Considering Aldora? Check this out:
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DanL
Registered
I choose a dive operation because of the service they offer, and also because of the people who run it. I really like Christi, Roberto and Michaela and a couple others. From the sound of the rant by Aldora, he's the last guy in the world I'd like to spend a fun, relaxing vacation with. Jeez, what a jerk.
caribdiver:
originaljonathan
Guest
I, too, have dived with a bunch of Cozumel operators -- probably a dozen or so -- including Aldora in its heyday, and more recently with Liquid Blue and Blue XT Sea. In the early days, Aldora was highly recommended and deserved it. Then came several years of mismanagement and dissipation and desertion by some of their best staff members, and Aldora became an ugly shadow of what it had been. A year or more ago, Dave Dillehay posted a message on Aldora's website promising a return by Aldora to its prior excellence through his regular presence on the island and his hands-on management. Problem is, by the time Dave got interested in Aldora again, its infrastructure was in shambles, and his best personnel -- including many of his best divemasters and managers -- had jumped ship and were no longer interested in Dave's promises.
Some of those former Aldorans who set out in other ventures include Roberto and Michaela Velasquez, one of his best DMs and one of his best managers, respectively, who started Liquid Blue, and Jorge Martin, another of the very best of Aldora's DMs, joined them last year. Their whole business plan from the beginning of their enterprise has been to provide an absolutely certain quality of diving above and beyond that which had originally made Aldora great, and to provide that every day, for every diver, every time. They sank a heap of money into providing the ideal dive boat for 6-8 divers and in acquiring larger capacity steel tanks (up to 120 cu. ft.). And they organized the operation impeccably to take no more divers than they could give the very best service to. And, without undertaking any direct solicitation of their former customers at Aldora, word spread that they consistently provide the best dive experience you could hope for. Obviously, the stampede of Aldora's target client market to LB has really rankled Dave, who, rather than devoting his energies to fulfilling his "return to quality" promise, seems to have decided he can't accomplish the promised mission and to have decided, if he can't beat the competition by performance, perhaps he can defeat them with trash-talking.
After diving with many Cozumel dive ops, and relying only on my own experiences, I can't imagine I will need to dive with any op other than Liquid Blue and Christi's Blue XT Sea. If neither of them could accomodate me, however, I'd probably go with Deep Blue or Papa Hog's.
I can't imagine ever going with Aldora again after Dave's intemperate, inaccurate and unfair rant. I think he needs to (1) increase his meds and (2) find a business that doesn't require him to associate with humans or to exercise judgment in any circumstance where a wrong result could be dangerous.
<')///><
Some of those former Aldorans who set out in other ventures include Roberto and Michaela Velasquez, one of his best DMs and one of his best managers, respectively, who started Liquid Blue, and Jorge Martin, another of the very best of Aldora's DMs, joined them last year. Their whole business plan from the beginning of their enterprise has been to provide an absolutely certain quality of diving above and beyond that which had originally made Aldora great, and to provide that every day, for every diver, every time. They sank a heap of money into providing the ideal dive boat for 6-8 divers and in acquiring larger capacity steel tanks (up to 120 cu. ft.). And they organized the operation impeccably to take no more divers than they could give the very best service to. And, without undertaking any direct solicitation of their former customers at Aldora, word spread that they consistently provide the best dive experience you could hope for. Obviously, the stampede of Aldora's target client market to LB has really rankled Dave, who, rather than devoting his energies to fulfilling his "return to quality" promise, seems to have decided he can't accomplish the promised mission and to have decided, if he can't beat the competition by performance, perhaps he can defeat them with trash-talking.
After diving with many Cozumel dive ops, and relying only on my own experiences, I can't imagine I will need to dive with any op other than Liquid Blue and Christi's Blue XT Sea. If neither of them could accomodate me, however, I'd probably go with Deep Blue or Papa Hog's.
I can't imagine ever going with Aldora again after Dave's intemperate, inaccurate and unfair rant. I think he needs to (1) increase his meds and (2) find a business that doesn't require him to associate with humans or to exercise judgment in any circumstance where a wrong result could be dangerous.
<')///><
http://www.aldoradivers.com/will_one_boat_make_it.htm
I posted on the scubadiving board also in response to Doc's original post, but I have to put my two cents in here as well because I am so appalled at this. Like I said there, I may get myself in trouble, but I feel strongly about this, and I apologize in advance if I offend anyone (other than Dave).
It's one thing to make mistakes every once in awhile, or to be less than perfect. It's also ok if everyone doesn't think you're the best shop for them, everyone has thier own priorities and opinions.
However, it is an entirely different thing to be blatantly arrogant, malicious, hateful and to publicly trash your competition on the internet for no other reason than the fact that you feel threatened by their presence and their DESERVED success. This is truly disgusting behavior, no justification whatsoever for this.
I find it even more disgusting that Dave is a foreigner a/k/a GUEST in this country, and seems to think he has more of a "right" to have a business here than the very person he is targeting with his rant (he doesn't mention names, but anyone who has dove with Aldora, frequents the island, or has kept up on the boards knows exactly who Dave is referring to). Roberto is a true Mexican citizen, born and raised in Mexico and was actually very instrumental (as were Michaela and Jorge) in the greatness Aldora once enjoyed.
Why is it that Dave is the only dive op owner on the island that has this attitude of exclusive entitlement? The rest of us get along and have professional respect for one another, help each other out when necessary and are even friends in many cases.
Roberto and Michaela (and the rest of us) may not be millionaires, but we all have heart, soul, dedication, determination, class, and style which are qualities that he cannot imagine. Furthermore, having the resources available to take care of boat maintenance and repairs payroll, etc. is called MANAGEMENT, not just a bank account!
Disgusting, just disgusting!
I am getting down off the box now...thank you for listening!
I posted on the scubadiving board also in response to Doc's original post, but I have to put my two cents in here as well because I am so appalled at this. Like I said there, I may get myself in trouble, but I feel strongly about this, and I apologize in advance if I offend anyone (other than Dave).
It's one thing to make mistakes every once in awhile, or to be less than perfect. It's also ok if everyone doesn't think you're the best shop for them, everyone has thier own priorities and opinions.
However, it is an entirely different thing to be blatantly arrogant, malicious, hateful and to publicly trash your competition on the internet for no other reason than the fact that you feel threatened by their presence and their DESERVED success. This is truly disgusting behavior, no justification whatsoever for this.
I find it even more disgusting that Dave is a foreigner a/k/a GUEST in this country, and seems to think he has more of a "right" to have a business here than the very person he is targeting with his rant (he doesn't mention names, but anyone who has dove with Aldora, frequents the island, or has kept up on the boards knows exactly who Dave is referring to). Roberto is a true Mexican citizen, born and raised in Mexico and was actually very instrumental (as were Michaela and Jorge) in the greatness Aldora once enjoyed.
Why is it that Dave is the only dive op owner on the island that has this attitude of exclusive entitlement? The rest of us get along and have professional respect for one another, help each other out when necessary and are even friends in many cases.
Roberto and Michaela (and the rest of us) may not be millionaires, but we all have heart, soul, dedication, determination, class, and style which are qualities that he cannot imagine. Furthermore, having the resources available to take care of boat maintenance and repairs payroll, etc. is called MANAGEMENT, not just a bank account!
Disgusting, just disgusting!
I am getting down off the box now...thank you for listening!
Christi - you go girl!
As to Dave's diatribe, I at first thought it had been written by someone else; I have encountered some vehemency in the past from Aldora's proponents. But to see that it was written by Dave himself... well, it looks like a pretty big PR gaffe to me.
As to Dave's diatribe, I at first thought it had been written by someone else; I have encountered some vehemency in the past from Aldora's proponents. But to see that it was written by Dave himself... well, it looks like a pretty big PR gaffe to me.
ggunn:
and if this isn't enough, read the rest of the website...equally offensive, arrogant and insulting...also written by him.
Christi:
Ah... no, thanks; it is indeed enough. I've enough aggravation in my life already without my going out and actively looking for it! ;^)
If this guy was smart he would pull that off his site ASAP. My company has over 30 sales reps and the first thing we teach them is to NEVER bash the competition! It just makes us look unprofessional and insecure about our product. We have dived with a lot of operations and found Christis to be top notch and really enjoyed everyone we dove with. No question who we will dive with next trip to Coz.
Martin & Julie
Martin & Julie
Hmm, forgive me for being ignorant here, but I fail to see anywhere on that post that mentions any names. Unlike the posts here that are very specific. If I were to read that post first I would take it as a very generalistic point of view. However after reading the posts here, I now have names to associate with it whether these are the people Dave is refering to or not.. I have never met the man. I have never been to Cozumel (yet) and I am actually planning on diving with Aldora when I do go. To be quite honest, this thread seems to be more of a bashing thread against Aldora than Dave's post was about whom ever he was refering to.. just my opinion..
Jim
Jim
I said I have never dove with Aldora but what was posted was very negative. It may not be aimed at one operation but it is in poor taste.
Recently in Cozumel several imitators of Aldora Divers, for simplicity lets call them collectively Pretenders, have come into existence with the purpose of exploiting the market for quality diving in Cozumel that Aldora has created.
Didnt know anyone had the corner on providing small boats and good service. Calling the comp Prentenders is a slam. The operations we dove with provided exactly what was promised, small groups, great guides and a choice of sites.
Now even with all this effort we have to occasionally rent a boat, but we have prearrangements with other operators that allow us quick access to boats of acceptable quality and with well-trained staff. Think how the one boat operator must handle this problem.
As I understand they make the same type of arrangements Aldora does. We have seen this personally and saw no drop in the level of service we received.
Now, we have heard Scubaboard.com reports of how one Pretender took such good care of both novices and experts on the same dive. That is complete fallacy.
Was he there? If he is referring to a specific event then I cant comment. In general, I consider myself a very experienced diver, +2000 dives, you cant dive Barracuda, Punta Sur, etc. every dive, especially over a one week trip. We got to dive these spots with only 3 divers on the boat, I dont care how Christi did it but she did.
We at Aldora work very hard to separate such divers and have the will and resources to do it well they cant and dont.
Not what I saw, as I said only 3 of a group of 6 went to the more advanced sites.
A one-boat mom and pop pretender just cannot afford to have the back up resources to guaranty a consistent quality of service.
He must know everyones financial situation and there must be only one way to manage a dive operation.
Im sure Dave is a great guy and runs a great operation, but (IMHO) this post is in poor taste. It is only natural for other operators to stand up for themselves and people, like us, who have had good experiences with the Pretenders to come to their defense. Actually The Pretenders are one of my favorite bands and one of the best concerts Ive been to
Recently in Cozumel several imitators of Aldora Divers, for simplicity lets call them collectively Pretenders, have come into existence with the purpose of exploiting the market for quality diving in Cozumel that Aldora has created.
Didnt know anyone had the corner on providing small boats and good service. Calling the comp Prentenders is a slam. The operations we dove with provided exactly what was promised, small groups, great guides and a choice of sites.
Now even with all this effort we have to occasionally rent a boat, but we have prearrangements with other operators that allow us quick access to boats of acceptable quality and with well-trained staff. Think how the one boat operator must handle this problem.
As I understand they make the same type of arrangements Aldora does. We have seen this personally and saw no drop in the level of service we received.
Now, we have heard Scubaboard.com reports of how one Pretender took such good care of both novices and experts on the same dive. That is complete fallacy.
Was he there? If he is referring to a specific event then I cant comment. In general, I consider myself a very experienced diver, +2000 dives, you cant dive Barracuda, Punta Sur, etc. every dive, especially over a one week trip. We got to dive these spots with only 3 divers on the boat, I dont care how Christi did it but she did.
We at Aldora work very hard to separate such divers and have the will and resources to do it well they cant and dont.
Not what I saw, as I said only 3 of a group of 6 went to the more advanced sites.
A one-boat mom and pop pretender just cannot afford to have the back up resources to guaranty a consistent quality of service.
He must know everyones financial situation and there must be only one way to manage a dive operation.
Im sure Dave is a great guy and runs a great operation, but (IMHO) this post is in poor taste. It is only natural for other operators to stand up for themselves and people, like us, who have had good experiences with the Pretenders to come to their defense. Actually The Pretenders are one of my favorite bands and one of the best concerts Ive been to
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