Trip Report Hotel Cozumel / Dive Paradise / Aldora

[cicopo]

Yes it was called the Fiesta Inn in the 90's and when I was there in 95 I walked by it many times reading the big sign about them having the largest Disco on the island. The name was changed later to Los or Las Brisas but than name was copyrighted by a hotel chain so they had to rename it and chose Hotel Cozumel.

 

[wnissen]

Having dived Aldora many times in the past but only once (a few weeks ago) in recent years, I can explain some of the issues with diving.

1. Having many boats, they do an excellent job of separating divers by ability. In general, the divers in a group are ready to surface at about the same time. (See my next comment for more on this.)

2. There are exceptions. When I dived a few weeks ago, we had a husband and wife pair with us each day. I am sure the husband had plenty of dives, but the wife not so much, and she was low on air long before us. They surfaced by themselves, and we continued the dive. In theory, we were then supposed to surface when the first diver hit 700 PSI, but I don't think that ever happened. None of us wanted to be the one to end the dive, so I think the DM brought us up when he thought we had had enough. Speaking for myself, I was happy to go up every time. We averaged close to 90 minutes per dive, and I would have been plenty pleased with shorter dives. So we all surfaced together, but nobody was complaining.

That's similar to my experience. When one buddy in another pair was not feeling well at 45 minutes, they ascended, and the rest of us continued our dive for another 40 minutes until I reached my reserve. The other dive we were all more or less the same on air and so it was no big deal when the DM signalled.

As for the Wyndham, thanks for the history! My room, 1230, was definitely older. Cracks in the bathtub around the drain, grout badly in need of a refresh, drawer slides mostly broken on the furniture, safe a bit rusty, etc. Towels had seen better days as well. The AC unit was new, and the bed had a memory topper on it, much more comfortable than the punishing normal style for Mexico. So as long as I can sleep in comfort and eat well, I'm happy. Others may not find it so well. One oddity, the balcony lights are centrally controlled, turning off at 10 p.m. on the dot. So there's considerable light in the room until then. We also didn't have hot water for about 30 minutes one afternoon, just air rushing through the pipes. No loss of power, though.

 

[cicopo]

You weren't too far from my usual room, which as crazy as it sounds to many is 1234. Yes the bathrooms in particular are way overdue for a refurb & were supposed to be getting one as per my last stay but I strongly suspect Covid cut income & therefore spending. I know some rooms have been updated but no idea how many or where they are located. I've just booked my usual winter stay & hope things stay on track so that we finally get there again. Haven't seen the many friends we've made there over the years in far too long considering our ages.
And you are right about the balcony lights. It's been that way for a long time. I guess the late owner wanted a certain look at night & after his death a few years ago one of his sons took over & to me had very similar goals on how the place is run with constant upgrades here & there which in most cases are nice but I heard a lot of complaints when they re did the beach club restaurant in late Feb & March.

 

[xan]

That sounds like a contradiction to me.

You are correct, thanks for pointing it out. Sorry I used imprecise language in comparing the two dive ops. What I meant was that Aldora (per the comms I've had with them) said the group will all ascend together whenever gas/deco requires it, i.e., the first diver of the group that hits one of those limits will cause the entire group to ascend. As others have pointed out, this may sometimes not be the case in practice, but it's what I've been told.

Dive Paradise said overall dive time limit is ~45 minutes, but pairs may ascend earlier as gas/deco requires it.

In effect I tried to say that one op limits overall dive time regardless of where the group may be in terms of gas/deco, while the other doesn't.

Also keep in mind that you are not necessarily locked into diving with only one operator, so maybe consider checking-out several during your trip.


Hope this is helpful in your planning considerations.

If this wasn't a larger group trip, I may have considered shopping around more to check out different ops, but the relative simplicity of picking one op was appealing to this group. I do appreciate your comments, thanks for sharing.

 

[ReefHound]

Dive Paradise said overall dive time limit is ~45 minutes, but pairs may ascend earlier as gas/deco requires it.

I've had a half dozen dives with DP that were closer to 60 minutes. As I said earlier, DP offers an upgrade to the smaller faster pangas that are more in line with other small boat ops.

 

[drrich2]

Dive Paradise is generally known for their large "cattle boats" but for a small surcharge like $10-15 you can get on a smaller faster boat more in line with your Aldora experience.

Several years ago one diver who booked a package deal (Hotel Cozumel and Dive Paradise) reported difficulty ‘upgrading’ to fast boats once there (I couldn’t find the original thread, unless the one I use below is it). I wonder how smooth the process is now? If it's important, it might be worth getting the 'upgrade' arranged at the time one books the package deal rather than book without and get down there hoping to upgrade then.

I did some forum searching hunting that thread; I turned up one from 2015 called

Trip Report, Villa Blanca & Paradise Divers 6/12-19/2015​

in it, 'Dive Paradise' and 'Paradise Divers' seem to be used interchangeably, but I think it's the same op. A couple of interesting (albeit now 7-year old) quotes:

We were annoyed to discover that the "Caribbean" package we purchased would have entailed diving the close-in shallow sites all week on big slow boats with a bunch of novices. Not that there's anything wrong with novices; we just like to dive for a bit longer and at more interesting sites. We were told that upgrading to the diving we came to Cozumel for was not possible for every reason imaginable unless we sacrificed the money we already paid, and then paid full freight to reserve the dives we wanted to do. That was unacceptable, of course. We eventually came to an agreement in which three mediocre dives basically equated to two good dives, plus a mild dose of guilt. Now we know: I will never again assume that one dive might equate to another, and will not assume that the hotel operator has any knowledge of the dive operation or can speak on their behalf.

In my experience last week, everything was cool on the fast boats. The big boats were more restrictive. They offered divers choices... but those choices seemed to be pretty limited due to other divers' skills. The package we purchased and regretted doing so was 5 days x 3 "Caribbean Dives."

So I went to Dive Paradise's website dive trips page, and I see offerings for :

Advance/Online $92 Morning AM 2-Tank Caribbean Dive Trip

Advance/Online $96 Morning AM Express 2-Tank Dive Trip (Notice it doesn't say 'Caribbean').

 

[ReefHound]

Several years ago one diver who booked a package deal (Hotel Cozumel and Dive Paradise) reported difficulty ‘upgrading’ to fast boats once there (I couldn’t find the original thread, unless the one I use below is it). I wonder how smooth the process is now? If it's important, it might be worth getting the 'upgrade' arranged at the time one books the package deal rather than book without and get down there hoping to upgrade then.

I can't account for why some people have issues but I had no problems at all upgrading in the same situation back in 2008. That was when the original owner Apple still was alive. We arrived, realized the difference, and switched to the small boats. We went on the slow boat the first (next) day - you can't expect to change the plan in the afternoon for the next day when they've already scheduled the next day's boats and crews. You also can't book a package through a group (i.e. your local dive shop) and just switch out easily.

This is the thing about Mexico. Different people get told different things all the time. It's hard to draw any conclusions on policies and procedures based on one report.

 

[brsnow]

I have used DP am express boats many times. Not really an upgrade, just a different experience. Perhaps they didn’t know what you were asking for.

 

[Catito]

Sounds like you had a pretty good time and your returns will be better with the experience you gained.

Keep in mind that hotel staff are generally treated like dirt by management. They have procedures to follow and are probably afraid to make autonomous decisions else management disagrees with the decision and they get penalized or fired. Thus the strict regimens and refusal to allow deviations.

Dive Paradise is generally known for their large "cattle boats" but for a small surcharge like $10-15 you can get on a smaller faster boat more in line with your Aldora experience. Aldora is great but expensive. They are known for the large steel tanks but if you're good on an AL80 or AL100, there are tons of smaller ops there that provide a similar or better experience for much less, more in line with DP prices.

Some ops have the group ascend as one and some let you dive your air. When the DM unfurls his SMB it doesn't necessarily mean it's time for the group to ascend, just that someone needs to. With the ops I use, they are fine floating along with the SMB deployed for as long as we want.

Sucks that your private DM was lousy. Maybe the better DMs get the regular gigs with groups and the lesser ones hang around picking up overflow work like someone needing a private guide?

Thinking of using Aldora on an upcoming trip. Do you have recommendations on where to stay?

 

[ReefHound]

Thinking of using Aldora on an upcoming trip. Do you have recommendations on where to stay?

Aldora Villas is nice and convenient. There's a decent shore dive there, too. Aldora picks up at a pier in town so more economical accomodations would be Casa Mexicana.