Trip Report Hotel Cozumel / Dive Paradise / Aldora

[NDL_Diver]

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.

What Reef said but to add, Aldora picks up at Villa Aldora (North of town), at Aldora dock in town and most (all?) hotels South of town. We stay close enough to the Villa to walk to in the AM to be picked up there. You must let them know in advance if you are being picked up at the Villa.
If not staying at Villa Aldora and it it too rough to dock there on your way back (rare), you are responsible to pay for cab from town to you hotel. If there is room you can ride down to town from Villa on those rough days they cannot dock at the Villa. It otherwise runs $5 for a Taxi.

 

[GameChanger]

Just a personal observation regarding the "dive your tank/gas" vs "group-ascend" thing,

This subject is often painted as infringing on those that either don't want to be the person that ends everyone's dive prematurely, or don't want another diver ending their dive prematurely, etc.. Seems there are a few factors that don't get much mention though.

The HP120 steel tanks Aldora uses have a buoyancy profile that is optimal for recreational diving, vs say that of an AL80. This, combined with the higher capacity, profile-specific gas mixes for Nitrox, and grouping similar divers per boat, allows for extended dive times and a group-ascend approach that is arguably safer in areas where boat traffic is high. This is probably also more manageable for the DMs, and hopefully lowers instances were individuals become liabilities.

Obviously things don't always work out, and I have personally witnessed times were Aldora's DMs have allowed buddy-pairs to ascend independent of the group. I think the goal here is simply to increase the likelihood that everyone makes it to the end of the dive with similar tank levels and generally have better and safer group experience.

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.

I recently dove with Aldora (Sep 2022), and I was placed on an "Advanced Group" boat. Our DM asked if anyone objected to diving Devil's Throat, and even though I have "been there, done that, and got the T-shirt" for DT, I did not object because I was by myself and didn't want to be "that guy". Besides, none of the other divers had ever done DT, and I could have easily elected to just follow the bubbles.

During the thorough pre-dive briefing, the DM went over frog-kicking and keeping a good distance in the Throat to prevent silt-out, (which was not followed by the young lady in front of me....). He also said that we will all surface as a group, but if you are an air hog, give him the "1000 psi" signal and he will give you his long hose so that the group can continue. A guy had to do this too, and it was not a big deal at all. When more folks reached 1000 psi, the DM retreived his long hose, shot his DSMB, and we all slowly ascended to the SS. I exited with about 700 psi after a dive that was just over an hour in duration.

 

[ggunn]

What Reef said but to add, Aldora picks up at Villa Aldora (North of town), at Aldora dock in town and most (all?) hotels South of town. We stay close enough to the Villa to walk to in the AM to be picked up there. You must let them know in advance if you are being picked up at the Villa.
If not staying at Villa Aldora and it it too rough to dock there on your way back (rare), you are responsible to pay for cab from town to you hotel. If there is room you can ride down to town from Villa on those rough days they cannot dock at the Villa. It otherwise runs $5 for a Taxi.

Do they dock at the Fonatur marina? If so, I would think that a cab from the marina to the north hotel zone would be more than US$5.00.

 

[ReefHound]

I thought they docked at the north marina.

 

[Catito]

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.

Hey:

Where did you stay? I am looking for waterfront at a reasonable price. Will pay more for beautiful views. Thanks

 

[ggunn]

Hey:

Where did you stay? I am looking for waterfront at a reasonable price. Will pay more for beautiful views. Thanks

Have you looked at Blue Angel?

 

[brsnow]

Have you looked at Blue Angel?

I am staying there for the first time in Nov. looks nice.

 

[ggunn]

I am staying there for the first time in Nov. looks nice.

We love the place. Hope you do as well.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

Hey:

Where did you stay? I am looking for waterfront at a reasonable price. Will pay more for beautiful views. Thanks

At the risk of seeming commercial, the Villa Aldora is right on the water with amazing views from most rooms, and just a few steps to the dock and beach diving (free). I believe that the rates are competitive but the thing I like the most is that there are never hoards of cruise ship people out front, yet a short walk into town…or take one of the bikes.

Dave Dillehay