Aldora Review

[mgreider]

Just got back late last night from a one week stay at Secrets and six days of diving with Aldora.
You just can't beat the steel tanks. 75-85 minute dives every dive all days. Finally, did my EAN cert with Rachel as the DM/Instructor. Had a great experience. She made sure that I learned how to properly analyze the tanks without error. Dove the first two days on the Falicity, the large boat. The first day there were only 6 people on the boat, a few more the next day but with a multiple dive masters so still dove with small groups.
The rest of the trip used Aldora 4 (the smaller boats and better boats) and had Ricardo as the DM. He is really great. Takes great care of you but doesn't act like a "mother hen." Expects you to use dive your computer. Dove with great groups of people who were courteous and very good divers, not one problem all week. Good match up of the divers and their abilities. The crew of the boats were very good and helpful. Ricardo really wanted the divers to choose the dive sites with his advice which was nice. We were not able to go far south because of the weather/rough ocean but had some fabulous dives.
A couple of problems did happen. The second day my gear was not on the boat but the brought by land and loaded it at a pier. It did cause a delay in starting the first dive, but it really was no big deal. The other divers seemed not to mind the delay.
The other issue happened on the last day. New DM for this day. I dove with an entirely new group. While the people were very nice and fun to dive with, it just wasn't the same. I won't mention the DM's name but I just didn't like his style. The other divers had been diving with him all week and seemed to really like him. He really catered to their needs and not mine. He didn't really care where I wanted to go and spent a lot of the dive time helping a diver catch lion fish and feed them to eels and fish. The other divers seem to really enjoy this, but it just didn't seem fun to me. He was a good DM, but didn't take care of me like the others. I had to break down my own gear and put it in the bag which I didn't have to do all week. It just wasn't good for the last two dives. Something did happen the last day that did really concern me. The didn't have the right weight combination on the boat. This was my sixth day diving with Aldora and I do think that they should have been able to give me the proper combination of weight. I just had to dive with two pounds extra, no big deal, but I don't see how that happens.
I will dive with Aldora when I return this summer, I hope they let me choose my DM.

 

[ReefHound]

I would suggest you pm Dave Dillehay directly where you can share the name of the DM and address your concerns.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

no need for a PM I'll figure it out, we keep good records. And will take appropriate action.

Dave

 

[Wookie]

Pretty impressive customer service. That's why I dive and stay with Dave.

 

[Reidkon]

I can't say enough good about Aldora. Without a doubt, the best dive op I have ever dove with.
Regarding the incorrect weight, apparently they have two styles of 120 tanks, and one of them is a couple of pounds lighter than the other one. I believe it was Memo who explained this to us when we were checking in on our first day. I either dove with 2 or 4 pounds depending on the tank, but most of the time it was 4 pounds. Since we knew this, we always asked which tank it was before the dive so we knew how much weight to ask for.
We dove 10 days with Aldora and it was made clear to us in our initial briefing that it was our job to pack up our gear after the last dive of the day, which everyone always dutifully did with no assistance from a DM. And I prefer to pack my own gear to ensure everything makes it into the bag.

 

[The Chairman]

Sounds like an awesome trip with an awesome dive op. Thanks for sharing.

 

[lionfish-eater]

Different people have different requirements for the level of attention they require or who touches their gear.

I see that the OP has relatively few dives. Please do not set your expectations for dive op's based on your experience with Aldora. You will be very disappointed with most dive op's around the world if you do.

FYI most Florida boats do not even provide weights or tanks.

In the past (pre SB and trip advisor) new divers usually dived with the house op at a resort. Only after gaining some experience on the cattle boats doing 40-40 dives do some seek out a better operation. Now, with a few clicks, anyone who is looking for "the best" can leap over the pain of the rest without ever knowing what they missed. This results in someone feeling mismatched weights and not getting enough attention is a big enough issue to ruin a dive day.

The good part is, that with notice and planning, Aldora will absolutely make every effort to pair you with your fav DM (actually instructor, I assume).

My son and I also had our fav, to the point that we became friends with him and his family. We dove with him year after year, sometimes two trips a year. The groups were all experienced nitrox divers and we dove some awesome profiles at the perfect pace. He knew all the deep southern sites like the back of his hand and all the swim throughs as well. He led groups of skilled divers on the best dives I have ever had. We rarely had 90 min dives, not because a new diver was low on air, but because we were maxing our NDL's and doing multilevel dives. Kept us coming back over and over, above roatan, bonaire and other places. My decision was based on the incredible architecture of the southern reefs and an op that put me on them with a great guide, solid boats and 120's of clean nitrox.

Then something changed. My guy parted ways with Aldora. I don't know, nor is it any of my business as to why after so many years, but I have a feeling that it was because of complaints like this from some customers who were expecting a different level of attention than they received. Personally, I do not need or want someone to pack my gear, check my gauges or remind me to put on my mask before I roll in.
It was the combination of Aldora infrastructure and the guide that created the magic. But we only recognized how special it was after the experience of hundreds of dives with others and elsewhere, not because we found them on TA or SB.

Please don't read more into this other than different strokes for different folks, and don't expect their level of service everywhere.

 

[deepsea21]

I dive with a different shop on Coz but it sounds like you had a great time with the exception of the last day. Everyone here has their opinions about every and any dive op on the island (as it should be) but the situation you described that last day could happen at any of us diving with any shop... You show up for a week of diving, get to know the DM, the captain, and everyone on the boat, have a blast and then something changes for a day. A DM may get sick or (God forbid) gets a day off, a boat needs maintenance, whatever and you find yourself on another boat that has a group that has been diving together for a while. It is only natural to feel "out of place" because the captain and DM on that boat have been catering to that group for their entire stay (as they should). While the dive shops strive to keep everyone together throughout their extended trips, this happens all the time... A day here or there sometimes things have to change and at the end of the day you are paying for a dives. Personally, when I hit the water I make every dive my own and while it's fun to hang out on the boat with people I've come to know over that trip, dive with the same DM and captain, etc. my dive experience is my own and it will always be what I make of it.

Think of it as dining at your favorite restaurant... You know the Maitre d and he/she knows your favorite table. You also have your favorite server who you know by name and he/she knows just what you would like. Then, you show up one night and the Maitre you know is off, your favorite table is taken, and your server is working another section. The meal will be the same but it's not the same you're used to and feels like a let down. Same thing with diving your favorite shop... it's the nature of the service industry... We expect perfection every time but it can't be delivered and it is no one's fault.

 

[The Chairman]

FYI most Florida boats do not even provide weights or tanks.

That's the silliest thing I've read all day. I have yet to be on a boat here in Florida that did not provide weights and tanks. I'm sure there's one or two, but I dive here pretty extensively. It certainly doesn't fit my experiences.

 

[cvchief]

Different people have different requirements for the level of attention they require or who touches their gear.
.

Mine is "Hand my all my S$%^ so I can jump it."