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Dive Review of Aldora Divers in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan

Aldora Divers: "Really great time in Cozumel with family", Aug, 2017,

by Todd Arrants, TN, US (Reviewer Reviewer 5 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 10025 has 1 Helpful vote.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 5 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments This is our second trip to Cozumel in the past year and both with Aldora Divers and staying at the Aldora Villa. The dive operation is excellent. They use 100 and 120 CF steel tanks. Recommend using Nitrox to get the max out of each dive. Typically the 1st morning dive is 32% for the deeper dive and 36% for second dive and afternoon dive if taken. Small boats and personal attention. The tanks are heavy, so I have no problem doing the back roll off the boat and handing up my gear after the dive.
Several things I like about Aldora divers. Unlike most dive resorts, Aldora has a very fair dive policy and cancellation policy. You pay for what you dive. If you don't want to dive the next day, you tell them before 7PM the night before and you will not be charged for the dive. You can decide on the afternoon dive during the morning dives. While we rarely miss a dive, it is great to know that with the proper heads up, they will not charge you for something you did not use. Secondly, Aldora offers an adventure dive to well north of the island and outside of the park. This is a fairly advanced dive, but quite spectacular. There are 3 dives and they included lion fish hunting (and having them for lunch) and many eels, turtles, and porpoises swimming by during the dive. If the weather permits it and you are up to an envelope pushing exciting dive, I recommend this one.
Lastly, if you are looking for lodging that is convenient and quiet, I highly recommend the Aldora Villa. The villas are a 70 peso ride to town and plenty of cabs come by as there are a few larger hotels to the north. We'd cook breakfast and lunch in the villa and take a cab into town for dinner. Easy to get around and after the cruise ships depart as well. It's a great value. They also have a generous hurricane cancellation policy to encourage people to visit during the season. Again, something that is really not the norm.
The only negative is they only take cash which means you must carry a lot of cash for the trip. The dive shop will take CC, but if you pay cash, you get a 10% discount there as well. I highly recommend taking peso as the exchange rate at restaurants is not typically very good and lots of the smaller restaurants don't take CC. Or at least they don't take AE. Also, the mosquitoes were particularly bad this year. Be prepared to use bug spray after dark if it has been wet.
This is a great place to dive and easy to get to. The last two dive trips we've taken have not allowed us to take a full 7 days. That is a great thing about Cozumel, we can do a 4 day dive trip without being gone an entire week.
Websites Aldora Divers   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving USVI, Cozumel, Belize, Bonaire, Little Cayman, Key Largo, Kona, Fiji.
Closest Airport Cozumel Getting There Direct from many US cities into Cozumel

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, windy, dry Seas calm, choppy, surge
Water Temp 81-83°F / 27-28°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 100-100 Ft/ 30-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions I don't remember any restrictions so to speak. We dove within safe guideline. We never really went below 110 as we were on Nitrox on first dives and typically 80 or less on others. We dove as long as the air lasted. On 120CF tanks, that often was right at 1.5 hours.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas None
Dolphins Schools Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 4 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics 3 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter N/A Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments We don't really do photos besides a point and click.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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