Who Else Uses Steel 120's

[Jayfarmlaw]

I have dove with Aldora (and loved it) and I see that Living Underwater uses steel 120's as well. Anybody else?

I have tried to spread my business around until we find the perfect dive op (I think we may have). Even though we have never had anything close to a bad experience with any of them , The steel 120's have me hooked.

I don't want a steel 120 as an option unless I get to dive my air and not have to come up with the guy that sucked through his 80 in 25 minutes.

Thanks in advance for your response

Jay

 

[MMM]

Liquid Blue also has steel 120s. I think Deep Blue may have them also but I can't say that with 100% certainty.

 

[Christi]

Liquid Blue also has steel 120s. I think Deep Blue may have them also but I can't say that with 100% certainty.

Deep Blue uses AL tanks - they have 80's and a limited quantity of 100's - but they are AL - not steel

 

[Dave Dillehay]

AS of this time, only Aldora and Liquid Blue use High Pressure steel 120s and 100s. Living underwater uses Low pressure steel tanks which are quite different.

Dave Dillehay

Aldora Divers

 

[gopbroek]

I don't want a steel 120 as an option unless I get to dive my air and not have to come up with the guy that sucked through his 80 in 25 minutes.
Jay

There are 'dive your tank' operations, as opposed to the 'up and out as a group' model but to the best of my knowlage they primarily use AL80's. They also normally have 100's available for heavy air consumers but not for use to hypr extend the dive times. The problem with 120's in this type of OP would be that if they have clients going 80 minutes with 80's then with 120's you could stretch 2+ hrs and by the time the extended diver surfaced on the first bottle the rest of the group would be ready to start a second dive.

 

[rossandmaureen]

Living Underwater has always allowed divers to dive their air and/or computer. As a result...dives in excess of 90 - 100 minutes are quite common with Jeremy and his outstanding crew. Their LP steel tanks are a joy to dive with and negatively buoyant at the end of a dive and that allows you to shed considerable weight. I have never had an issue with the physical size of the tanks and he does offer smaller (95 steel) should it be a concern. I also like the way that Living Underwater takes care of all of your gear...including the wetsuit...between dives. As far as I know he is the only dive op to do that.

However the biggest difference between Living Underwater and Aldora is that Jeremy doesn't lurk on ScubaBoard and never blows his own horn like Dave does.

 

[gopbroek]

Living Underwater has always allowed divers to dive their air and/or computer. As a result...dives in excess of 90 - 100 minutes are quite common with Jeremy and his outstanding crew.

In that case, I stand corrected.

 

[drrich2]

I dove 2 tanks one day on a cruise ship stop with Living Underwater & was happy enough that I tried to do it on another cruise a couple weeks back but a bad weather front closed Caleta harbor that morning, so no go.

From what I understand, Living Underwater has one boat, & Aldora a number of them. If you travel with a large group, that's an issue. Aldora has Aldora Villas, a housing option, up north (but either will pick you up at a number of other places, and there's another thread discussing why some people don't want to stay up north, so explore that if you wish). They also have a boat elsewhere on the island, so if the harbor closes, they can get you out anyway, or so has been my understanding from forum threads. I am under the impression that the Aldora dive groups go up together, not a buddy pair at a time (unlike Living Underwater, when I dove with them a few years back), which some may approve or disapprove of.

As for Dave with Aldora posting pretty often on ScubaBoard, I'm glad to see it. Yes, people promote their businesses to some extent, but 'putting yourself out there' on a public forum can be dangerous for a business. It's very easy for disgruntled customers to 'call you out' in threads, make a scene, so to speak. I believe to have an easily accessible public face like that, you need to be both on your toes and have a consistent quality product.

I've never dove with Aldora. Given the amount of love they get in thread after thread on this forum, I wouldn't hesitate if they were the best match to fit my needs.

Richard.

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

On Our last trip. We dove with Aldora. One of the reasons was his support of this site. He and Christy from Blue XTSea are able to provide up to the minute information about what is going on in Coz. I consider that an incredibly valueable resource. (Christy did not have any available space on our last trip)

We stay at Casa Mexicana, the Aldora pier is about a 3 minute walk away, and the price is in line with other operations using 80cf tanks. The 120's spoiled me. So far, Aldora fits our needs, but I'll check out LU and Liquid Blue too. The best service we have ever had was Blue Magic, but they only have Aluminum 100s as an option. We have never had bad service from any operator, but Blue Magic was like diving with friends. Yuval, Santos, and Pumba were great....but no 120's.

Thanks again for the responses, have a good weekend and safe travels to all.

Jay

 

[dberry]

. I also like the way that Living Underwater takes care of all of your gear...including the wetsuit...between dives. As far as I know he is the only dive op to do that.

However the biggest difference between Living Underwater and Aldora is that Jeremy doesn't lurk on ScubaBoard and never blows his own horn like Dave does.

Tres Pelicanos also takes care of your gear overnight, and it was my impression that most of the Dive Ops recommended here on SB provide similar "concierge" service (but I could be wrong.) Tres Pelicanos doesn't offer steel tanks, but they do have some AL100s.

Personally I like that Dave, Christi, and others participate on SB. I don't think them as "lurking". I haven't dived with either of them, but I've never seen anything but helpful advice about diving in Coz from them. They don't seem to self-promote especially or badmouth other dive ops.