Aldora Divers

[wateraddiction]

We always use our own Dive Master. It’s totally worth the extra money. Even though he’s not as restricted now at 13 it’s just nice to have our own DM. It puts my mind at ease and I enjoy myself a lot more.

One of the reasons I love diving is how relaxed I feel under water and then I dove with my kids for the first time and for a second I thought, "Oh God, what have I done"!? So yes, we are definitely getting our own DM in Cozumel..... When you went with Aldora when your son was 10-12yo, were you always with another group on the boat and you dropped at different sites or just dove at different profiles?

 

[bradStyle]

an interesting GUE DM named Ruben

Is Ruben based on the island? If so I'd love to get his contact info. I'm always interested in meeting more GUE folks over here.

 

[wateraddiction]

Is Ruben based on the island? If so I'd love to get his contact info. I'm always interested in meeting more GUE folks over here.

Yes, Ruben is a DM starting up his own service. He's a marine biologist and a GUE Cave 2 diver who is looking into becoming a GUE instructor down the line (he's currently PADI and SSI). He also appears to have some access to BP/W and regs for rental if others are interested in that.

Meet The Master

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to dive with a Marine Biologist? Now is your chance!

marinebiologyexpeditions.com

 

[OregonDM]

So how was your son's experience with Aldora? We have a 10 and 11 yo who just got certified in Bonaire and I'm considering DWM, Aldora (where I got cert with Liang) and an interesting GUE DM named Ruben. I'm thinking as a family of 4 with 2 Jr divers restricted to 40 ft, we would be assigned our own DM.

Could not have been better. We decided to hire a private DM to dive with him and that was the best money I ever spent. Fernanda was amazing and having her allowed my wife and I to enjoy the experience as mom and dad instead of dive buddies trying to wrangle a really excited kid who wanted to swim after every single cool thing he saw. We returned in December and I decided not to hire a private DM and it worked out great. One day we did get paired up with a group of total newbies, which I wasn't thrilled about, but in their defense where else are you going to put a 14yo diver with 12 total dives under his belt?

On another (and sappy) note, sharing my life's passion with my son has truly been one of the greatest joys of my life. His first dive in Cozumel, when we dropped down and he flashed me the OK sign with a huge smile on his face behind his reg, I had tears in my mask for sure!! Next up is getting his little sister certified when she turns 12 this fall. Our first dive as a family of 4 will be another tear jerker, I'm sure.

 

[wateraddiction]

Could not have been better. We decided to hire a private DM to dive with him and that was the best money I ever spent. Fernanda was amazing and having her allowed my wife and I to enjoy the experience as mom and dad instead of dive buddies trying to wrangle a really excited kid who wanted to swim after every single cool thing he saw. We returned in December and I decided not to hire a private DM and it worked out great. One day we did get paired up with a group of total newbies, which I wasn't thrilled about, but in their defense where else are you going to put a 14yo diver with 12 total dives under his belt?

On another (and sappy) note, sharing my life's passion with my son has truly been one of the greatest joys of my life. His first dive in Cozumel, when we dropped down and he flashed me the OK sign with a huge smile on his face behind his reg, I had tears in my mask for sure!! Next up is getting his little sister certified when she turns 12 this fall. Our first dive as a family of 4 will be another tear jerker, I'm sure.

I'm hoping to hire a DM and that s/he would buddy with both my kids as I noticed some distracting mom/dad dynamics when we all dove together.

It's just mind blowing to see them dive and at this point it's more fascinating to watch them than the marine life.... My warm fuzzy feelings during our first family dive were abruptly dispelled when my 10 yo got on the boat and pulled off her mask & looked at her brother and said, that was a terrible dive, they just really don't know what they're doing..... (We got interrogated about not doing a 5 pt descent/ascent, not following the rule of 1/3s, being further than an arms length away, and they wanted a much more thorough pre-check including manual inflation of BCD and around 20 other things). We love that they took their training seriously and we've vowed to do better in the future.

 

[Brodydog]

5 pt descent/ascent,

What is that? I’m not familiar with the phrase but it’s been awhile since I went through training courses.

 

[boulderjohn]

What is that? I’m not familiar with the phrase but it’s been awhile since I went through training courses.

They are still taught, but they are really obsolete because they are based on using tables to measure the dive. The obsolete parts are checking your watch (setting the bezel, etc.) to begin the dive time and checking your watch before ascending to mark the end of the dive time.

I was once teaching a group of AOW students, and one of the other instructors from our shop asked me to let a dive master candidate lead the dive. He went through both the 5-point ascent and descent with them, except that when it came to the T for time in each case, he had them all point to their wrists.

After the dive, I asked him why he had them point at their wrists before descending and before ascending. Here is roughly how the conversation went.

Him: It's the T of time in the sequence.​

Me: What does pointing at your wrist have to do with time?​

Him: That's where a watch goes.​

Me: Is anyone wearing a watch?​

Him: No.​

Me: Are you wearing a watch?​

Him: No.​

Me: So why are people supposed to know what time it is when you have them pointing at your wrist?​

Him: I don't know.​

​

I then explained to him how tables worked, and why they needed to check the time at the beginning and end of the dive. As it is now, the T of the process is a vestigial organ, like an appendix, on dive procedures. The divers were using computers for that dive, and those computers were all on consoles. They should have been checking their consoles at first to make sure the computers were there, set to proper gas mixture, etc. They should then be checking the computer throughout the dive. There is no need to check time before the ascent, because people using computer count dive time all the way to the surface now, because on computers dive time does not end when the ascent begins, as it is with tables.

 

[abdallas]

I GUESS I NEED TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT WITH A LITTLE HISTORY.

I retired in the early 1990s and was certified by the, then, best shop in Cozumel, Scuba Du/Presidente. But even there you could not get what is now called valet diving. I chose to private charter from them as that was the only way to get to the fabled Devil's Throat. As part of the private charter I tipped some people to take care of my gear. Finding Devil's Throat at that time was only a guess from landmarks.
Because of current and poor drops it took me 5 trips to get there, and because of 80cf tanks I came out on the wall with just 500psi. But what a sight to see with a narc going on! Memo Mendoza was my dive master then and still. I then realized that there should be some way for the general dive public to experience this and not spend a fortune to do so. But Memo and I knew that several innovations were needed to make that possible. The biggest hurdle was the air supply and that in our estimation, alum 80 cf tanks would make the dive potential dangerous for the average diver. Fortunately High Capacity steel 120s were just becoming available and we went from there. So you could kinda say, THE DEVIL'S THROAT WAS THE REASON FOR THERE BEING AN ALDORA DIVERS.

With reasonable funds from my retirement, we decided to try to bring that experience to everyone. First off we took delivery of HP 120 tanks, rented a boat from the old Blue Angel and Pam Litton, and instituted care of our divers gear (cleaned in Memo's apartment), and required the use of the recent innovation of dive computers. Also by then I had gotten GPS coordinates for the Devils Throat to make the drops perfect and safe. After we received our first boat Aldora I (still in use) there were lots of other problems to overcome but we did. Our whole goal was to safely replicate the experience a millionaire on private charter.
Part of that was to limit our boats to just six divers of similar experience, and you all may know the rest.

By the turn of the century we were looking for lodging commensurate with the the quality expected of Aldora. I was close to purchasing the La Perla/now Blue Angel, but the road noise and constricted rooms make me look elsewhere. In 2003 I did buy the VILLA ALDORA, which was an abandoned wreck but with great possibilities. I more than doubled the purchase price in renovation and upgrading but the result was what some of you now know to be a beautiful waterfront property, and dive resort in the serene near north of Cozumel. We also put in docks so that our Aldora Boats could pick up guests there. Last year we celebrated our 20th year of operation there. Each of those years we have continued to upgrade every aspect of the service and beauty of the Villa and for our long term guests, I am sure they can say it is a more wonderful experience ever.

As I write this I am celebrating my 78th birthday today and that could explain why I am no longer in charge of Aldora Divers. But my dear friend Memo still is and we coordinate on issues of Aldora Divers and the Villa Aldora. For instance, just last month we worked out a deal to provide free Nitrox to those staying at the Villa. And having given my dear Grandmother's name , she who raised me, I will be doing all in my power and influence to make sure that the dive shop continues to honor here name.

One more thought. I do live in Galveston County south of Houston most of the time (mainly for the access to health care for us old folks) but I do stay at the Villa once a month to check in on the dive shop and Villa. As some others do, I also get great discounts on rooms!

If anyone would like to communicate with me, my email is dave@aldora.com or 830 460-0667

Dave Dillehay

We absolutely loved our stay and diving with Aldora and we will certainly join you again when we return to Cozumel!

 

[lowwall]

This is the big reason most of us like Aldora. The two ladies and I were using HP100 tanks, the other guys HP117's. First dive was on Nitrox 32, second on Nitrox 36. Site was Colombia.

And it's not just burning time in the shallows. Here's the profile from the second dive (at Santa Rosa). The big chunk was at 60-65'.