Kudos to Aldora Divers

[Montana]

I just returned from Playa del Carmen this past weekend. More of the same weather that the lower USA greeted me for the week. Scheduled 5 dives, hoping to do 8 and got only 3 1/2. Dived Monday, port closed Tuesday and Friday, Wedsnesday on Cozumel.

However, I had contacted Aldora Divers on Cozumel for a mid morning dive from the mainland. The two dives were the most enjoyable dives ever. Since the ocean was a little rough, we used the big boat. The first dive was on the Santa Rosa Wall, the second was Tormentos reef. Saw three rays each dive and two sea horses, however the best part of the dive was the DM, David. As a part of his briefing he told us that he would not send divers to the surface one at a time. When one had dived the tank limit, we would ascend as a group. We dived to 79 feet and I was buddied with a DM candidate. The other 4 divers joined us from a cruise boat. The dive went well until slightly past the mid point one of the divers was low on air. David made a choice to take the diver to the surface and return to complete the dive for us. Needless to say I was impressed. We finished the after 53 minutes. The second dive was shallower at 57' max. Again the heavy breather was low on air so the DM shared his octo with him. The DM candiadite shared her octo late in the dive with one of the other divers so we could dive the maximum of our computers. We did 5 min safety stops on both dives, which also impressed me, since I love long safety stops. Second dive was 63 minutes, with my tank pressure still around 800# at the surface.

I chose Aldora from a recommendation from some members and have to say that the exceeded my expectations.

[LCF]

Did the Aldora boat go out from the mainland? I didn't know they did that.

We had a wonderful time with Aldora several years ago. Service above and beyond. Staying at the Villa was wonderful, too.

[go62onair]

Glad to hear that Aldora maintains their standards.

I did some dives with them many years ago (like 1998 or 99) and they were superb - probably the best on the island at the time. Why?

- All computer dives at the time when computers were not as ubiquitous as today (and all other operations had the cookie cutter profiles)
- HP steel tank with 120 cu ft instead the usual 80 (but virtually the same size)
- Multilevel profiles to max out on the computer's NDL
- Six pack fast boat zipping you in and out the farthest locations in no time
- Six people on the boat with matching skills
- The above points made each dive in excess of 60 minutes while maintaining NDL at leisurely and relaxed pace
- The dive guide was a marine biologist who showed us tons of less than typical stuff and gave many stories on behavior of different species

For those who were to Cozumel 10+ year ago, all that was very progressive. It was all very well worth $10-15 premium over cattle boats.

Go Aldora.

[LCF]

We had those things, too (except not the marine biologist, but our guide was a wonderful, warm man whose company we enjoyed enormously). We typically did 70 minute dives, and because there were five of us, we had a boat to ourselves every day but one. It's a good operation -- were I to dive there again, I would go with them. Unfortunately, I'm unlikely to dive open water in Cozumel again; it just can't compete.

[Montana]

Did the Aldora boat go out from the mainland? I didn't know they did that.

We had a wonderful time with Aldora several years ago. Service above and beyond. Staying at the Villa was wonderful, too.

No, I had to take the ferry over, however I did bring along my bride and she rode along. We got a late start that day because one of the cruise ships was slow, so instead of SIT on the beach, we stayed on the boat.

When we left, my wind-breaker was misplaced on the boat and we got back to Playa before I noticed it was missing. Yeah the weather was a little crappy all week, so I wore it over. Since it had the rental car keys, I needed to get them back. Aldora delivered them to the ferry and we picked them up with out having to go back over and get them. Did I say they have GREAT SERVICE!!

Dived Monday out of Puerto Morales. They closed the port after we left. 6 foot waves prior to first dive and 9 footers on the SIT. Seasick both dives. Thumbed the second dive due to surge visibility. Guess I now have covered both ends of the spectrum in one week, my best and worst dives. I thought my first drysuit dives would live in infamy as bad, however these were horrible.

Perhaps the one great thing about the Cozumel dives was one of the other women divers from the second group on the boat befreinded my wife and encouraged her to try it. Might have to see if B&B will set up a Discover Diving next month. She is concerned over the cost of double the equipment. Hate to go there cause she doesn't want to know what I spend on it. I haven't told her I bought a Dive Rite DIN reg set. However, I still have a great Sherwood set for her....can't have too many backups! LOL.