Aldora Divers

[ggunn]

[Aldora] will buddy dive the first person low on air so the group can stay down longer.

That may be a policy change; what people on SB have said in the past is that Aldora sends everyone up at the same time.

 

[Dan G]

That may be a policy change; what people on SB have said in the past is that Aldora sends everyone up at the same time.

Aldora does ascend as a group. When someone gets below half a tank (or close to 1000 psi, I do not recall exactly) and everyone else is still well above that, the DM gives them their long hose to use for a while. Once more divers get to about 1000, the diver using the DMs long hose goes back to their own gas. Now that everyone is back to about the same psi, the dive goes for a little bit longer depending on consumption and then everyone ascends as a group.

The philosophy is that most accidents occur on ascent or on the surface waiting for the boat, and remaining as a group mitigates the risk.

 

[Brad J]

Aldora does ascend as a group. When someone gets below half a tank (or close to 1000 psi, I do not recall exactly) and everyone else is still well above that, the DM gives them their long hose to use for a while. Once more divers get to about 1000, the diver using the DMs long hose goes back to their own gas. Now that everyone is back to about the same psi, the dive goes for a little bit longer depending on consumption and then everyone ascends as a group.

The philosophy is that most accidents occur on ascent or on the surface waiting for the boat, and remaining as a group mitigates the risk.

yes, exactly what we did this past week. Shared tank from the DM then everyone ascended. We were able to get 20-30 minutes more dive time from the first person low on air sharing with the DM.

 

[LI-er]

The last time I dived with Aldora was the last time I'd ever dive with Aldora. They were my favorite Op in Cozumel and I didn't mind spending more because of their large tanks and the extra bottom time.

Until they cut a great dive short because a father/son team had to end the dive due to son being low on air. I gestured to the DM that we had plenty of gas remaining and wanted to stay longer, he got right in my face and pointed "UP!". On the boat I was like "WTF that was like a $500 dive between my four family members and we got screwed!". He didn't care.

Other Cozumel dive charters will allow buddy pairs to ascend on their own.

 

[Dan G]

The last time I dived with Aldora was the last time I'd ever dive with Aldora. They were my favorite Op in Cozumel and I didn't mind spending more because of their large tanks and the extra bottom time.

Until they cut a great dive short because a father/son team had to end the dive due to son being low on air. I gestured to the DM that we had plenty of gas remaining and wanted to stay longer, he got right in my face and pointed "UP!". On the boat I was like "WTF that was like a $500 dive between my four family members and we got screwed!". He didn't care.

Other Cozumel dive charters will allow buddy pairs to ascend on their own.

I understand your frustration and I do not think the DM is the person to take this up with. I would have gone to the shop or even Memo, if I saw him, and explained the issue. I think the shop employee or Memo would be open to listening if it were done in a polite and discrete manner.

In my experience, Aldora is quite good at grouping divers by experience, what they want to dive, and gas management. Only one time did I need to contact the shop and explain that we wanted to be on a boat with more experienced divers. I also do not think it was totally their fault we ended up on that boat with less experienced divers since we had requested to be on that boat with close friends who had less than 20 ocean dives each. By the time those friends left, I think they were just in the habit of us being on that boat.

My biggest gripe with Aldora is that they do not provide snacks for the SI. Although, they may have changed that earlier this year. I am not sure.

 

[Cert1967]

That may be a policy change; what people on SB have said in the past is that Aldora sends everyone up at the same time.

@ggunn

You seem to be the number one poster in this thread ... perhaps a bit passive agressive towards Aldora here and in every other instance where Aldora pops up in threads?

If Aldora had a theme song it would be playing rent free in your head 24/7.

Secretly envious of the 15l cylcinders at 260 bar - 3900l compared to your 2277l ?

 

[ggunn]

@ggunn

You seem to be the number one poster in this thread ... perhaps a bit passive agressive towards Aldora here and in every other instance where Aldora pops up in threads?

If Aldora had a theme song it would be playing rent free in your head 24/7.

Secretly envious of the 15l cylcinders at 260 bar - 3900l compared to your 2277l ?

I really don't know what you mean; I post about a lot of things. Someone posted that on an Aldora dive, divers were allowed to surface in pairs, while it has been posted many times that they come up together. Policy change? Apparently not.

I have no axe to grind with Aldora, or anyone else for that matter. I am not envious, secretly or otherwise, of anything Aldora offers; I nearly always get all the bottom time I want on an AL80. Aldora is, by all reports, with the occasional dissenter (see post #54), a great and popular dive op. I have never said anything bad about them.

 

[Dan G]

I concur with Gordon. He is just joining in on the free flowing discussion and posts in the Cozumel forum about lots of topics. He's a good resource for plenty of things Cozumel.

I'd really prefer the Cozumel forum not devolve back into the bickering match is was 5-10 years ago about dive ops, AIs, and down currents. It's been a really pleasant forum for a while now.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @ggunn

You have 17/57 posts in this thread, 30%. I share @Cert 1969 opinion. You certainly have something going on with Aldora. Whether that has something to do with your relationship with Blue Angel, I can't say. Whether you intend it or not, you appear quite biased. Perhaps you have nothing else to post other than on the Cozumel forum.

 

[NDL_Diver]

I understand your frustration and I do not think the DM is the person to take this up with. I would have gone to the shop or even Memo, if I saw him, and explained the issue. I think the shop employee or Memo would be open to listening if it were done in a polite and discrete manner.

In my experience, Aldora is quite good at grouping divers by experience, what they want to dive, and gas management. Only one time did I need to contact the shop and explain that we wanted to be on a boat with more experienced divers. I also do not think it was totally their fault we ended up on that boat with less experienced divers since we had requested to be on that boat with close friends who had less than 20 ocean dives each. By the time those friends left, I think they were just in the habit of us being on that boat.

My biggest gripe with Aldora is that they do not provide snacks for the SI. Although, they may have changed that earlier this year. I am not sure.

They provided fruit now on SI. I don't remember if they had cookies.