Diving your own profile in Cozumel

[cbm32]

Aldora haters???? Cant say that I have noticed any such dynamic. I think that Aldora sounds like a good op and I am intrigued by them, but when I came to Coz I got a far better deal with another shop and found their service to be impeccable. So I will probably go back to Tres Pelicanos on all of my trips. Also, if the above post is true and they require all of the divers to surface as a group, a steal 100 or 120 is going to allow me to stay down way longer than most I am afraid. Which is ok but if I am paying more because they use the bigger tanks I want to be allowed to use it all.

 

[Mike]

Don't missunderstand what 'surfacing as a group' means when diving with Aldora and how it effects your dive. There are two other factors that will effect your dive bottom time positively with Aldora, first is the DM has a long hooka for the first diver low on air which extends everyone's dive, secondly because they are so successful and busy they are able to separate divers to different boats based on experience and ability. So if you're good with your air, you're almost certainly going to end up on a boat with similar divers. You might be shocked to find yourself actually first low on air, as they seem to attract some excellent divers. Safety is paramount with them, and surfacing together is part of their safety plan, especially on advanced dives, the two other factors I mentioned eliminate any downside to this safety rule. I've enjoyed many 90 minute dives with them. Their divemasters absolutely love diving and they focus specifically on maximizing bottom times. More than once during the dive briefing I've experienced divemasters specifically talking about how they wanted to dive the site with extending the bottom time to the max as one of the major goals based on the profile, and they certainly succeed in this.

 

[BRT]

+1 for Tres Pelicanos. In about 7 days we I believe we only had 1 dive under an hour. As people ran out of air they sent them up the marker line.

 

[PeterNBiddle]

Aldora haters???? Cant say that I have noticed any such dynamic. I think that Aldora sounds like a good op and I am intrigued by them, but when I came to Coz I got a far better deal with another shop and found their service to be impeccable. So I will probably go back to Tres Pelicanos on all of my trips. Also, if the above post is true and they require all of the divers to surface as a group, a steal 100 or 120 is going to allow me to stay down way longer than most I am afraid. Which is ok but if I am paying more because they use the bigger tanks I want to be allowed to use it all.

What size tanks do Tres Pelicanos run?

---------- Post added August 17th, 2013 at 06:54 AM ----------

Don't missunderstand what 'surfacing as a group' means when diving with Aldora and how it effects your dive. There are two other factors that will effect your dive bottom time positively with Aldora, first is the DM has a long hooka for the first diver low on air which extends everyone's dive, secondly because they are so successful and busy they are able to separate divers to different boats based on experience and ability. So if you're good with your air, you're almost certainly going to end up on a boat with similar divers. You might be shocked to find yourself actually first low on air, as they seem to attract some excellent divers. Safety is paramount with them, and surfacing together is part of their safety plan, especially on advanced dives, the two other factors I mentioned eliminate any downside to this safety rule. I've enjoyed many 90 minute dives with them. Their divemasters absolutely love diving and they focus specifically on maximizing bottom times. More than once during the dive briefing I've experienced divemasters specifically talking about how they wanted to dive the site with extending the bottom time to the max as one of the major goals based on the profile, and they certainly succeed in this.

As an occasional air sharer on our first trip with Aldora I think that this system works well. I routinely got 70+ minute dives because of that.

Based on my experience in Utila this week on AL80s I'm really looking fwd to diving 120s again - could be down for AGES.

 

[Mossman]

As an occasional air sharer on our first trip with Aldora I think that this system works well. I routinely got 70+ minute dives because of that.

I suppose it works if you don't mind being tethered to another diver. IMO, air sharing should be done on an emergency basis only.

 

[robint]

I suppose it works if you don't mind being tethered to another diver. IMO, air sharing should be done on an emergency basis only.

ditto... in Florida I watched several divers do this on every dive (usually the guy breathing off his girl's octo). Reported it to the DM back on the boat, and he shrugged his shoulders and said "yeah, I know". WTF.

I have never seen it in Cozumel, ever. My husband saw it on a dive (I was not on that boat), and when he asked the divers about it later they told him to mind his own business. These divers had been friends of ours, until this. After that they were rude and never heard from them again.

 

[cbm32]

I saw it on one dive in coz.

Tres Pelicanos runs AL80's but larger tanks are available upon request.

 

[cvchief]

As long as one tank isn't empty, is it a big deal?

 

[Prop Joe]

Aldora rule is get to 1000 psi signal DM and he/she can, at his/her discretion give a 6 ft hose, for 5-10 minutes to one or possibly two divers (one at a time) while everyone works their way up the reef resulting in a nice multi-level dive for everyone. It is done to surface as a group for safety's sake. If diving in the Columbia/Palancar area there is significant boat traffic and IMO a dangerous proposition rounding up divers, two at a time, scattered across the surface weaving between boats. Then there is the issue of going to the extreme north and south of the island where the seas and current can be a challenge to pick up divers even when they surface as a group. The weather can change, wind/storms/wave action. Currents can switch mid-dive, increase, decrease.... I'd rather stay with the group. I've been on some adrenaline pumping dives and it was reassuring staying and surfacing with the group and the DM that knows the dives, reefs, profiles, conditions better than I ever will. As an added bonus I usually run out of bottom time (even with EAN), not air and have had a 80-85 minute dives with generally 70 minute dives the norm. If the current is slack, we can get pretty spread out, meet up at the safety stop, and surface together as a group. If you have been diving with the group before you know who is going to be leading the conga line, straggling behind, or using more air etc... The DM can plan the dive accordingly depending on the group he/she has to work with. With multiple boats you are more likely to be with divers of like skills and air consumption.
Dive with who you like but I like the Aldora way for safeties sake.

 

[Mossman]

Just curious. When one or two divers are sharing air from the DM, what happens if there's an emergency that the DM needs to respond to quickly?

---------- Post added August 17th, 2013 at 10:50 AM ----------

Wouldn't it be much safer to simply give the heavy breathers pony tanks?