Any tips on how to get on dive boat with people of same skill level?

[NDL_Diver]

As mentioned, Aldora. They have 7 boats and group the boat by skill, nitrox/air and intrest (lionfish hunts). Plus they have 120cf tanks that make for long dive.

 

[gamon]

Aldora Diving apparently does their best to group divers by skill level, but I am pretty happy with a 50(or so) minute dive and don’t really enjoy going past an hour.

Funny you should mention this. I dived with Aldora a few times, they were my "go-to" dive charter. Until the last trip. We were a group of 4, it was on my dime- I figure that one dive cost me $500. Aldora is expensive, but because of the larger tanks and the usual longer dive profiles it was worth it. But on that trip we were paired with a father and son. The son was diving air. We were maybe a half hour into the dive, we hit a really nice section of reef and the kid was either at his ndl limit or low on air. DM gave the thumbs up. I shook my head and kept exploring the reef. He got right in my face and aggressively gestured the dive was over. I probably had another 30 minutes to go. We had sausages and I carry a reel to deploy at depth, and other Ops let you ascend in pairs as your gas or ndl runs low.

 

[ReefHound]

Okay, you guys remind me that in addition to more bottom time there is the advantage of "more advanced sites." We used Aldora for the past few Cozumel trips, and I guess it slipped my mind that if we had instead dived with an operator that didn't take experience into consideration they might have taken us to less interesting sites. When the DM asks "Does anyone have any particular site they want to visit today?" we never chime in. We're happy to dive wherever they take us. But that could be because it's Aldora.

First, I would not equate "less advanced" sites with "less interesting" sites. We don't go deep just to be going deep and we don't enjoy seeing stuff more just because we are fighting a swirling current doing it.

We never request sites either unless there seems to be a reluctance on anyone to speak up. And we don't care if we dive the same site more than once. The dive is different every time. And while there are some ops that limit sites to skills, there are many that will take any diver to pretty much any site. Only Maracaibo in the far south and Barracuda in the far north get any resistance and I suspect that has more to do with the distance.

 

[NeilA.]

Yes, all good information! Thank you.

Now that I think about it, I’ve experienced some of the scenarios.

1. The dive operator foresaw the problem and added an additional DM. My young son was the weak link and we wanted to dive Punta Sur. I really appreciated it, so I tipped very generously to more than cover the additional costs to him.

2. Me and my dive buddy split from the DM and dove our own dive. I’ll do it, but I’m not totally comfortable with it.

3. The DM sends the marker to buoy up, then sends the gas less ones up as needed. - This works okay.


I/We always go on small group boats 6-8 divers.

I am really not all that fussy about dive sites, but probably need to do a better job communicating very clearly my expectations in this regard, and probably give Aldora a try!

Actually, the worst time, and the reason I’m bringing this up, was with two cruise ship divers on the last day of my last trip. Beginner cruise ship divers in particular, have several factors going against them. 1. They are often late and rushed. 2. Because they never dive with the same divemaster(s) or operator, they don’t get the attention and help needed to improve basic skills. And 3, while in the water, they focused more on screwing with their go-pro‘s than actually diving.

Luckily, the dive buddy I has was fluent in Spanish and wasn’t afraid to express his thoughts on the situation with the DM. He and I did our own dive with me leading.

It was still disappointing and I certainly understand everyone’s perspectives and can’t blame anyone. Im just looking for practical ways others minimize the possibility of situations like this.

 

[gopbroek]

This is why I have been diving with Tres Pelicanos for the last 11 years, they allow you to dive your tank and do not require the group to surface together. Provide you have demonstrated that you know what your doing they allow you latitude. If a diver lacks experience or wants to stay close to the DM the DM is there to lead and assist the divers. I normally see the DM as I leave the boat and then when I get back on.
I do strongly recommend that when drift diving the diver carry a buoy and know how to deploy it, safely

 

[ReefHound]

Funny you should mention this. I dived with Aldora a few times, they were my "go-to" dive charter. Until the last trip. We were a group of 4, it was on my dime- I figure that one dive cost me $500. Aldora is expensive, but because of the larger tanks and the usual longer dive profiles it was worth it. But on that trip we were paired with a father and son. The son was diving air. We were maybe a half hour into the dive, we hit a really nice section of reef and the kid was either at his ndl limit or low on air. DM gave the thumbs up. I shook my head and kept exploring the reef. He got right in my face and aggressively gestured the dive was over. I probably had another 30 minutes to go. We had sausages and I carry a reel to deploy at depth, and other Ops let you ascend in pairs as your gas or ndl runs low.

I really don't get the crazy love for Aldora. They are a fine op, we have used them and liked them, but they are no better than many other ops there.

I don't want to dive a steel tank. I have dived steel tanks in the past, I own 2 LP95 tanks, but I prefer AL80 in tropical warm water. I don't need the extra air. We routinely get 70 min on a Palancar/Columbia dive and that's not bleeding the tank dry. We get close to two hours on shore dives.

But maybe there are those that need the bigger tanks or have had bad experiences elsewhere or just never tried anything else. I can spend the $150/wk saved on tacos and beer. I'd pay their premium to dive east side but not sure they even do that anymore. Haven't heard any reports of it since Dave sold it about 5-7 years ago.

 

[NeilA.]

It's not clear to me what you're looking for. I believe the most common reason why more experienced divers often seek a boat with people of similar experience level is to avoid having less experienced divers need to surface earlier than more experienced divers and thereby limit everyone's bottom time.

Yes, it is about gas consumption.

 

[boulderjohn]

Pick one of the many excellent valet dive shops and dive multiple days with them. Once they see you're a "no drama" diver, you'll generally receive a lot of discretion to "dive your dive."

You need to find a company that you like that owns multiple boats and ask them to be on the big boy boat once they get to check you out.

My first Cozumel dives were about a quarter century ago, and as a newer diver, I was perfectly content with the dive operator where I stayed. After a few years, I felt limited by the fact that every dive seemed to have a brand new diver on board. I spent several years looking for alternatives that would get me the better dive experiences. I learned two things over the years.

1. The operator needs multiple boats. Years ago I went with a "valet dive shop" that came extremely highly recommended to me via private messages from a very active member of the ScubaBoard Cozumel forum. I said I was leery about using a one boat operator, but I was assured all would be fine. On the first day, there was only one other diver on the boat with me. He was very skilled, and we had a marvelous day of diving. On the second day, we were joined by a couple who was planning a week of diving with that operator. The wife was one of the worst divers I have seen anywhere in the world. We started the first dive watching the DM/owner give her a buoyancy lesson in the sand. On both dives, the DM literally held her hand throughout the entire dives. So we had extremely limited dives, with no swim throughs possible. I was happy I was not stuck diving with that operator for the rest of that week. (I switched to technical diving after those two days.)
2. A multiple boat operator needs to be fully committed to matching diver abilities. I did two trips with an operator with lots of boats and a claim that they match by ability, but they just weren't very good at it. On two different days in two different years, I was on a boat that was so badly matched that the owner refunded my money without my even asking. That was nice, but I don't go on a diving vacation with the goal of getting my money back. I go with the intention of having good dives. That operator never seemed to be able to pull it off, all advertising to the contrary. I switched to Aldora, and they were much better at it.

I stayed away from Cozumel for a number of years because I was focusing my Mexican trips on cave diving on the mainland, but when I returned last summer, I returned to Aldora. Are there others that will work? Probably, but when I go again, I want to be as sure as possible things are going to be OK.

 

[AdivingBel]

If shortened dives due to other diver’s gas consumption is the main concern…Just go with an op that lets you continue your dive and surface on your own smb if the DM has to deal with “other” issues. No one thinks twice about that on the boat I dive. IMHO that’s one of the definitions of an “advanced” boat. If you’re not comfortable with that, it’s easy to remedy otherwise you may find yourself out of your comfort zone on an “advanced” boat.

 

[Kimela]

Most dive ops I've been out with will send you up with an SMB when you run low, but will continue with others in the water until they hit whatever their dive briefing says is their longest dive time. I.e., when we went out with AquaSafari they'd send up people at 45 minutes and keep us down for 55. We dive with Jungle Divers now, and they send people up when they're ready but we stay down until our tank is nearing empty. If you specifically don't want the long dives - and that's one of the selling points of Aldora (and why it costs so much) - go out with someone who will send up the 'early out' divers and let you continue your dive to 50 minutes or so.