Aldora Divers trip report

[pilot fish]

As someone said, a trip report does not have to convey excitement, just be truthful, which I think yours was. If you felt no passion, why invent it for the reader? You did not echo everyone else's experience in Coz but instead gave YOUR impressions, which are VERY valid and individual.

For most of us, Coz is kind of the Everest of Caribbean diving, so to hear you were not that impressed by it is very interesting. I respect your opinon since you and NWgrateful diver, who I now know is the Bob you referred to in your OP , are not wide eyed newbies rubberstamping what everyone else has said before you. What your post did for me is make me more interested in doing cenote diving.

I'm curious what sites you dove in Coz?

Well, I didn't say very much about the diving, but that was really because there are so many reports of what the diving in Cozumel is like, and I didn't have anything new to say. I did want to talk about where we stayed and who we dove with, because there are so many options there.

We did enjoy the diving, particularly the deep reefs with the canyons and swim throughs. I loved the fine, pristine white sand. And as I said, the night dives were spectacular.

But if you want passion in a report, go read the one about the cenotes . . .

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

As someone said, a trip report does not have to convey excitement, just be truthful, which I think yours was. If you felt no passion, why invent it for the reader? You did not echo everyone else's experience in Coz but instead gave YOUR impressions, which are VERY valid and individual.

For most of us, Coz is kind of the Everest of Caribbean diving, so to hear you were not that impressed by it is very interesting. I respect your opinon since you and NWgrateful diver, who I now know is the Bob you referred to in your OP , are not wide eyed newbies rubberstamping what everyone else has said before you. What your post did for me is make me more interested in doing cenote diving.

I don't think either one of us meant to imply that we didn't like the diving ... or that we didn't end each dive with huge grins ... we did. It's just that different things appeal to different people ... and the Cenotes are an experience all unto themselves.

In my case, I was only expressing my preference for more diving freedom ... I enjoy diving with DM's in order for them to point out the hard-to-see local marine life that I otherwise might miss because I didn't recognize what I was looking at. But I also enjoy poking around on a reef on my own schedule, seeing what I can discover for myself. Other places in the Caribbean offer both options, while Cozumel only offers the former.

That's really all we're saying. Our Cozumel experience was very nice. I'm very glad I went. If it were one of a limited number of choices, I would certainly go back. But there's so much of the world I haven't seen yet ... and vacation time limits me to about 3 weeks a year to see it all.

Besides, having seen the huge number of divers in the water down there all the time, you should be HAPPY that a few of us would rather go somewhere else ...

I'm curious what sites you dove in Coz?

Palancar Gardens
Paradise (3 times)
Punta Sur
Tunich
Las Palmas
Columbia Deep
San Francisco Reef
Palancar Horseshoe (twice)
El Paso del Cedral
Santa Rosa Wall
Tormentos (twice)
Palancar Caves (twice)
Delilah
Chakanab
and two dives in front of Villa Aldora

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Christi]

As someone said, a trip report does not have to convey excitement, just be truthful, which I think yours was. If you felt no passion, why invent it for the reader? You did not echo everyone else's experience in Coz but instead gave YOUR impressions, which are VERY valid and individual.

OMG...I agree with PilotFish

 

[pilot fish]

Some of those dives you listed are not the best Coz has to offer. Palancar Gardens was boring before Wilma . Columbia Deep used to be a fav of mine but I remmebr the last time I dove it not being so wowed. Maybe that got damaged in the storm? Columbia Horseshoe I thought was great and, I think, more typical of Coz but I'll let others with more knowledge than I comment on that. I wish you guys could have dove Devil's Throat, which still remains one of my favorite dives.

What the trip report reminds me of is how differently we all view things. I think it's refreshing to hear the truth about a trip, rather then some forced confirmation of everyone else's experience.

Oh, I did not sense any negatives in the report at all but rather a feeling of, " yeah, it was good but not great"

I

Palancar Gardens
Paradise (3 times)
Punta Sur
Tunich
Las Palmas
Columbia Deep
San Francisco Reef
Palancar Horseshoe (twice)
El Paso del Cedral
Santa Rosa Wall
Tormentos (twice)
Palancar Caves (twice)
Delilah
Chakanab
and two dives in front of Villa Aldora

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[pilot fish]

Hi, good morning Christi. Sorry for our misunderstanding.:10:

What do you think of NWGD's list of dives? You would be more able to tell him how typical they are of Coz than I.

OMG...I agree with PilotFish

 

[Christi]

Hi, good morning Christi. Sorry for our misunderstanding.:10:

What do you think of NWGD's list of dives? You would be more able to tell him how typical they are of Coz than I.

No worries

I think they did some great dives...although they did miss a few of my favorites (Maracaibo shallows/Chun Chakaab area, Columbia shallows, Palancar Bricks, & Francesa) Alot of the excitement or "wow" factor these dives have has to do with the divemaster...they all have different tours of the same reefs. Some do alot of neat swim throughs, some stay on the outside...some know how to find stuff on those reefs...others don't and/or don't try.

They did do Punta Sur, but didn't specify whether they dis the "throat" or not. personally, Punta Sur is a much nicer dive to me without doingthe throat. There are massive cathedral like swim throughs and healthy coral all over.

You mentioned Columbia Horseshoe...that would actually be Palancar Horseshoe. Columbia, and all of Palancar (including Punta Sur which is the southern point of Palancar) are ALL typical of Cozumel. Columbia was probably the LEAST affected of all of the reefs and Palancar Gardens is actually even better after Wilma.

PF..I think you're going with the wrong DM's if you think these dives are boring and didn't "wow" you. But to each is own...everyone's got their own opinion.

 

[pilot fish]

PF..I think you're going with the wrong DM's if you think these dives are boring and didn't "wow" you. But to each is own...everyone's got their own opinion.

No, I did not find THOSE dives he listed boring at all, just the one: Palancar Gardens.

I think I have been with the wrong DM on occassion but one has to take what one gets sometimes.

 

[TSandM]

Oh, we didn't think they were boring! The structure is beautiful, and we wound our way in and out of the reef as we dove. Peter has some very dramatic pictures of divers coming through the "canyons". The deeper reefs had a lot of color, too. We had a lot of fun with the swim-throughs, as well, playing "cave diver". (We were diving 32%, which gave us a hard deck of around 111 feet, which is below my personal hard deck for narcosis issues anyway, so that let out the Devil's Throat dive.)

It's like diving DIR or not . . . Different diving appeals to different people. I liked the quiet water and extensive soft life (gorgonians, sea fans, soft coral and sponges) of the BVI, and I liked the grey, mucky bottoms of Lembeh with all the weird and amazing creatures we saw there. But I realized yesterday, with my first dives back in our cold water, that what I like most about diving is the ability to putter about, not covering a lot of ground, but spending a lot of time looking at a small area to find the tiny things that you miss if you're moving fast. That's just me.

 

[Peter Guy]

Even though the dives are now a little blurry to my aged mind, I'll attempt to give MY perspective on them.

Was there a "WOW" factor in any of the Coz dives? I suppose not really -- but perhaps I have a very high "WOW" index (this wowed me!) as did the Cenotes!).

Were they very pleasant? Absolutely and, unlike my wife, I would (and probably will) go back and do them some more.

I enjoyed the various structures/swimthroughs BUT, I'll confess, they were diminished "in stature" by the "swimthroughs" in the Cenotes!

Perhaps because of the damage done, a lot of the things I enjoy seeing (that I spent much time examining in the BVI for example) were not there. Again, this is NOT to say it wasn't enjoyable, just to say it doesn't "rank" as high on MY scale.

For me, Cozumel ranks very high as a vacation/diving spot because of the overall facilities. I LOVED staying at Villa Aldora, having a grand apartment isolated from the town but within easy walking/cab distance to a great town -- "touristy" enough but not TOO much -- almost the perfect mix.

I'm not the 6 dive a day person that Bob purports to be -- two or at most three dives works great for me. I want to relax, read a book (or ScubaBoard), wander around shops looking at nice (and some gorgeous) jewelry -- or just watching people and commerce. Coz is a place that can be done.

I must say I loved watching the Cruise Ships come in, discharge their people and watch them doing their thing -- and watch them leave and see the change in the town.

Coz is a wonderful place -- as are so many others.

 

[pilot fish]

Peter Guy, that wowed me just watching it on my puter.