Main Menu
Join Undercurrent on Facebook

The Private, Exclusive Guide for Serious Divers Since 1975 | |
For Divers since 1975
The Private, Exclusive Guide for Serious Divers Since 1975
"Best of the Web: scuba tips no other
source dares to publish" -- Forbes
X
 

Dive Review of Aldora Divers in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan

Aldora Divers, Jun, 2003,

by Roger Zander, Mi, usa . Report 739.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 3 stars Food 3 stars
Service and Attitude 3 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 3 stars Shore Diving 1 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments After multiple trips to Cozumel, we decided to try Aldora Divers. They are better than most dive operators on Cozumel but, it depends on what you is important to your diving preferences. Here's my opinion of our 6 days with Aldora. Their equipment and boats were in good repair, they picked us up in San Miguel at their pier and the Divemaster Jorge was very good with supervising newer divers. The owner Dave, happened to be in town, a great guy but, he's not out on the boats. The dive shop would rinse BCDs only, not wetsuits - that's a nuisance. I asked for a freshwater camera rinse bucket 3 days in a row without success. There was only warm water on boat to drink, no juice, soda or ice. One day, we "ran out of reef" twice due to missing the start of the reef. We arrived at a night dive site with 2 non-working lights and no spare batteries. Fortunately, divers had pocket lights to substitute. A typical profile was 30 minutes on a reef or wall followed by 40 minutes on a sandy bottom. The rule was to return to the boat with 500 psi, our group usually had 1000 psi remaining due to DM ending the dive and we got bored looking at sand. We were using the larger capacity tanks with DIN connectors yet, we never really benefitted with higher quality bottom time. Aldora has a standard 2 hour surface interval which is too long for my liking, especially since we had relatively normal nitrogen loading profiles. The 7:30 am departure got us to the dive sites first but, the sites were also darker and in shadows that early in the day. For the reminder of our trip, we chartered a local DM, captain and boat with tanks for 5 days. Using the standard Aluminum 80s, we repeated some of the Aldora trip dive sites. We had equal dive profiles and returned to the boat with over 300 to 500 psi. The DM and captain went to our choice of sites, always putting us on the reef at the beginning. The conclusion we came up with is "why pay more?" The highest price does not equal highest quality. Our charter worked out to $50 for 2 tanks per day and only 5 divers on the boat. Aldora is nearly double that price with 7 divers on the boat.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving Belize, Xcalak, Bonaire, Roatan
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas noCurrents
Water Temp 80-83°F / 27-28°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 50-150 Ft/ 15-46 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile no
Enforced diving restrictions DM depth limits, 500 psi on boat but, usualy still had 1000 psi due to DM ending dive, buddy system
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas 1 or 2
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 5 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 2 stars
Large Pelagics 1 stars

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

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 1 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities 1 stars
UW Photo Comments [None]
Was this report helpful to you?
Leave a comment (Subscribers only -- 200 words max)
Subscribers can comment here
 

Subscribe Now
Subscribers can post comments, ask the reviewer questions, as well as getting immediate and complete access to ALL 1092 dive reviews of Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan and all other dive destinations. Complete access to all issues and Chapbooks is also included.

 

Want to assemble your own collection of Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan reports in one place?
Use the Mini Chapbook Facility to create your personalized collection.

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.

Undercurrent Home


Get more dive info like these and other important scuba updates sent monthly to your email.
And a FREE Recent Issue of Undercurrent

Free Undercurrent Issue
Get a free
monthly email and
a sample issue!


Find in  

| Home | Online Members Area | My Account | Login | Join |
| Travel Index | Dive Resort & Liveaboard Reviews | Featured Reports | Recent Issues | Back Issues |
| Dive Gear Index | Health/Safety Index | Environment & Misc. Index | Seasonal Planner | Blogs | Free Articles | Book Picks | News |
| Special Offers | RSS | FAQ | About Us | Contact Us | Links |

Copyright © 1996-2024 Undercurrent (www.undercurrent.org)
3020 Bridgeway, Ste 102, Sausalito, Ca 94965
All rights reserved.

Page computed and displayed in 0.1 seconds