Considering Aldora? Check this out:

[ronrosa]

As long as the dive op puts you accurately on the reef (which most of them can do), IMO the quality of the actual diving experience has more to do with the diver than the dive op. YMMV.

Agreed, as long as you are on a good reef of your choosing and are with divers of equal experience.

 

[melissalv29]

Is the actual diving experience better with Liquid Blue than Aldora? Or Living Underwater?

i think it all has to do with each individual...from my own experience..i would recommend Living Underwater...I have dove with them for 3 yrs now..going 3-4 times a year ..depends on what you want and your style of diving.
with them..they are very relaxed, slow..long bottom times, dm's very good at showing you detailed things..dive the sites you want to dive and very enjoyable and knowledgable...
melissa

 

[spthomas]

I posted this on the Scubadiving board too (of course, Christi and Jonathan and others are ranting here and there too, so it's ok, right?).

And just to keep us honest, Chrisi IS a competing dive operator in Coz. But that's ok, we all have a right to our opinions. I am NOT a dive operator in Coz, or anywhere else (darn it!!). I'm just a customer, a loyal one. And to be totally honest and above board, I do consider Dave a friend, but a friendship built solely by being a customer (our sole connection is through Aldora).

I've been diving since 1978, and with Aldora since 1995. They are my FAVORITE dive operator anywhere. Things like small fast boats, segregating divers by skill when possible (I saw two boats with 3 divers each one day, so they beginners and more experienced divers weren't mixed). In fact, my first Cozumel dive in 1995 I had been diving less for the last 5 years, so Dave (whom I had never met at the time) came to my hotel with Memo, we talked, and since the rest of the crew that day was doing Punta Sur (a fairly advanced dive), Dave and the capitan and me went on a dive alone so he could check out my skills and get me acclimated to diving in Coz. I like the 120 cuft steel tanks, and the fact they change out my regulator for DIN. I like the fact THEY keep and clean and set up my gear every day. I like the parkas after a dive.

Dave is frustrated about former employees leaving and starting an operation after he feels he taught them. I don't know if they took customers or not. But that's not unusual to feel that way I think. Maybe the rant was in poor judgement.

Judge a dive operator by the DIVING! I've always thought it was great, a cut above average. And if others are doing that now too, from what they learned from Aldora? Better for some. But I can only dive with ONE operator at a time, and given the choice of 2 or 3 that are similar, I'll "stick with the one that brung ya". I'll stick with Aldora.

And lest anyone say I'm a shill, I HAVE been posting here a while. And you can find posts of mine way back on the Compuserve scuba forum back in 1995 or so.

 

[Texas Diver]

Dave is frustrated about former employees leaving and starting an operation after he feels he taught them. I don't know if they took customers or not. But that's not unusual to feel that way I think. Maybe the rant was in poor judgement.

So Dave is the only guy allowed to make money? Everybody who works for him has to stay his vassel? We all want to think we can be a patron someday. I know Dave does not need my money, but after reading that he resents the success of his former employees, I know one thing for certain, Dave will not make a dime off of me.

This is unbelievable. Let me see if I got this story straight. Dave, already a millionaire, starts a dive opertion in Cozumel. He exploits the cheap labor and great natural beauty of Cozumel to his own advantage, then gets pissed off because some of his employees who are indigenous people start their own business and compete against him? Is this essentially how it went down?

I wonder how Dave made his money? Did he think of some unique idea never tried before or more likely did he work for somebody else to get experience then start his own business? Or maybe he made his money the old fashion way, maybe he inherited it?

Inquiring minds want to know?

 

[spthomas]

Anyone can make money. What does THAT have to do with it?

And you can tell me that, whatever you do for a living, if you spent time and money teaching folks and setting up a good business, that worked well, and several of your employees went into competition with you, you wouldn't be a little upset? Is it fair? Of course, that's the way business is. But, doesn't make you like it.

I have several employees that have worked for me for many years, and over that time they've learned a lot about our business (we all have). that knowledge is an investment for us as well as for the employees. If they took that knowledge and went down the street to compete for the same customers I'm serving, I'd be a little ticked. But they could do it, and maybe it's ok. But it might make me a bit upset. Human nature.

And please don't poor mouth. How much money is enough? There are folks with a lot less than you I'm sure. Is that a bad thing? Or should you feel properly guilty about having more? And certainly you shouldn't try to make even more??? Quit right now, before you get even MORE than others do.

See how silly that is?? And how totally irrelevant to this discussion!

This is about DIVING. Remember? That getting in the gorgeous warm water to see incredible things? (which many people can't afford, wow, now I'M feeling guilty).

=Steve=

 

[ggunn]

I have several employees that have worked for me for many years, and over that time they've learned a lot about our business (we all have). that knowledge is an investment for us as well as for the employees. If they took that knowledge and went down the street to compete for the same customers I'm serving, I'd be a little ticked. But they could do it, and maybe it's ok. But it might make me a bit upset. Human nature.

I don't think that was his point. Dave did not invent Cozumel diving; he went down there, saw others running their dive businesses, and plunked his money down and went into competition with them. Now someone else has done it to him; it was OK for him to do it, but not OK for anyone else?

The ONLY things unique about his business plan were the larger tanks and the high fees he charges. If the larger tanks were a clear benefit to everyone, everyone would be moving to them. Frankly, they are not worth it to me, and IMO they present strapped to the backs of some folks a higher risk of DCS.

And finally, it is one thing to be a little "ticked off", but to fire off a tirade of namecalling and running down of one's competition in such a small and close knit dive community as Cozumel is just bad form.

 

[parrotheaddiver]

I don't think that was his point. Dave did not invent Cozumel diving; he went down there, saw others running their dive businesses, and plunked his money down and went into competition with them. Now someone else has done it to him; it was OK for him to do it, but not OK for anyone else?

The ONLY things unique about his business plan were the larger tanks and the high fees he charges. If the larger tanks were a clear benefit to everyone, everyone would be moving to them. Frankly, they are not worth it to me, and IMO they present strapped to the backs of some folks a higher risk of DCS.

And finally, it is one thing to be a little "ticked off", but to fire off a tirade of namecalling and running down of one's competition in such a small and close knit dive community as Cozumel is just bad form.

Gordon, you have summed it up nicely!

 

[Christi]

I don't think that was his point. Dave did not invent Cozumel diving; he went down there, saw others running their dive businesses, and plunked his money down and went into competition with them. Now someone else has done it to him; it was OK for him to do it, but not OK for anyone else?

The ONLY things unique about his business plan were the larger tanks and the high fees he charges. If the larger tanks were a clear benefit to everyone, everyone would be moving to them. Frankly, they are not worth it to me, and IMO they present strapped to the backs of some folks a higher risk of DCS.

And finally, it is one thing to be a little "ticked off", but to fire off a tirade of namecalling and running down of one's competition in such a small and close knit dive community as Cozumel is just bad form.

I will add...Oracio, Roberto, Jorge, and Omar (those that left Aldora for bigger and better things) were not "trained" by Dave. They ALL worked for other shops prior to working for Aldora and were on the island long before Aldora was a glimmer in Dave's eyes. In fact, Roberto is a PADI Staff Instructor, one step down from Course Director.

Dave has no right whatsoever to attempt to prevent these guys to prosper or to pursue their own ventures. Furthermore, he has no right to do this to anyone, whether they worked for him or not. If he's ticked off about it, then he needs to grow up...this is business and he didn't invent Cozumel Diving OR customer service as Gordon said. I'm sure there were plenty who weren't happy about him opening up shop here when he did, but you didn't see them bad mouthing him!

Like I said before, and as quoted by one of our fearless leaders, Dave's tirade was "outrageously bad sportsmanship."

 

[5615mike]

Being a FORMER patron of Aldora........it's really quite sad. Dave had a fine operation for a number of years. My last trip I dove with a different operation and found them to be quite sufficient. Completely as advertised. Finding purely advanced boats is difficult to do unless you dive with a more advanced operations such as Dive Cozumel or others. My next trip will more than likely involve chartering my own boat for several days to do the sites I am most interested in and then diving with my new found operator.

 

[texangal]

Maybe we should all be seeking some discounts with all of this hot competition. Especially from Aldorra, it looks like their demand curve is falling.