dive operator in cozumel

[DeepScuba]

Uhhgggg

How do you dive AND hug a tree at the same time?

Save the Whales!!

Save the Rainforest!!

hehheh

I like Gringo's in Coz. They know EXACTLY what I want. It's their edge, and they know it.

Last I checked, my "Gringo's" rent, build, eat, employ, pay taxes etc etc right there in little Ole Coz.

I hear their single biggest Pain in the A$$ is getting a "local" to work for their pay, as the labour laws are such, that it's damn near impossible to fire someone without losing your own shirt in the process.

But hey, that's coming from an entrepreneur.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

DeepScuba once bubbled...
Uhhgggg

How do you dive AND hug a tree at the same time?

Save the Whales!!

Save the Rainforest!!

hehheh

I like Gringo's in Coz. They know EXACTLY what I want. It's their edge, and they know it.

Last I checked, my "Gringo's" rent, build, eat, employ, pay taxes etc etc right there in little Ole Coz.

I hear their single biggest Pain in the A$$ is getting a "local" to work for their pay, as the labour laws are such, that it's damn near impossible to fire someone without losing your own shirt in the process.

But hey, that's coming from an entrepreneur.

Ditto!

 

[ronrosa]

ggunn once bubbled...


Um, yes. I will only add that they charge $37 more per diver (nearly double) for a 2 tank dive than what I paid last time I was there, not the $5-10 quoted earlier. Caveat emptor.

Again, nothing against them other than being too expensive in my book. Oh, and I prefer to use locally owned businesses on Cozumel over those run by gringo entrepreneurs whenever I can.

If the only complaint is they are too expensive then Living Underwater and Liquid Blue must also be too expensive since their pricing is about the same.

If you factor in the 75-90 minute bottom times, $80 for 2 tanks comes out to approximately $2 per 1 minute of bottom time.

Let's assume $60 for a 2 tank dive with an operator that uses aluminum 80's. Let's also assume a 60 minute bottom time. That comes out to $2 per 1 minute of bottom time. This operator must be overpriced too.

What about the operator that charges $60 for a 2 tank but bottom times are typically 45 minutes or less (Paradise Divers, Dressel, Scuba Du, Dive Palancar) ? I guess they are REALLY overpriced.

 

[5615mike]

Ron

Those who don’t get it will never agree with us Aldora, LU and Deep Blue type operator lovers in Coz. I love Aldora and will continue to support their exceptional efforts but I can’t say that I am without disappointment. IMO they all should offer some sort of Advanced Diver or Experienced Diver program. By this I mean making Nitrox available. Now, if everyone on the boat does not have the same gas then this would obviously be futile.

Our dives with Aldora consistently end with 900 to 1400 lbs. of air. Depths are in excess of 85ft,usually over 95ft and many over 110ft in my log for 1st dives. Second dives are universally in excess of 60ft, usually over 70ft unless we happen to dive Paradise and then your at about 50ft. With these profiles, SI is rather long……….like 1.5-2 hrs. The ending gas issue could be caused by a diver OOA or being at NDL. Since you can't have inexperienced divers doing decompression dives there is obviously no answer to the NDL problem while diving air. I see this as leaving 1/3 or more of my "Aldora Experience" on the boat. Divers with decent SAC rates don't need the 120's but the rest of the experience with Aldora is great. If there was a Nitrox pgm then BT's would be much better and SI would not need to be near as long and thus ending the 2 tank morning dive much earlier. After 6 days of diving for two, that's over $1000 before tip and park fees. That's approaching real money when you consider you leave over 3 tanks of gas a piece on the boat. In net outlay, that's 30% of the bill to Dive Op.(Dives are $87 for 2 tank dive) with no multi-day dive discount.

Considering that many believe this is too expensive……I say, well maybe but what are you looking for in your dive experience. Now if you leave alot of air on the boat then yes, it gets expensive. If you use all your air and you love LONG bottom times then it’s great. DM leave those experienced divers alone and let them enjoy the BT. I am currently corresponding with the owner of Aldora regarding the issue I posed above and hope to someday soon have options. No matter what, we all have our favorites and will continue to trade with those which we have wonderful experiences. We all, including myself, sound like were paid advertisers for our favorite Dive Ops. Now some may be, but we all just want to believe that we have found the best operator and want others to experience the same.

 

[ronrosa]

I agree on the nitrox thing. I'm nitrox certified and it makes a lot of sense as long as the whole boat is on nitrox and they have an analyzer on the boat.

A nitrox only boat..... sounds great.

 

[Jerryg]

Snowfish
I've never stayed on the island, but both my wife and I have dove there. Also we've stayed at all inclusives on the mainland and dove both the Mayan Riviera and Cozumel. What we encountered were prices on packages that afforded some cost savings, but limited our flexibility in doing things that we wanted to do. If you do go after a package deal I would strongly recommend that it include at least a trip to the cenote's on the mainland. The boat ride is only 45 minutes, but the dives are spectacular. Also if you get to the mainland see if you can dive a reef called the Tortugas. It is absolutely loaded with big hawkbilled green sea turtles and moray eels. On Cozumel our favorite dive is the Santa Rosa Wall. It is absolutely a spectacular dive. If ever you wanted to feel like an astronaut floating in space this is the place to do it. By the way try this website for info on the various reefs around Cozumel.
http://www.travelnotes.cc/cozumel/links/reefs.html

 

[reefguy04]

When it comes to ops which offer 80's or 120's, my motto is that "the bottom line is the bottom time". I'll pay 30% more dollars for 50% more air.

 

[ggunn]

If the only complaint is they are too expensive then Living Underwater and Liquid Blue must also be too expensive since their pricing is about the same.

If you factor in the 75-90 minute bottom times, $80 for 2 tanks comes out to approximately $2 per 1 minute of bottom time.

Let's assume $60 for a 2 tank dive with an operator that uses aluminum 80's. Let's also assume a 60 minute bottom time. That comes out to $2 per 1 minute of bottom time. This operator must be overpriced too.

What about the operator that charges $60 for a 2 tank but bottom times are typically 45 minutes or less (Paradise Divers, Dressel, Scuba Du, Dive Palancar) ? I guess they are REALLY overpriced.

LU and LB, if they also charge US$87 for a 2 tanker, are also too expensive for me. Nowhere did I ever say that Aldora (or anyone) was overpriced; that's a different concept. Lexus and Mercedes aren't necessarily overpriced; they sell lots of cars, but they cost more than I am willing to pay for transportation. I come up well into the yellow on my computer on most dives on an AL80; a larger tank just isn't worth an extra 37 bucks (actually $111; I am usually paying for 3 divers) to me. Neither are the other amenities they offer, especially since I have been able to secure most of them for myself elsewhere for less money and the rest I don't care about. YMMV, and go for it if it's worth it to you.

But the main reason (at this moment, anyway) that I am predispositioned not to dive with Aldora is my irritation with you guys who go on about whoever doesn't dive with Aldora doesn't "get it"; all the cool, in-the-know divers dive with Aldora. I get it; I just don't agree with you, and I resent the implication that the fact that I don't see things your way indicates some sort of defeciency on my part. Hey, look at it this way - we'll never be competing for the same spaces on a dive boat.

 

[ronrosa]

Gordon:

I agree that people shouldn't insult other's choices. If I insulted you I apologize. My comments about pricing were just to point out that Aldora is similarly priced to other operators based on bottom times.

And you never know, we might be on the same boat some day. Aldora is currently my favorite op, but I like to try different operators for the sake of comparisons. I've been to Coz 3 separate times and used 3 separate operators. My next trip I intend to try another one.

 

[5615mike]

Gordon:

I agree that people shouldn't insult other's choices. If I insulted you I apologize. My comments about pricing were just to point out that Aldora is similarly priced to other operators based on bottom times.

And you never know, we might be on the same boat some day. Aldora is currently my favorite op, but I like to try different operators for the sake of comparisons. I've been to Coz 3 separate times and used 3 separate operators. My next trip I intend to try another one.

Ditto from here as well. Never meant to look down on or insult anyone. I was not suggesting that if you don't dive with Aldora you are inept. Lord knows I am at times. I just mean that those of us who enjoy Aldora do so and that's that. If you have made a choice to stick with your op then by all means there is nothing wrong with that. Please consider the end of my latest post. I said that we all feel strongly about those ops we really like and don't understand why they don't.....but they don't. Nothing wrong with that. It's a good thing we don't all like the same op or we would never get wet! LOL