Another Which Dive Operator in Cozumel

[loudives]

Another vote for Raul Platas at Bottomtimedivers.net been diving with Raul when he was with Blue Bubble and with Christi at Bluextsea. He finally went out on his own and is basically the same service. Real nice guy easy to work with, computer and air dives, no extra charge for far south sites, goes slow so you can find the little critters and not spook the big ones. Small fast boat 6 max. SI on at a pier or a Playa if you want food. He has snacks and water on board.
Lou

reach him at Raul@bottomtimedivers.net

 

[Wristshot]

I have used Deep Blue twice and I have been very pleased with them. I cannot compare them to BlueXTsea (yet) but they have definitely taken care of me on both trips. Fast boats, good guides, good briefings, sun shades on the boats, and all required safety gear (from what I saw). Matt does his best to match skills and to accomodate all location requests.

We rinse our gear at the shop and store most of it at the shop for the duration of our visit. Food on the boats is minimal, but I care more about good diving. Surface intervals are dependent upon dive site.

The shop tends to be a friendly place where we often ending up hanging out.

They have served me well, and I am comfortable recommending them.

Wristshot

 

[Shoc369]

Check out this link to dive op reviews. It has most of the ops in Coz listed with reviews:

http://travelnotes.cc/reviews/view_..._id=5&cat_name=Dive+Shops&ratings_val=15,17,7

 

[divematt]

DITTO........been using Aldora for 5 years. Fine operation. The only other DO I will dive with in Coz to date is Dive with Martin and use them if Aldora is booked.
Have a great time.

Now THERE'S proof how good Dive with Martin is !!!!!!!!!!!! They, at $51.00 for two morning dives are being compared to Aldora at $87.00 for two. Yes Aldora has the bigger tanks, but choosing Martin as your second choice proves their value. I choose Dive with Martin for what you get and a great price. They're my first choice, but would love to try Aldora some day. Look what you get with Dive with Martin...

You get picked up starting as far north as Cozumel Palace (Plaza Las Glorias) at 7:30am, ahead of everybody else, and work your way south to the best sites on small fast boats.

With 4 or 5 small fast boats, they can put you with equally skilled divers if you ask. That is very important to a lot of people and can only be done with multiple boats.

You'll get a free boat night dive, a free video of one of your dives, free unlimited shore dives in front of their shop next to La Cieba hotel, and some decent dive guides.

You go to a beach for your surface interval, and there is no extra charge to go as far south as Maracaibo or Punta Sur dive sites.

They also only charge $9.00 for Nitrox. Everyone else is $10.00.

If you pay $70.00 for the two dives in their Cozumel King Divers package, you get 95 cubic foot steel tanks and can go to far away sites and do more advanced dives.

Their rental gear is not rental gear, it's free, and as you've read here, new weight integrated BC's.

If you ask for Orlando as your dive guide, and get him on their regular package, you're lucky as he also is the guide who leads the King Divers package to the advanced sites.

By the way, ask to go to Columbia South, a great dive between Columbia Deep and Punta Sur.

 

[crum]

Thanks for all the great info everybody. Sure gives me a great insight on where to look.

 

[master_diver_UJ]

Orlando lead one of my dives. He was great - and funny !

Jack

 

[Steve Miller]

Trying to decide on which dive op to try and go with around the middle/end of may and want some opinions. Right now at the top of my list are Deep Blue and Living Underwater. I have dove with Blue XT Sea and looking for something like them. I would dive Blue XT Sea again but I have not gotten any responses in the past few weeks to emails or pm’s that I have sent on available open dates. I prefer smaller dive boats, 6-packs. Thanks.

I am diving with Aldora later this week. When I return I will post about the experience.

Watching the clock,

Steve

 

[colonelchuck]

Had an excellent experience.

Day 1, picked up at Villa Aldora and dove with some recently qualified folks while DM evaluated our skills. Good dives on San Francisco Reef and the wreck. Although the folks on the boat with us had just qualified, we had a chance to do interesting dives and didn't mind a chance to work out first day glitches. Given the number of poor divers I have seen in the last several years, I have to agree with Aldora's policy of putting unknown divers (irrespective of their supposed qualification) on the beginner boat.

On days 2,3 and 4 we dove a different location each day and each dive. Dives were interesting and required good buoyancy skills. DMs gave good briefings and pointed out many things that we might have otherwise missed. Surface interval at Playa Mia was great with a chance to eat lunch, catch some rays, visit with other divers and blow off nitrogen. Second dives were less deep, but generally interesting. All dives were an hour or better.

Villa Aldora is an excellent value and the hosts, Kay and Greg, could not have been better. They do stuff like runing you to the market to pick up some groceries. The place is small and you have a chance to get to know other divers and share experiences.

My only gripe was on the night dive. We stopped at El Presidente to pick up a fellow and his daughter. First the guy says that he just arrived in town, then announces that his hotel reservations were screwed up and - by the way - he had brought the wrong BC for his daughter. The DM works to try to get him a set up that works. He ends up diving without a safe second and having to manually inflate his BC. On the way out, he announces that he got bent in Cozumel last year. Seems to me that the DM should have asked him to sit on the boat. Dive was OK, but we stayed well away from this fellow.

Overall, a good time was had by all and the Aldora experience was excellent. I'll go back.

 

[Dive-Ho]

Now THERE'S proof how good Dive with Martin is !!!!!!!!!!!! They, at $51.00 for two morning dives are being compared to Aldora at $87.00 for two. Yes Aldora has the bigger tanks, but choosing Martin as your second choice proves their value. I choose Dive with Martin for what you get and a great price. They're my first choice, but would love to try Aldora some day. Look what you get with Dive with Martin...

You get picked up starting as far north as Cozumel Palace (Plaza Las Glorias) at 7:30am, ahead of everybody else, and work your way south to the best sites on small fast boats.

With 4 or 5 small fast boats, they can put you with equally skilled divers if you ask. That is very important to a lot of people and can only be done with multiple boats.

You'll get a free boat night dive, a free video of one of your dives, free unlimited shore dives in front of their shop next to La Cieba hotel, and some decent dive guides.

You go to a beach for your surface interval, and there is no extra charge to go as far south as Maracaibo or Punta Sur dive sites.

They also only charge $9.00 for Nitrox. Everyone else is $10.00.

If you pay $70.00 for the two dives in their Cozumel King Divers package, you get 95 cubic foot steel tanks and can go to far away sites and do more advanced dives.

Their rental gear is not rental gear, it's free, and as you've read here, new weight integrated BC's.

If you ask for Orlando as your dive guide, and get him on their regular package, you're lucky as he also is the guide who leads the King Divers package to the advanced sites.

By the way, ask to go to Columbia South, a great dive between Columbia Deep and Punta Sur.

Dive with Martin is my favorite.Orlando is a wonderful dive guide.Peso for peso I don't think you can find a better deal.As I like to say about DWM the sevice and quality is Good as Any Better than Most.
Dive-Ho

 

[Dive-Ho]

I am diving with Aldora later this week. When I return I will post about the experience.

Watching the clock,

Steve

Hey Razorback got room in your bag for me ?I'll keep you gear from getting smashed on the plane.Have fun..
Dive-Ho