What happened to Cozumel?

[scubadada]

Hi @StreetDoctor

I decided not to get involved in the discussion about your visit to Cozumel. Where are you staying and who are you diving with in Bonaire? Are you doing any boat dives or will you be doing only shore dives?

You might want to transfer this discussion to the Bonaire Forum with a new post

 

[wateraddiction]

For all the talk about shops carefully vetting divers before taking them to specific sites, I want to point out that Aldora took us to Panancar Horseshoe for a 93' ft dive with a 63 min bottom time (we had just finished OW with them the day before). Friends who later certified with Aldora also experienced similarly amazing dives immediately after their course ended. I'm not sure if the vetting argument is convincing given that we had extraordinary dives with Aldora when we were just babies who barely had any idea of what we were doing. Like it sounds like a bad DM or maybe the shop's ethos (give divers an unforgettable experience & they'll keep returning) may have shifted over the years?

 

[ggunn]

For all the talk about shops carefully vetting divers before taking them to specific sites, I want to point out that Aldora took us to Panancar Horseshoe for a 93' ft dive with a 63 min bottom time (we had just finished OW with them the day before). Friends who later certified with Aldora also experienced similarly amazing dives immediately after their course ended. I'm not sure if the vetting argument is convincing given that we had extraordinary dives with Aldora when we were just babies who barely had any idea of what we were doing. Like it sounds like a bad DM or maybe the shop's ethos (give divers an unforgettable experience & they'll keep returning) may have shifted over the years?

I don't know how many boats that Aldora has, but I think they are among the largest ops, if not the largest op, on the island. It could be that boat to boat, DM to DM, some of their policies may differ somewwhat.

 

[Bookworm11]

I've dove with Aldora twice (this last time for 10 days in November) and they ALWAYS analyzed my nitrox tanks with me watching. Every single time! For 24 dives for the November trip. And yes, normally they were right on time, but a couple of times they were somewhat late, and one time, it was an hour late. Things happen. When I dove with Dressel, routinely, especially the last year, boat times NEVER were on time. And now it's much worse after the huricane ruined the dock and they can only load from one side of the dock.

I've dove in Dahab in the Red Sea, 4 places in Bali, lots of dive sites in Koh Tao and Koh Phangan, Raja Ampat, and Belize, and none of those places have better visibility than Cozumel-NO ONE! Yes, Raja was amazing-but the visibility was never as good as Cozumel's and sometimes it was pretty dismal.

I've come to Cozumel six times. I keep coming back here. Why? Because it's great! It's fairly close, the visibility is awesome, I love the swimthrus (I've never seen better swimthrus anywhere), there are a wide variety of sites, I love San Miguel, I can go across to Playa Del Carmen and dive cenotes, I've seen a hammerhead here twice ( and I haven't seen one anywhere else), and now I've even seen seahorses here, there is nothing like seeing eagle rays or seven foot green moray eels swimming near you, I love seeing toadfish, and there is nothing like the excitement of a great drift dive! I could keep going. There are wonderful, wonderful restaurants here. The people in the town are lovely to talk to. The National Park is great if I can ever pull myself away from diving for a day. I could dive Cedral Wall and Palancar Caves just about every day. If I am being critical-the port getting closed with bad weather, that's a bummer, but stuff happens. The park fees going up-well, all prices for everything are going up. I think there are some wonderful divemasters here-people who love their job, and love taking people out for great dives. You don't always get that. You certainly have lots of dive shops to choose from here. I would rank Cozumel as either 1 or 2 as the top destinations I have been to. And I imagine I will keep coming back as long as I can dive. In fact, I am booked for 2 weeks in October. the biggest problem I have with Cozumel is not Cozumel itself, but the difficulty I have to fly there from my local airport as I can't fly nonstop, and usually the connection is under an hou, and I won't book that. and coming back is worse as I won't book with less than at least 2 1/2 hours to clear customs (Miami you need at least 3 even with Global entry), and it becomes very, very difficult. I can't compare it to anything else in the Caribbean other than Belize as that is the only other place I dove. The visibility wasn't that great there.

 

[Bookworm11]

My understanding about Aldora is that once you start with a particular DM, you usually stay with him for the rest of your duration, unless there is a particular special dive, like a night dive, or the blackwater dive, or the special 3 dive East trip. Supposedly, they group by air consumption, gas and ability, but that isn't always true. They also try to limit groups to 4 per DM, but again, that does not always happen.

 

[BRT]

For all the talk about shops carefully vetting divers before taking them to specific sites, I want to point out that Aldora took us to Panancar Horseshoe for a 93' ft dive with a 63 min bottom time (we had just finished OW with them the day before). Friends who later certified with Aldora also experienced similarly amazing dives immediately after their course ended. I'm not sure if the vetting argument is convincing given that we had extraordinary dives with Aldora when we were just babies who barely had any idea of what we were doing. Like it sounds like a bad DM or maybe the shop's ethos (give divers an unforgettable experience & they'll keep returning) may have shifted over the years?

Maybe we just had an unfortunate experience but remember, even though you were newbies, they had seen you dive.

 

[brsnow]

There is no reason a dive op need to see me dive first. I am taking just as big if risk assuming they know what they are doing. If it is probationary discount the dove or let me pay what I felt it was worth after.

 

[BRT]

There is no reason a dive op need to see me dive first. I am taking just as big if risk assuming they know what they are doing. If it is probationary discount the dove or let me pay what I felt it was worth after.

Maybe. I have witnessed a few disasters with people who had the cards but didn't have the capability.

 

[StreetDoctor]

My understanding about Aldora is that once you start with a particular DM, you usually stay with him for the rest of your duration, unless there is a particular special dive, like a night dive, or the blackwater dive, or the special 3 dive East trip. Supposedly, they group by air consumption, gas and ability, but that isn't always true. They also try to limit groups to 4 per DM, but again, that does not always happen.

We had two different dive masters and were stuck with brand new divers on the second day. They really weren’t the excuse though as the DM was basically on a solo dive. Both new divers missed both safety stops, were at least 40-50’ apart for most of both dives and nothing was ever said. None of that really matters to me though as like I said above we are basically just looking for the boat ride and to not have the dive cut short. Which they weren’t. It’s interesting that a handful of people here seem to have objectively different experiences than us.

 

[StreetDoctor]

Maybe. I have witnessed a few disasters with people who had the cards but didn't have the capability.

Generally I agree but most of my disasters witnessed were in cold water diving- dry suits, doubles, etc. I look at the Caribbean and Cozumel especially as kind of a giant bath tub. It really doesn’t get easier. You don’t even have to kick…