Aldora Divers

[Oside Jimc]

Looks like we are going to stay at the Villa Aldora in March, is it March yet?

 

[ggunn]

On island Taxi "mafia" is crazy along with the "Colectivo's" when you clear customs at the airport.It would be nice to just hop in a cab and get to the villa/resort. I understand they need to make some pesos but it is a tad ridiculous when just arriving from along trip.

FWIW, the Cozumel airport is very small and just doesn't have the infrastructure to handle enough cabs to pick up all the passengers from a large plane, much less two or three at a time as sometimes happens. If it were all cabs instead of the shuttles, chances are it would take a lot longer to get to your hotel.

At any rate, I don't mind the shuttle ride; when I get to Cozumel, I've been on island time since I checked my bags in at the AUS airport.

 

[bdshort]

I'll back up Dave. When we stayed at the Villas, Dave was there with his family for a day, as were Kay and Greg. They were top notch, also running us into the store for some grocery shopping. The boats picked us up right at the villas, and when I got bent so badly I couldn't walk anymore, they were there to squire me around to the chamber and try to get me fixed up. I ended up in Houston to get repaired, but that's another story. I highly recommend the villa and the dive op.

So what did you do to get bent? :shocked2:

I sent an email to them before I booked my reservations, and they emailed right back with some helpful answers. Email came from "Kay and Greg".

 

[dtcmarical]

Greg and Kay are the best. I have stayed at least 7 times at the villa while Greg and Kay were managing on site. There is not room for me to tell all the things that they did that were above and beyond the call of duty. When I learned that they were not the onsite managers anymore, it almost made me sick. From spending Thanksgiving at the villa, just me and my teenage son, Greg, Kay, and Jim, to the numerous trips to the grocery store, Greg and Kay always treated us like family.

Memo and the crew at the dive shop always provide great service. Mateo and Luis are my all time favorite divemasters. Memo and Mateo both took us diving in the cenotes, what an experience.

Never met Dave, but if you judge someone by the people they surround themselves with he is also A+.

Can't wait for December 31st, I will be on a plane to visit my home away from home. Look forward to diving with the Aldora gang from the 31st-the 7th.

Bad service must be an anomoly! Greg/Kay if you read this: Darrin & Tanya say "Hello and we will miss you guys!"

 

[TSandM]

Mateo was our DM, and he was wonderful. Cheerful, as helpful as we needed or wanted but not intrusive. He quickly figured out that we had a pretty competent group, and he could spend his time looking for animals we might not otherwise have seen. He also did one of our cenote tour days, and was a competent and conscientious guide. He's a good friend of our first cave instructor. Mateo was seriously part of the quality we enjoyed with Aldora.

 

[NudeDiver]

All:

I just wanted to comment, I am in contact with Dave of Aldora Divers - and all is well. Snafus do happen - and in this case, it was a snafu that happened, not a "kiss off". Dave and Aldora's reputation do seem well deserved.

Thanks to all for the encouragement!
nd

 

[hypersonic]

While you guys are giving accolades to Aldora, you forgot to mention that Memo normally shows up at Sr. Sancho's during the surface interval to make sure that everything went well on the first dive and that any adjustments need to be made for the second dive.

The Villa is a great place to stay and close to the airport. We liked opening the sliding glass door at night and hearing the waves splashing against the sea wall just 50 ft away.

 

[vlkr]

i've been going to czm annualy for about 22 yrs. usually go with a small group of friends. can't remeber when we started with aldora. over the yrs people who were originally put on our boat by memo are now part of the group which gets together there in apr/may. some of us are dm cert and at least one has ridiculous amount of dives, like 2,000 by one guy. we like to be with similar divers and always get what we like. have never met dave. have heard stories that memo is extraordinary as dm but have not been able to talk him into getting wet. if you have seen his 2 large megs, i am the guy who brought them down.