Aldora: what I've been missing

[Jayfarmlaw]

How long IS the run from dock to dive out of Coz? Time/distance range is all I'm looking for.

I'm really not trying to be a smart ass.... But it depends on where you start and where you are going. Look at this map:

cozumel reef map - Google Search:

The island is 34 miles long.

If your diving Southern sites, and staying at Aldora Villa (North of town) I think 30-35 minutes or less. From the Aldora dock downtown, 20-25 minutes at the most. If your staying at one of the Southern Resorts, less than 10 minutes depending on the site and resort. Those would be for the farther South sites like Palancar.

Dave can provide a better answers than I can, I've never timed the boat rides. If the boat rides are a concern, just email them, or the operator of your choice, and ask for times to a specific site. It may also make a difference where you choose to stay......but that another issue.

Good luck, safe travels,
Jay

 

[teknitroxdiver]

From downtown to the southern tip is about 15 miles. That would be the maximum distance to a dive site. Villa Aldora is 5 minutes farther north than the downtown pier, at the most. Of course the further south you stay the shorter the ride will be. Stay far enough south and you could have a 5-minute boat ride.

 

[victorzamora]

I'm really not trying to be a smart ass.... But it depends on where you start and where you are going. Look at this map:

cozumel reef map - Google Search:

The island is 34 miles long.

If your diving Southern sites, and staying at Aldora Villa (North of town) I think 30-35 minutes or less. From the Aldora dock downtown, 20-25 minutes at the most. If your staying at one of the Southern Resorts, less than 10 minutes depending on the site and resort. Those would be for the farther South sites like Palancar.

Dave can provide a better answers than I can, I've never timed the boat rides. If the boat rides are a concern, just email them, or the operator of your choice, and ask for times to a specific site. It may also make a difference where you choose to stay......but that another issue.

Good luck, safe travels,
Jay

From downtown to the southern tip is about 15 miles. That would be the maximum distance to a dive site. Villa Aldora is 5 minutes farther north than the downtown pier, at the most. Of course the further south you stay the shorter the ride will be. Stay far enough south and you could have a 5-minute boat ride.

I appreciate the info, and I certainly didn't take it as sarcastic. I knew dive site distances had ranges....but I didn't understand the concern with boat speed.

My main Caribbean destination is Roatan, and I've haven't been to Coz since 2001 when I did my first dive ever (I was 11 and it was a shore dive)...but the dive sites in Roatan are so close there's no real need to have a fast boat or discuss things like where you spend your SI. Having never been, I'm unaware of the "lay of the land" and how important things like boat speed are.

In Roatan, if you're not assembling gear before the guys start untying the boat, you'll be late to hop in the water. The sites there are 5-10min. Sounds like Coz is ~20-25min for typical boat rides.

 

[ronscuba]

Divers are lucky to have so many good dive operators to choose from on Cozumel.

Aldora is on that list, which is further narrowed down to 3 operators if you want everyone on large tanks. The longer bottom times also mean long surface intervals. Showers, bathroom, food, chairs at a beach club for surface interval.

The boat ride from the downtown pier to the southern reefs is 30-45 minutes in my experience when you add in pickup of other passengers. Kind of rare for everyone to board from downtown. Plenty of hotel and condo options south of downtown if you want a shorter boat ride.

 

[Lorenzoid]

In Roatan, if you're not assembling gear before the guys start untying the boat, you'll be late to hop in the water. The sites there are 5-10min. Sounds like Coz is ~20-25min for typical boat rides.

That's it in a nutshell. If you stay downtown, as many of us do, and you're going to the far south dive sites, the Coz boat rides can be as jayfarmlaw said--at least 30 mins. if not more, depending on whether you've got a fast boat. It's not like Roatan.

edit: what ronscuba said while I was typing.

 

[2airishuman]

I'm just back from a stop in Cozumel where I had a fantastic dive with Aldora.

120s? They're what I typically dive at home. I can carry them comfortably, so why would I want anything smaller?

 

[elgoog]

Another advantage of the smaller/faster boats is that there tend to be fewer stops to pickup divers before we get to the dive site as it's usually limited to 6 divers or so. The stops tended to be ~10min each when the divers were waiting on the dock and up to 20min one time for a no show.

We stayed at the Aldora Villa and were always the first ones on the boat. The days we were on the small boat, there was usually just one more group of people we picked up and we splashed in 30min or so after we got on. The one day we were on the bigger boat (for the evening and night dive), we ended up stopping 4 times and this added up. This was also the day of the no show. On that day, we were motoring for well over an hour before we got to the first dive site.

 

[deepsea21]

I wonder what happens when that one motor stops? Dave

That's the beauty of Yamaha 4-strokes... These days I run a single Yamaha 4-stroke on my boat (as does virtually every commercial crabber on the Chesapeake Bay where I live) and I've been boating for over 30 years. I've absolutely no problem taking my boat 15 miles offshore with my single Yamaha as, properly maintained, they are virtually bulletproof. Heck, it's not uncommon for commercial crabbers and local Coast Guard in my parts to rack up 7,000 to 10,000 hours without a single issue. These aren't the outboards from the past - these modern outboards are as dependable as the engine in your car (your car only has one engine). These days, twin engines just means about 60% more weight on the transom, 60% more money spent and about 35%-40% more fuel burn for the same performance a single high HP 4-stroke provides.

For me, if my Yamaha ever did break down on the water that's what my radio and towboat US insurance is for. In Cozumel... Let's see... There's only about 100 other dive boats at any given time floating within 2 miles of shore that will offer a tow. I assume if a dive boat with a single engine experiences an engine failure an Aldora Captain and any Captain from any dive op would offer a tow back after he picked up his dive group but maybe I'm wrong and if I am, those dive ops need to find new Captains.

 

[lionfish-eater]

That's the beauty of Yamaha 4-strokes... These days I run a single Yamaha 4-stroke on my boat (as does virtually every commercial crabber on the Chesapeake Bay where I live) and I've been boating for over 30 years. I've absolutely no problem taking my boat 15 miles offshore with my single Yamaha as, properly maintained, they are virtually bulletproof. Heck, it's not uncommon for commercial crabbers and local Coast Guard in my parts to rack up 7,000 to 10,000 hours without a single issue. These aren't the outboards from the past - these modern outboards are as dependable as the engine in your car (your car only has one engine). These days, twin engines just means about 60% more weight on the transom, 60% more money spent and about 35%-40% more fuel burn for the same performance a single high HP 4-stroke provides.

For me, if my Yamaha ever did break down on the water that's what my radio and towboat US insurance is for. In Cozumel... Let's see... There's only about 100 other dive boats at any given time floating within 2 miles of shore that will offer a tow. I assume if a dive boat with a single engine experiences an engine failure an Aldora Captain and any Captain from any dive op would offer a tow back after he picked up his dive group but maybe I'm wrong and if I am, those dive ops need to find new Captains.

Correction: They run better and are more reliable than a car engine. Precision machining and close tolerances far beyond a typical auto engine. The outboards run at twice the RPM's of the autos. The new Yammys are warranted for ten years in noncommercial use.

 

[scubafanatic]

How come the rest of the world can do recreational dives on an AL80 but so many Coz divers can't?

...because the unwashed masses don't know any better ?