Aldora Divers vs Scuba Club Cozumel

[Mike]

I will be diving with Aldora for the first time at the end of May. I did not know they all come up together. Not my preferred method. Not only due to different SAC rates for different divers but also because not all computers are created equal. I have a Suunto Cobra and it is pretty conservative, I would not want to cut another diver with a more liberal computer dives short.

Gaffer

Keep in mind that many if not most dive sites in Cozumel can be dived more conservatively individually while diving with a group to extend your NDL by just managing your depth compared to other divers in your group.

After all, dives aren't done with all divers holding hands staying tightly together, it's very typical on many dives especially wall types for the divers to be spread over possibly 20-40 ft of depth differences between buddy pairs. It's typical to have divers deeper than you and shallower than you on dives as different divers are investigating different levels of the wall or reef structure during the dive.

You can easily stay shallower when you want to or need to during the dive to 'bank' or extend your NDL. (this is the beauty of diving with a computer and getting credit for it being a multi-level dive) I'd consider this just routine NDL management that you would do automatically at your level of experience and nothing will change just due to the way Aldora dives.

 

[robint]

SCC is like a Mexican B&B.... homey, lazy pace, no rush, staff learn your name by Day 2 of trip, waiters know what you like, just a friendly place to be. Diving is a business, so yes, they have bigger boats and will put 2 groups of 8 divers and 2 DMs on some of them. BUT... these big boats give you a HUGE camera table, place to put dry gear, a very nice space to walk around and talk to other divers on trip out and back to reefs... and a bathroom so you don't have to pee in your suit. For US, me and husband, it is the best place in Cozumel. We like the shore diving, the staff, the cozy little rooms with no tv or phone, the Big boats for our cameras, and that wonderful bathroom on the boat. We like having everything we need right inside those gates and never having to walk more that 20-30 steps to get anything we need. That is what perfect is for US. Not for everyone.
No... it is not plush or fancy. I have that at home. I go on vacation to Cozumel to dive eat dive eat dive eat sleep.. PERIOD. I don't want to go into town every night. I go there once on the last day to shop for things to take home.

Aldora gets rave reviews here and I would definitely look into their op if for some reason we could not go to SCC.

I will be there at SCC in a week!

robin

 

[Mossman]

After all, dives aren't done with all divers holding hands staying tightly together

That's funny, because it describes my last Aldora dive (3/25/01) when the DM requested everyone in the group hold hands to stay tightly together.

 

[Ron Lee]

I will be diving with Aldora for the first time at the end of May. I did not know they all come up together. Not my preferred method. Not only due to different SAC rates for different divers but also because not all computers are created equal. I have a Suunto Cobra and it is pretty conservative, I would not want to cut another diver with a more liberal computer dives short.

Gaffer

This has already been covered but I am often above the Aldora group 10-20 feet after the initial deepest point. In a few cases, I ascend closer to safety stop depth. This is primarily on a second dive where the site is flatish and deeper than a Paradise type site. While it may have happened because I screwed up, I do not recall ever surfacing before the group. This excludes the time that I surfaced to assist a woman who surfaced for a reason I do not recall.

I have a Suunto Cobra and Mosquito.

If I were to do it over, I would probably get less conservative dive computers.

As for the comment about Aldora requiring divers to hold hands, there are three divemaster/instructors who I would do that with...or accept suitable discipline if I did not comply.

 

[Skittl1321]

That's funny, because it describes my last Aldora dive (3/25/01) when the DM requested everyone in the group hold hands to stay tightly together.

What kind of conditions were you diving in?

 

[Mike]

What kind of conditions were you diving in?

It was a group prayer, the dive master was praying the diver name moss something wasn't going to ask him again why they wouldn't keep his wetsuit over night.

 

[jd950]

That's funny, because it describes my last Aldora dive (3/25/01) when the DM requested everyone in the group hold hands to stay tightly together.

I assume you are either joking or this was a particularly inept dive group??? Other than you, of course.

Oh, never mind, I see now it was 13 years ago, so it doesn't matter.

 

[Mossman]

What kind of conditions were you diving in?

Tormenting. At Tormentos. Very strong current, bad drop, DM wanted us to hold hands and kick as hard as we could. I quickly saw it was futile and called the dive when I saw my buddy starting to breathe too hard. Other buddy pair stayed down with DM for another minute before the husband bobbed up - he left his wife with the DM. Finally DM and wife came up a couple minutes later.

What's funny is that she was the one who managed to blow through a 120 in about 30 minutes the day before, then exhausted the DM's reserve in another couple of minutes. Maybe she refused to abort this dive until she was LOA again?

---------- Post added April 29th, 2014 at 08:55 AM ----------

It was a group prayer, the dive master was praying the diver name moss something wasn't going to ask him again why they wouldn't keep his wetsuit over night.

Actually they did keep wetsuits back then.

---------- Post added April 29th, 2014 at 08:58 AM ----------

I assume you are either joking or this was a particularly inept dive group??? Other than you, of course.

Oh, never mind, I see now it was 13 years ago, so it doesn't matter.

The other buddy pair was very inexperienced and the wife sucked down a 120 in a half-hour. We requested to be reassigned the next day but ended up with them again.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." I have an excellent memory.

 

[cvchief]

I have an excellent memory.

I bet that is a lil shop of horrors....

 

[Dave Dillehay]

Hey Mossman, Really sorry you had that bad experience in 01. I am sure that every now and then even the "perfect" shop has a bad day given strange conditions. As you may have heard, normally we do a very good job of segregating dive boats according to skill, and now that we have 9 boats it is much easier. When you have only one boat it is near impossible.

Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers