Lottifish
Registered
I wanted to repost my review of my recent Cancun Dive Experience that I wrote from Tripadvisor.com:
Alvaro, Alvaro, Alvaro...what can I say?! This guy rocks! He's SUPER nice and really knows his stuff.
My Husband and I booked a whale shark snorkeling tour with him and a day of wreck/reef diving and a day of diving the cenotes in June 2012. Alvaro sent a cab to pick us up each day and he personally drove us back to the hotel each afternoon. I don't know if this is something he does for everyone or just us as we had booked a lot of stuff with him but it was SO appreciated and made our stay so easy.
When we arrived for the whale shark snorkeling tour, Alvaro told us that we'd actually be going out with another company called EcoColors Tours (see my very negative review of them under their company on Tripadvisor). Um, okay, not ideal as I thought we were going out with Alvaro but it seemed to be fine. However, long story short, the trip was hectic and although we saw the whale sharks, we spent very little time with them. When the boat returned to dock, Alvaro was there waiting for us and asked us how it went. We told him and he felt terrible. He went to talk with the company we went out with and then said that he'd make it up to us....and he did
Alvaro had mentioned that for our wreck/reef dive day, we'd be going out with a divemaster of his but not him, however when that day came, we went out with him. Not sure if this is because of our bad experience with the whale sharks or I had mis-understood something but be prepared that just because you book with Alvaro doesn't mean you'll necessarily be diving with Alvaro. This kind of info is important to me and that's why I'm mentioning it here.
The water was too choppy to go on the wreck dive so we just did two reef dives but it was still great. Alvaro is a competent divemaster and definitely thinks of safety first. My Husband was amazed that he could guess how much air he had left just by listening to his breathing. Alvaro was also helpful getting us weighted better for the second dive when what we thought would be enough, was a little light for the first dive. He also didn't push the dive limits and my Husband's dive computer was very happy and not beeping as it has when we've dove with other company's around the world.
The cenote day was ah-mazing! I had no idea it woud be so cool. For the first cenote, Alvaro took us to a spot that is not open to the public to dive but he knew the land owners and had been the one to mark the cave/caverns a while back so he convinced them to let us dive it as a way to repay us for the bad whale shark experience. This cenote was unbelievable. Cenote's are basically caverns (and caves but we stayed in the cavern parts) with huge rocks and crazy clear water. When the sunlight shines in from opening above, it comes in in rainbows. Truly awesome. After the dive I asked Alvaro what the name of this cenote was and he said it didn't have one yet so he was going to name it "Charlotte's Cenote" after me. Um, how cool is that?! Now I have a cenote named after me! Thanks Alvaro!!
Our second cenote was the Tajma-Ha. Also beautiful and we were able to come up in several air pockets in the cavern - one even had bats flying around! Alvaro made sure that getting in to each of these cenotes was easy and not dangerous and he was a great guide. I was nervous about diving in dark caverns with lights at first but my nerves quickly dissipated with Alvaro as the guide.
To make up for the poor whale shark experience even more, Alvaro invited us back for another day of diving, for free, in the reef. This day we went to the underwater museum and another part of the reef. Again, Alvaro was fun, safe, and competent. He also knows how to find fun things for you to pet underwater. Throughout our dives we got to hold (and kiss!) a spiny sea start, starfish, and even a sea turtle!
We had also brought all of our own dive gear and Alvaro stored it for us throughout our stay and washed it very well after each day of diving. He even taught us some new tricks about how to better clean our gear.
He also video-taped our reef dives and gave us a free copy of the dvd to bring home with our names and chapters!
I can't recommend Alvaro enough. If I return to Cancun I won't hesitate to book with him!
Alvaro, Alvaro, Alvaro...what can I say?! This guy rocks! He's SUPER nice and really knows his stuff.
My Husband and I booked a whale shark snorkeling tour with him and a day of wreck/reef diving and a day of diving the cenotes in June 2012. Alvaro sent a cab to pick us up each day and he personally drove us back to the hotel each afternoon. I don't know if this is something he does for everyone or just us as we had booked a lot of stuff with him but it was SO appreciated and made our stay so easy.
When we arrived for the whale shark snorkeling tour, Alvaro told us that we'd actually be going out with another company called EcoColors Tours (see my very negative review of them under their company on Tripadvisor). Um, okay, not ideal as I thought we were going out with Alvaro but it seemed to be fine. However, long story short, the trip was hectic and although we saw the whale sharks, we spent very little time with them. When the boat returned to dock, Alvaro was there waiting for us and asked us how it went. We told him and he felt terrible. He went to talk with the company we went out with and then said that he'd make it up to us....and he did
Alvaro had mentioned that for our wreck/reef dive day, we'd be going out with a divemaster of his but not him, however when that day came, we went out with him. Not sure if this is because of our bad experience with the whale sharks or I had mis-understood something but be prepared that just because you book with Alvaro doesn't mean you'll necessarily be diving with Alvaro. This kind of info is important to me and that's why I'm mentioning it here.
The water was too choppy to go on the wreck dive so we just did two reef dives but it was still great. Alvaro is a competent divemaster and definitely thinks of safety first. My Husband was amazed that he could guess how much air he had left just by listening to his breathing. Alvaro was also helpful getting us weighted better for the second dive when what we thought would be enough, was a little light for the first dive. He also didn't push the dive limits and my Husband's dive computer was very happy and not beeping as it has when we've dove with other company's around the world.
The cenote day was ah-mazing! I had no idea it woud be so cool. For the first cenote, Alvaro took us to a spot that is not open to the public to dive but he knew the land owners and had been the one to mark the cave/caverns a while back so he convinced them to let us dive it as a way to repay us for the bad whale shark experience. This cenote was unbelievable. Cenote's are basically caverns (and caves but we stayed in the cavern parts) with huge rocks and crazy clear water. When the sunlight shines in from opening above, it comes in in rainbows. Truly awesome. After the dive I asked Alvaro what the name of this cenote was and he said it didn't have one yet so he was going to name it "Charlotte's Cenote" after me. Um, how cool is that?! Now I have a cenote named after me! Thanks Alvaro!!
Our second cenote was the Tajma-Ha. Also beautiful and we were able to come up in several air pockets in the cavern - one even had bats flying around! Alvaro made sure that getting in to each of these cenotes was easy and not dangerous and he was a great guide. I was nervous about diving in dark caverns with lights at first but my nerves quickly dissipated with Alvaro as the guide.
To make up for the poor whale shark experience even more, Alvaro invited us back for another day of diving, for free, in the reef. This day we went to the underwater museum and another part of the reef. Again, Alvaro was fun, safe, and competent. He also knows how to find fun things for you to pet underwater. Throughout our dives we got to hold (and kiss!) a spiny sea start, starfish, and even a sea turtle!
We had also brought all of our own dive gear and Alvaro stored it for us throughout our stay and washed it very well after each day of diving. He even taught us some new tricks about how to better clean our gear.
He also video-taped our reef dives and gave us a free copy of the dvd to bring home with our names and chapters!
I can't recommend Alvaro enough. If I return to Cancun I won't hesitate to book with him!
