Where to stay? w/good snorkeling
- Thread starter jeremyl
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cicopo
Contributor
I've never dove with Aldora but I think they supply larger tanks which means longer bottom time for the extra money. It may even out if that is correct, and an email will confirm it.
ggunn, which dive op do you go with? Saving $30/day * 6 days is significant, but I can deal with the higher price if there is value added. One thing I read about Aldora is that their lunch spot charges to go in (included in the dive price, hence cost increase)... and menu starts at $12. Personally between dives a light snack is plenty for me - I dont generally eat a lot... so this would be a distraction rather than a benefit for me. Is this standard for them or is the source flawed?
H20Bubbles
Contributor
My wife and I did our AOW with Christi at BlueXTSea and I was extremely pleased with both the photo and buoyancy control sections that I did with her. I still think the buoyancy lesson was one of the most helpful in my diving education.
Not ggunn, but having dove with Aldora several times - I can answer this for you. Yes, surface intervals are spent at one of the beach clubs. I can't say for sure which one they are using right now. They are south of town, just a quick boat ride from the reefs after your first dive. Generally we spent about an hour to hour and a half at the club. You can use the restrooms, grab something to eat, talk with the crew, sit in a chair, or just lay in the sun. The menu was pretty varied, and items are available for less than $12. I can't remember for sure, but I always split a chicken nachos with my 2 sons, plus 3 cokes, tip, and probably spent $15, give or take. I think a burger was $6. As far as the charging to go in - I don't know this. But, if they do, then they probably do the same for all the dive ops that spend their surface interval there. I could not say how many dive ops on the island go to the beach clubs, but it's not an uncommon practice. We see boats from other ops there every time we go.
Some people like going to the beach and getting off the boat for an hour, some prefer to just hang out on the boat floating on the ocean. It's all just personal preference.
Thanks all for the feedback. Just to be complete for those searching for this info themselves, this is what I have come up with:
Diving with Cristi (Scuba XT Sea) is probably my first choice based on reviews - perhaps swayed somewhat because of the shear volume of info on this dive op, but I see that as a good thing because Cristi is always offering great unbiased info to the forum, and this should be rewarded. And the "full service" offered by her and her crew sounds just right for me. And I read a review of her AOW class which I would take - a good review which is great for me.
Diving with Alison is probably just about tied with Cristi. Great reviews, long time instructor, she was very responsive with a few emails I sent her. And she is the least expensive for both diving and lessons (would save me >$200 on this trip). Unfortunalty we are looking for hotels with good snorkelling and on the more inexpensive side. For her this limits us to
1) Park Royal - $99pp AI - Food reviews are not great, so we would still go into town for most dinners. We dont like to dress up for dinner, so this excludes us from their better restaurants. The place looks like a very nice "big" resort, which is fine and dandy for us. Swim up bars, multiple pools, jacuzzi, etc. All good things.
2) Casa Del Mar. Not bad price ($92/nt + $35pp AI option. Breakfast only option?) Sounds like an ok enough place. Price is ok. But the only reason we would stay here would be to dive with Alison or Christi
3) Fiesta Americana. Seems similar to Casa Del Mar, maybe a little nicer. A lot of reviews out there and people are generally very pleased. $120/nt + optional $26pp Breakfast/Lunch. Again we would probably not pick this place except to dive with either Alison or Christi.
If I were to dive with Christi I would probably stay at good ol' Caribe Blue, as I alluded to in the origins of the post. She is a little less expensive than Aldora. Caribe Blue seems like a fine little spot. Close enough to town. Has a little restaurant next to it, so we can get breakfast easily. $90/nt is fine. Lots of great (for a dive hotel) reviews.
Aldora we would stay at Villa Aldora. I really have no good reason to rank them 3rd - I would really say each has their merits. Villa Aldora is a good price (as low as $85/nt). Staying here we would have to dive with Aldora Divers. But they are full service (take care of all your gear for you). Most expensive option, but sounds like nobody has complained about that - so extended bottom times must be worth it (sounds worth it to me). They dont have a restaurant, so where do we eat? My wife will be not diving, so can she get lunch/snack easily without a cab to town?
We are not crunched for pennies, so the cost aspect of each option is ok as the benefits seem to all be there. We are going to finalize our decision this weekend. Right now it is between
1) Villa Aldora. Great reviews. Sounds like good atmostphere. Good snorkeling. One-stop-shop simplicity.
2) Park Royal. AI at reasonable price. Drink and eat whenever I want. Go into town for most dinners. Dive with either Alsion or Cristi (toss coin???).
3) Caribe Blue. Divers resort. Great reviews. But hosnestly the only reason I would stay there is to dive with Cristi. But sorkelling is crappy post wilma so this really isnt that high a ranking for us.
This ranking is probably in our order of preference right now. The top two are almost a tossup... which is why I have not yet decided. Doing the AI Mexico thing - getting to take out the hobie cat, eat drink, etc whenever I want has a nice appeal for a relaxing vacation...
I welcome any comments to help me sway one way or another.
Diving with Cristi (Scuba XT Sea) is probably my first choice based on reviews - perhaps swayed somewhat because of the shear volume of info on this dive op, but I see that as a good thing because Cristi is always offering great unbiased info to the forum, and this should be rewarded. And the "full service" offered by her and her crew sounds just right for me. And I read a review of her AOW class which I would take - a good review which is great for me.
Diving with Alison is probably just about tied with Cristi. Great reviews, long time instructor, she was very responsive with a few emails I sent her. And she is the least expensive for both diving and lessons (would save me >$200 on this trip). Unfortunalty we are looking for hotels with good snorkelling and on the more inexpensive side. For her this limits us to
1) Park Royal - $99pp AI - Food reviews are not great, so we would still go into town for most dinners. We dont like to dress up for dinner, so this excludes us from their better restaurants. The place looks like a very nice "big" resort, which is fine and dandy for us. Swim up bars, multiple pools, jacuzzi, etc. All good things.
2) Casa Del Mar. Not bad price ($92/nt + $35pp AI option. Breakfast only option?) Sounds like an ok enough place. Price is ok. But the only reason we would stay here would be to dive with Alison or Christi
3) Fiesta Americana. Seems similar to Casa Del Mar, maybe a little nicer. A lot of reviews out there and people are generally very pleased. $120/nt + optional $26pp Breakfast/Lunch. Again we would probably not pick this place except to dive with either Alison or Christi.
If I were to dive with Christi I would probably stay at good ol' Caribe Blue, as I alluded to in the origins of the post. She is a little less expensive than Aldora. Caribe Blue seems like a fine little spot. Close enough to town. Has a little restaurant next to it, so we can get breakfast easily. $90/nt is fine. Lots of great (for a dive hotel) reviews.
Aldora we would stay at Villa Aldora. I really have no good reason to rank them 3rd - I would really say each has their merits. Villa Aldora is a good price (as low as $85/nt). Staying here we would have to dive with Aldora Divers. But they are full service (take care of all your gear for you). Most expensive option, but sounds like nobody has complained about that - so extended bottom times must be worth it (sounds worth it to me). They dont have a restaurant, so where do we eat? My wife will be not diving, so can she get lunch/snack easily without a cab to town?
We are not crunched for pennies, so the cost aspect of each option is ok as the benefits seem to all be there. We are going to finalize our decision this weekend. Right now it is between
1) Villa Aldora. Great reviews. Sounds like good atmostphere. Good snorkeling. One-stop-shop simplicity.
2) Park Royal. AI at reasonable price. Drink and eat whenever I want. Go into town for most dinners. Dive with either Alsion or Cristi (toss coin???).
3) Caribe Blue. Divers resort. Great reviews. But hosnestly the only reason I would stay there is to dive with Cristi. But sorkelling is crappy post wilma so this really isnt that high a ranking for us.
This ranking is probably in our order of preference right now. The top two are almost a tossup... which is why I have not yet decided. Doing the AI Mexico thing - getting to take out the hobie cat, eat drink, etc whenever I want has a nice appeal for a relaxing vacation...
I welcome any comments to help me sway one way or another.
There's pretty good snorkeling off the beach at the Presidente. All of these were taken snorkeling one afternoon after our post-dive nap on a trip last April (so post-Wilma). Admittedly, the slipper lobster was knee-deep, so I don't know if that was really "snorkeling." Unfortunately, the Presidente isn't especially inexpensive unless you can wrangle a deal (which is sometimes possible).
Well, I wouldn't exactly call the snorkeling at Caribe Blu "crappy". It's really not what I would call very good at any of the hotels, but there is a bunch of small coral heads and fans about halfway between Caribe Blu and Villablanca. You can also walk up to the Villablanca pier and drift down to Caribe Blu. We snorkel at night out behind Caribe Blu and find octopus, reef squid, puffers, lobsters, eels, that sort of stuff.
Martha
Contributor
I don't know if I'm misunderstanding your post, but you can stay anywhere you want and still dive with Christi (Blue XT~Sea). I know she does offer some packages w/accommodations, but you're not obligated to stay at one of those places to dive with her. We use Blue XT~Sea when we're in Cozumel and we've always just booked the diving with her and made our own arrangements for accommodations. By the way, my husband and I completed the AOW & Nitrox courses with her on a previous trip and would highly recommend her! We did the book work before our arrival and then went over everything once we were in Cozumel. It worked out great!
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