best dive boat on cozumel

[David_57]

Dive Cozumel and ask to go on a fast boat normally they take 4 to 8 divers max most of the times the divers on these boats are experienced divers, after a couple of dives the dive OP will notice and team you up on a fast boat with like divers, I have dived with them on 6 occasions and never a problem handy cause they are right at Hotel Coz.

 

[Mike]

Im looking for referrals to a dive boat that is fast, small, and takes experienced divers to the best drift diving sites off the island.

I will be staying at cozumel hotel and resort.

My main concern is getting stuck on a boat herded with inexperinced people.

Aldora DIvers is the only dive company in Cozumel I know of that would give you the best shot at your full wish list.

There are plenty of small companies with small fast boats who will take you to the best sites in a small group, but because they are small operations they don't have the resources (multiple boats) and can't segregate experienced and new divers on different boats, it would just be the luck of the draw on who ends up on your boat with you.

Aldora operates like a small boutique dive operation but is a bigger operation and has multiple boats and will segregate divers by ability. If you demonstrate you don't dive like an inexperienced diver you will be shuffled to a boat without them.

Don't worry about the specific dive sites. If you end up on the dive boat with experienced divers just sit back and let them choose the dive sites, you won't be disappointed where they want to go.

Aldora is a premium priced dive operation, but you will get what you pay for: They have steel tanks and their goal is maximum bottom time for everyone. The 1st diver to get low on air goes on the dive master's long hose to extend the dive for everyone else. They are a valet dive service, so you drop your equipment at their office when you arrive on the island and they maintain it for you the whole time you're there, it will be set up and waiting for you on the boat each morning. They also are the only operation on the island that accesses the east side of Cozumel for diving. They will pick up at Hotel Cozumel's pier.

I don't know of any other operation on the island that could meet everything on your list but them.

 

[diverokc]

I stay at hotel cozumel and dive with dive paradise. They have fast boats for a few dollars more. You can get a good dive packg with them thru the hotel and then pay the extra for the fast boat. enjoy

 

[divingpyrate]

We are down next week so these inexperienced divers will be long out of your way

 

[Karibelle]

bottom dwell, you probably want to update your number of dives in your profile... lest you be mistaken for one of those inexperienced divers whom you are trying to avoid.

 

[azscubadude]

bottom dwell, you probably want to update your number of dives in your profile... Lest you be mistaken for one of those inexperienced divers whom you are trying to avoid.

+1 ..:d

 

[Lorenzoid]

Aldora DIvers is the only dive company in Cozumel I know of that would give you the best shot at your full wish list.

There are plenty of small companies with small fast boats who will take you to the best sites in a small group, but because they are small operations they don't have the resources (multiple boats) and can't segregate experienced and new divers on different boats, it would just be the luck of the draw on who ends up on your boat with you.

Aldora operates like a small boutique dive operation but is a bigger operation and has multiple boats and will segregate divers by ability. If you demonstrate you don't dive like an inexperienced diver you will be shuffled to a boat without them.
. . .
I don't know of any other operation on the island that could meet everything on your list but them.

Out of curiosity, what does Blue XTSea lack that Aldora offers, besides steel tanks? (Blue XT Sea offers larger aluminum tanks as an option.) Not that SB posters don't have their biases, but Aldora and Blue XTSea are, from my estimates, the most frequently recommended dive ops on SB (though others are close behind--I made a list ranking the top five or six by frequency of recommendation). I went through the same exercise as the OP last year ... except that I used the Search function first :cool2:

 

[Mossman]

Out of curiosity, what does Blue XTSea lack that Aldora offers, besides steel tanks? (Blue XT Sea offers larger aluminum tanks as an option.) Not that SB posters don't have their biases, but Aldora and Blue XTSea are, from my estimates, the most frequently recommended dive ops on SB (though others are close behind--I made a list ranking the top five or six by frequency of recommendation). I went through the same exercise as the OP last year ... except that I used the Search function first :cool2:

Comparing to Living Underwater, which I believe offers the same "perks" as Aldora:
1) Smaller "big" tanks. The aluminum 100s are obviously of less capacity than steel 120s and they lack the good buoyancy characteristics of steel tanks.
2) Big tanks are more an option than the rule = shorter dive time. When I dove with Blue XTSea, I was the only one who used a 100. All the 80 divers had excellent air consumption, but our diver were still routinely shorter than when I dive LU where most are on 120s.
3) And this is the real deal breaker for me: no wetsuit storage. LU handles all my gear, including my stinky wetsuit (not that I ever pee in it, of course!). I already have to lug my 40 lbs of camera back and forth, so having to carry a dripping wetsuit back to my room is too much, especially if I'm staying at a swanky place like the Palace and dripping water all over their fancy marble floors.

That said, I completely enjoyed my dives with Blue XTSea. I just like an even bigger tank and wetsuit storage.

As to Mike's point about the smaller ops sometimes not being able to offer all dive sites because of lesser experienced divers aboard, that unfortunately can be true. Still, even when LU has brand new divers, I always feel that my needs are also taken care of - Jeremy will find me interesting critters to photograph that I'd never find on my own. I wish he had a policy of experienced divers only, but that probably wouldn't keep the boat full on a daily basis. On the other hand, my experiences with Aldora (albeit, over 10 years old) were a different story from Mike's - the hype said we would be on the "advanced" boat, but they were only running two boats and we got stuck with airhogs that blew through 120s in well under an hour, limiting my dives as well since the policy was for the entire group to ascend together. (In Aldora's defense, they have more boats now, so probably a greater likelihood of accurately matching dive group to skill level.)

 

[Mike]

Out of curiosity, what does Blue XTSea lack that Aldora offers, besides steel tanks? (Blue XT Sea offers larger aluminum tanks as an option.) Not that SB posters don't have their biases, but Aldora and Blue XTSea are, from my estimates, the most frequently recommended dive ops on SB (though others are close behind--I made a list ranking the top five or six by frequency of recommendation). I went through the same exercise as the OP last year ... except that I used the Search function first :cool2:

I thought I outlined it pretty clearly but here you go --

East side diving
Segregating divers by skill level onto multiple boats
Puts 1st diver low on air on DM long hose
Steel tanks which you mentioned

I'm not shilling for Aldora, I'm only giving the original poster advice based on his FULL criteria. Unless somebody says different, Aldora is the only operation on the island that I know of that meets all of his requirements, that's all, I don't get any commissions.

I don't think there is any 'best' operation on Cozumel, only choices based on a diver's wish list, and the reason I dive with Aldora above almost everything else they offer is the fact that I can maximize my bottom times because they do group divers by experience. That's a big factor for me cause I'd rather have love for all the divers on my boat instead of trying to figure out how to talk the heavy breather(s) on the boat into skipping the next dive.

 

[Chris66]

bottom dwell, you probably want to update your number of dives in your profile... lest you be mistaken for one of those inexperienced divers whom you are trying to avoid.

I really hope that Bottom Dwell has just forgotten to update his dive count because unfortunately there are a lot of divers who think that after 35 or so dives that they are now experienced divers. Whilst I don't mean to point fingers at Bottom Dwell that feeling can in general be a dangerous perspective for a diver to have but especially in Cozumel where sites such as Barracuda and San Juan could lead to a tragic outcome.

I also believe that Cozumel is one place where some of the nicest dives can be had on some of the most accessible reefs and the concern that there are hidden dive sights that only experienced divers see is probably overblown. Some of my nicest dives in Coz have been with a small boat full of newbies were a slow relaxed dive led to amazing sights.

Chris