Question Dilemma: Aldora or Tres Pelicanos

[Snrubnivek]

Hey everyone. Heading to Cozumel in a couple weeks and still debating between these 2 dive op's. I've spent countless hours reading trip reports, etc. I'll be there for 7 days on an anniversary trip with my non-diving wife. We're staying at the Westin (she picked the hotel). Planning on 2 or 3 morning (2 tank) dives. I know Aldora is known for their longer dives but does that put you back at the dock substantially later than diving with 3P? Getting back at the dock a little earlier may buy me some more goodwill with my wife to dive another day. She likes to sleep in but I I'd rather not get back to the hotel much past noon. I've been to Cozumel but this will be my 1st time diving there. So I'm happy with any of the dive sites as they'll all be new. Thanks for any help, I really appreciate it.

 

[arew+4]

I don't think we ever got passed by another boat while diving with 3Ps. Also we did not pick up or drop off any other divers at hotel piers. The crew were fantastic, and they upgraded is to 100cu al tanks for free (3 out of 5 of us anyway, because we are bigger guys). Either operator will be a good choice, you will likely have them sending you a taxi or having to get one yourself in the morning. I would bet on average you would be back at the hotel 15-30 minutes earlier with 3Ps. It's a guess, YMMV.

 

[horn34]

3P will be faster, but Aldora will give you longer dives and get you back to your hotel later than 3P.

I prefer longer dives and not caring what wives think.

 

[Carlos Danger]

Hey everyone. Heading to Cozumel in a couple weeks and still debating between these 2 dive op's. I've spent countless hours reading trip reports, etc. I'll be there for 7 days on an anniversary trip with my non-diving wife. We're staying at the Westin (she picked the hotel). Planning on 2 or 3 morning (2 tank) dives. I know Aldora is known for their longer dives but does that put you back at the dock substantially later than diving with 3P? Getting back at the dock a little earlier may buy me some more goodwill with my wife to dive another day. She likes to sleep in but I I'd rather not get back to the hotel much past noon. I've been to Cozumel but this will be my 1st time diving there. So I'm happy with any of the dive sites as they'll all be new. Thanks for any help, I really appreciate it.

The Westin is really nice, but located on the opposite end of the island from where most of the diving occurs. To my knowledge neither operator will pick you up from your hotel, unless maybe you are diving in the northern hotel zone exclusively that day.

Tres Pelicanos operate boats out of the Fonatur Marina 3 miles south of town (7 miles from the Westin), and provide transport from their shop behind the International Hospital in San Miguel. Aldora pickup at the Aldora-Villa hotel dock 2 miles south of the Westin.

As James alluded, the amount of time spent diving is probably going to be longer with Aldora, but with a shorter ground commute to/from the Villa. 3Ps would kind of be the opposite; quicker returns to Fonatur, but longer ground commute from/to the Westin. When you factor-in all the variables, it might average out roughly the same either way depending on where you go diving.

Aldora's boats leave the downtown dock at 7:30a, but the returns can vary widely depending on the excursion. I have gotten back before noon when diving the northern hotel zone, but closer to 3:30p or 4:00p on the 3-tank Adventure shark cave dive, etc. I think most of the marine park trips with Aldora would see you back at the Villa anywhere from say 1:00p onwards, depending.

Maybe give both operators a try and see what works best for you!

 

[Guille G]

I prefer longer dives and not caring what wives think.

I suspect this may be part of the reason why you use the plural - “wives”

 

[brsnow]

I would just book one and if you don’t enjoy it, book the other the next trip. Flip a coin if needed

 

[fates13]

Used 3P's just a few weeks ago. Overall a great op with awesome people running it!

Some things worth mentioning:

• They pick up from downtown area (not sure about outside downtown) if you need a ride to the dock
• They say 70 minutes or 700psi dives on their website but we were told 60 minutes or 700psi on most of the dives we did. Maybe it's outdated info on their site but it's a loss of 10 minutes of dive time if you're looking for max dive times. 60 minutes was about our 700psi limit with their AL80's most dives anyways so it didn't really affect us. I think 66 minutes was the max dive time we got with them during the whole trip, with most dives averaging about 60 min.
• Fast boats and lets the group decide the sites to dive each day by vote.
• Got back around 12:30-1:30pm every day after the morning 2 tank dive
• They use AL80's on regular air even on deep dives like Devil's Throat. This means most of us went into deco by a couple minutes by the time we started ascending after checking out the main swim through and a couple other swim throughs. We had plenty of air left but depending on your risk tolerance, this might not be comfortable for some. Aldora uses Steel 100/120's for their dives so you might feel much more safe with the extra air during these types of deep dives.

 

[Brett Hatch]

They use AL80's on regular air even on deep dives like Devil's Throat. This means most of us went into deco by a couple minutes by the time we started ascending after checking out the main swim through and a couple other swim throughs.

Yikes

 

[scubadada]

...They use AL80's on regular air even on deep dives like Devil's Throat. This means most of us went into deco by a couple minutes by the time we started ascending after checking out the main swim through and a couple other swim throughs...

Yikes

I couldn't have said it better, +1, yikes

 

[divingjd]

You would be very unlikely to get back by noon with Aldora. I don’t think I’ve ever been back that early in more than 10 years diving with them. Transit time from Fonatur might close the gap, but you still might get back earlier with 3Ps.