Allegro Dive Resort

[drmobil2002]

Anyone been to Allegro yet since the hurricane. Me and 13 others are going there in October 2006 and I have never stayed at the Allegro. Is this a nice resort and fun for a group of people? What condition is it in now?

DUTCH

 

[bnajdrovsky]

I hadn't been there since the hurricane, but had stayed there on 4 previous occasions. It's not as nice as the Grand just down the beach (the other Occidental property), but overall, it's pretty good. In fact, for a large group of people, I think the Allegro is a better choice, because it seems a bit more party oriented (at least to me). The food had been mostly fine the times I was there, and the on-site diveshop Dive Palancar is quite adequate, though they're better suited for beginner to intermediate divers. Advanced divers would be better off going with one of the in-town operators. One thing that's really nice about staying at the Allegro is that the reefs are 5 minutes or less from the resort, so no long boat rides, and DP returns to the resort after each tank. The down side is that it's a pretty long ways to go to town, but there are always taxis waiting to take people.

 

[ch0ppersrule]

Hi, we stay at the Grand (right next door), and this past summer we dove with Dive Palancar and ScubaTony. Palancar had drastically went downhill from the previous year. All our dives with them ended within 25-35 minutes and I had more than 1500psi left in my tanks for every dive. I was taking some pictures when the DM started his ascent (with the rest of the group- except my dive buddy) so I was 2 minutes behind and he wanted me to skip my safety stop and get on the boat with everybody else. I signaled I had 2 minutes (actually 1 minute 35 seconds) and he shook his head NO and kept doing the up signal. I shook my head no and pointed to my watch and gave him the 1 minute sign. I had 1690psi in my tank after the dive. ScubaTony was awesome and we took our tanks down to 300-500psi and stayed within our no deco range for every dive. I refuse to dive with Palancar again. Also, they will not take you to certain dive sites because they may be to far for them seeing as how they have scheduled dive times and make sure they are back in plenty of time to get the next group. Only 6 people max at Punta Sur (which is reasonable seeing how it is a deep dive). ScubaTony will come to Allegro and pick you up. You might have to get in the water a little to hand over your gear since the Allegro/Grand won't let any other boats use the pier. We had no problems taking our gear to the boat since they pull right up onto the beach. I don't know if any other dive shops (Christi - since she is on the board) come to the resorts and pick you up. Have fun in Coz. Wish we were going back soon, but it won't be for a while seeing as we will have company this whole summer.

Melissa

 

[Martha]

You might have to get in the water a little to hand over your gear since the Allegro/Grand won't let any other boats use the pier. We had no problems taking our gear to the boat since they pull right up onto the beach. I don't know if any other dive shops (Christi - since she is on the board) come to the resorts and pick you up. Have fun in Coz. Wish we were going back soon, but it won't be for a while seeing as we will have company this whole summer.

Melissa

We stayed at the Grand last June and had no problem with another shop picking us up at their pier. We were diving with Blue XT~Sea all week and they picked us up at the pier every day. As far as I know, it is/was only the Iberostar that didn't allow pick-ups at their pier.

 

[ch0ppersrule]

We stayed at the Grand last June and had no problem with another shop picking us up at their pier. We were diving with Blue XT~Sea all week and they picked us up at the pier every day. As far as I know, it is/was only the Iberostar that didn't allow pick-ups at their pier.

The first day they let Tony use the pier, but then they came out and told him he needed to pull up on the sand because he was taking away from their business and it is their pier. We didn't mind since we got better service with Tony anyways. We go every July. DP gave us dirty looks when we went out and when we came in, but you gotta go with whom ever is best for your type of diving. How was Blue XT Sea? Small boats? Max bottom time?

 

[Clyderyde]

Dutch,

I've stayed there twice but not since the hurricane. Its a pretty good place to stay.
Not super fancy but adequate. I'd recomend it if you have for a nondiving spouce, have kids, or are going with some nondivers that want prepackaged entertainment. The percentage of divers is usually around 10% of the total guests. Its best feature is also it worst drawback. it's far south and while closer to the southern reefs, its also a long way from town.

Now that I know the island better, I highly recomend staying closer to town. The in town places don't have the prepared entertainment but they don't need it as San Miguel is so much fun.

Clyderyde
www.athensdivers.com

 

[DandyDon]

I'm glad you brought up the Allegro. Couldn't find anything recent on them so opened my thread in this forum: "Family vacation to Allegro? Comments??" I am discouraged to read ch0ppersrule's comments, tho, as it would be simpler to use Dive Palancar for the only two trips I have planned. I wonder if that was a one time problem or if any others have experienced such with them lately? Well, I'm not going until June so I guess I have time to learn more. :biggrinba

I will be sure to carry some 60w and 100w light bulbs in my backpack, as I hate the way the Coz hotels all seem to go for the dim bulbs. I like a well light room when I turn on the lights.

 

[ch0ppersrule]

I'm glad you brought up the Allegro. Couldn't find anything recent on them so opened my thread in this forum: "Family vacation to Allegro? Comments??" I am discouraged to read ch0ppersrule's comments, tho, as it would be simpler to use Dive Palancar for the only two trips I have planned. I wonder if that was a one time problem or if any others have experienced such with them lately? Well, I'm not going until June so I guess I have time to learn more. :biggrinba

I will be sure to carry some 60w and 100w light bulbs in my backpack, as I hate the way the Coz hotels all seem to go for the dim bulbs. I like a well light room when I turn on the lights.

A couple of dives wouldn't be too bad, but not a 10 dive package. Maybe they will let you stay down longer if there aren't a lot of people (usually get 6-8 people per DM so that is 12-16 people per boat) due to the hurricane. I do know that I won't use them again though. They pick up people from the Grand and Allegro so if you look at their books and don't see a lot of names, ask them to find out from the Grand how many they have booked for the time. Morning dives are ick-up at 9am and in the water by 9:05-9:15 (depending on dive site).

 

[bnajdrovsky]

I had 1690psi in my tank after the dive. ScubaTony was awesome and we took our tanks down to 300-500psi and stayed within our no deco range for every dive. I refuse to dive with Palancar again.
Melissa

You're right, Melissa. This is also why I mentioned in my reply above that I wouldn't recommend Dive Palancar to more advanced divers. Last time I dove with them (last year in July*), I found myself comming up with 1400 PSI left in the tank. Their dive profiles are way too stringent. They told us 40 minutes bottom time on the shallow dive and they meant it, down to a second. They didn't use to be like that, but I definitely decided that was the last time I'm diving with them. They were fine when I was a newbie, but I think I've simply outgrown them.

Bo

* - You may have been at the Grand at the same time I was. I seem to recall chatting with you about diving with DP. (Or maybe I'm just tired...)

 

[ch0ppersrule]

You're right, Melissa. This is also why I mentioned in my reply above that I wouldn't recommend Dive Palancar to more advanced divers. Last time I dove with them (last year in July*), I found myself comming up with 1400 PSI left in the tank. Their dive profiles are way too stringent. They told us 40 minutes bottom time on the shallow dive and they meant it, down to a second. They didn't use to be like that, but I definitely decided that was the last time I'm diving with them. They were fine when I was a newbie, but I think I've simply outgrown them.

Bo

* - You may have been at the Grand at the same time I was. I seem to recall chatting with you about diving with DP. (Or maybe I'm just tired...)

I think we were going to try and dive together. Weren't you there with a buddy? Your name sounds familiar. Not last year, but the year before we actually got to stay down longer on our dives, but last year they changed big time. The DM's weren't that attenative to anyone and on one of our dives we sat behind another group of divers waiting to go through a swim through- I kid you not when I say we waited 8 minutes doing nothing because we had to stay as a group waiting and then our dive was over (the swim through was about 22-25 minutes into the dive). We were there July 1-11.

Melissa