.

On another note, while liability insurance is a requirement in the states and costs a fortune thanks to our legal system and ambulance chasing attorneys everywhere, there is no such requirement to carry liability insurance in Mexico. The release you sign in Mexico prior to diving says it all and you will not be able to contest that document and what you signed in a Mexican court of law claiming whatever one wants to claim. As such, no dive operator I know of carries any type of liability insurance in Mexico.

 

[uncfnp]

I don't understand this having to ascend as a group, unless it's a cattle boat with 24 divers and there's a lot of new divers. I've been diving little boats for the past 10 years in Coz and divers just ascend when they need (or want) to. The boat is drifting along behind us and just picks em up in the drift. Of course, if it's just the op's policy that's fine. I'm a building contractor and my General Liability insurance is a huge bite. I can't even imagine what dive ops have to pay.

Just so you are not surprised, double check with Blue XT Sea. I believe they require divers to ascend as a group.

 

[Christi]

Just so you are not surprised, double check with Blue XT Sea. I believe they require divers to ascend as a group.

No we do not - we never have.

 

[waynel]

That's the advantage of diving 6 packs with an Op that puts divers on boats with similar experience levels, and why I stopped diving cattle boats many, many years ago. Forget liability insurance reasons or whatever. If a DM is down with 20 divers and maybe half of them are new, he/she has got to watch out for their safety. If I was a DM in that situation, I would want all 20 of them to come up at the same time. No way is he/she going to ascend/descend 10 times on one dive and try to keep track of everyone. But that's why we select ops like Blue XT (and their boats), or whoever, not to mention having my mask kicked off or my $1,500 camera being yanked off a d ring with 20 divers lining up to get on the boat. But hey, most of us started in the same place. Cattle boats, hauling gear, cleaning it, storing it. You learn over the years. As far as wetsuits, that's why I dive Coz in June. Don't need one.