Midweek report Aldora/Casa del Mar

[scubawife]

Are you in the low-end rooms at Casa del Mar? Check out their cabana rooms. They're great. One of our favorite places to stay. I've also stayed in the 2nd floor ocean view rooms and thought they were better then the room I stayed in a Hotel Cozumel. The small balconies do have a bench and hooks that work great for any dive gear you need to dry. Yeah, the bathroom set up is a bit odd with the opening to the corridor. Never had an issue with hot water though. We found the food at Casa to be better then at Hotel Coz (but my one and only Hotel Coz stay was in 2005, 4 months after Wilma, so maybe not at its best.)

To me there is nothing more unnecessary and annoying then speakers blasting music and an "animation team" running pool games and contests all afternoon... which is the main reason that I never had a second stay at Hotel Cozumel or Fiesta Americana...

Hope the ear feels better after your dry day and you can get more great dives in!

 

[jhayes75]

Are you in the low-end rooms at Casa del Mar? Check out their cabana rooms. They're great. One of our favorite places to stay. I've also stayed in the 2nd floor ocean view rooms and thought they were better then the room I stayed in a Hotel Cozumel. The small balconies do have a bench and hooks that work great for any dive gear you need to dry. Yeah, the bathroom set up is a bit odd with the opening to the corridor. Never had an issue with hot water though. We found the food at Casa to be better then at Hotel Coz (but my one and only Hotel Coz stay was in 2005, 4 months after Wilma, so maybe not at its best.)

To me there is nothing more unnecessary and annoying then speakers blasting music and an "animation team" running pool games and contests all afternoon... which is the main reason that I never had a second stay at Hotel Cozumel or Fiesta Americana...

Hope the ear feels better after your dry day and you can get more great dives in!

Ditto!

 

[alohagal]

Hola Billincozumel!

I think it is a Colorado curse. Or maybe a Rocky Mountain curse.

I am sure their sweet little pookems of a dog does not have rabies. Only need to worry if he was foaming at the mouth!

Have you met Sallye yet? Of course she does the full pampering thing. Dives and sleeps Aldora.
She should be packing by now. Due to leave 3 August. Tell her I said hello.

I too discovered the IPOD shuffle, especially nice in Playa Del Carmen on Avenue 5. Make browsing a realistic endeavor.

BTW: My thread was exterminated. So there is some kind of curse.

Glad you are having a good time on Cozumel...but why wouldn't you? Muy Bien!

Mary

 

[billindenver]

So, I wrapped up 7 days of diving with Aldora with a Maricaibo dive followed by Cedral wall. The last day was done with a fantastic group of 4, all breathing well and did on the plus side of two and a half hours total with both dives on the deep side of normal. Mateo had another group so I was with Javier who I've dove with before and he was every bit as excellent as I remember him. Aldora's DM's really are wonderful people. Mateo is awesome and lets you ride the multi-level bubble (on either side of deco if you prefer). Javier is always excited, a bit more conservative on deco perhaps but he is determined to show you everything that is alive within finning distance of you. Shireef (I am certain I butchered that spelling) seems like a great guy both in and out of the water, though I only dove with him when our groups found themselves in the same vicinity. There is a female instructor, just back from an around the world trip or something that I spoke to for a while on SI's and she is chock full of information...what a cool person. All in all, every one of them are wonderful.

Yesterday was a bit of a trainwreck, with broken boat, two equipment failures (other divers) and a couple of beginners trying to crawl, kick, claw their way through a couple of swim thru's. I knew we were in for a ride when at the first swim thru, two of them stood vertical and treaded sand/water for 30 seconds before convincing themselves they were ready for a swim thru. By then, of course...visability was nil and they proceeded to move their way through by brute force. You know what we always say, a bad day of diving is better than....well, that was put to the test yesterday and it is still true. These days happen.

Today....oh....did it ever make up for yesterday. Maricaibo is a reef like I have not seen before. The only way I can describe it is that it is undisturbed. No sand on the reef, more life than I've seen elsewhere and the current was kind to us today. Very cool dive filled with more sharks than I've seen in all other coz dives combined. It's deep though....so deco chases you up before you want it to...and then it's the long drift well above where you want to be. Still, worth every minute and The Arch swimthru was really cool.

Well....Kauai in a few weeks! Is it considered bad form to skip a wedding because you were diving? The wedding isn't mine...I'm pretty sure that would be frowned upon.

The week always goes by so quickly. Ride on the silver cigar tomorrow...back to Denver. I'll have a new certification with me this time though.... AOW

 

[Prop Joe]

So, I wrapped up 7 days of diving with Aldora with a Maricaibo dive followed by Cedral wall. The last day was done with a fantastic group of 4, all breathing well and did on the plus side of two and a half hours total with both dives on the deep side of normal. Mateo had another group so I was with Javier who I've dove with before and he was every bit as excellent as I remember him. Aldora's DM's really are wonderful people. Mateo is awesome and lets you ride the multi-level bubble (on either side of deco if you prefer). Javier is always excited, a bit more conservative on deco perhaps but he is determined to show you everything that is alive within finning distance of you. Shireef (I am certain I butchered that spelling) seems like a great guy both in and out of the water, though I only dove with him when our groups found themselves in the same vicinity. There is a female instructor, just back from an around the world trip or something that I spoke to for a while on SI's and she is chock full of information...what a cool person. All in all, every one of them are wonderful.

Yesterday was a bit of a trainwreck, with broken boat, two equipment failures (other divers) and a couple of beginners trying to crawl, kick, claw their way through a couple of swim thru's. I knew we were in for a ride when at the first swim thru, two of them stood vertical and treaded sand/water for 30 seconds before convincing themselves they were ready for a swim thru. By then, of course...visability was nil and they proceeded to move their way through by brute force. You know what we always say, a bad day of diving is better than....well, that was put to the test yesterday and it is still true. These days happen.

Today....oh....did it ever make up for yesterday. Maricaibo is a reef like I have not seen before. The only way I can describe it is that it is undisturbed. No sand on the reef, more life than I've seen elsewhere and the current was kind to us today. Very cool dive filled with more sharks than I've seen in all other coz dives combined. It's deep though....so deco chases you up before you want it to...and then it's the long drift well above where you want to be. Still, worth every minute and The Arch swimthru was really cool.

Well....Kauai in a few weeks! Is it considered bad form to skip a wedding because you were diving? The wedding isn't mine...I'm pretty sure that would be frowned upon.

The week always goes by so quickly. Ride on the silver cigar tomorrow...back to Denver. I'll have a new certification with me this time though.... AOW

Enjoyed your trip reports/posts. Congrat's on the new cert. Mateo gave me my AOW also. Liang is the name of the DM who just got back. She gave me my Rescue cert. I agree, Aldora has great DM's (Captains need lovin' too!). I like the whole operation. Can't wait to get back.

 

[alohagal]

Wow, Liang is back? I heard fantastic things about her and saw lots of dive pictures of her from Pelagicsal when hanging out at Villa Aldora a few weeks ago. I know that crew is glad to have her back. Hope to meet her one day!

Bill...did you meet Sallye?

Great to read your report!

Mary

 

[billindenver]

I think Sallye may have been the one who brought a wetsuit down to the boat when someone forgot theirs? It was a Hi, I'm xxxxx wave to everyone and we were off to the reef. If that wasn't her, then no, I must have missed Sallye. Will be going back in October though, so maybe then. I met a whole slew of very cool people this trip....had some fantastic dives, a couple of lets just call them comical dives and plenty of relaxation. Dave Dillahay (sp?) sat and chatted with us about new boat plans, Memo sat and chatted about all kinds of stuff, and I gained a further appreciation for Aldora and their way of doing things.

Yes, Liang is back and what an incredibly cool girl she is. I sat mute while she talked a guy in the group through the theory of Nitrox and a half dozen other things during an SI and she is impressively full of knowledge. Nice attitude too. Laid back and confident is what comes to mind.

Well, I'm back in Denver now. Long day of delays and barely made connector flights But I'm home....yay? Think Memo has room for another DM? Bah...I wanna go back. Well, Kauai in a few weeks....Coz six weeks or so after that. I guess I can't complain too much. My new dive buddy made huge strides this trip....I am quite amazed. Thanks Aldora...that was impressive work. Until next time....

 

[hrsedoc]

I thought Aldora would group divers of similar ability, so I am surprised that you were with the beginners. I am trying to plan my trip in 2 wks and liked Aldora because their website says they take only 6 divers/boat and match up experience levels...

 

[billindenver]

They do group similar dive abilities...or at least they try to. They can only take the word of those who give it though, and they were told they group was advanced...though they clearly were not. Memo was trying to get me to the devils throat which I had suggested when this group came in and requested the same. In theory it was a perfect union...though in practice a couple of them were over their heads.

We have used 4 different dive ops on the island and have come to believe that while all of them attempt to group similar levels, the fact of the matter is that sometimes you get what you get.

Off to Kauai today. The Mary curse is apparently not broken...as a tropical storm (downgraded from a hurricane) hits....TODAY! Us Airways says the flight is not cancelled...but who wants to bet we end up stranded in Pheonix when they figure out that 30mph winds are bad for landing airplanes in? Seriously...sometimes you just have to laugh.