Trip Report Coral Princess/Aldora Divers 2/3-2/10

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Tim Ingersoll

Contributor
Messages
2,600
Reaction score
6
Location
Rochester, NY
# of dives
200 - 499
Okay. . first time back to Cozumel since Wilma hit. I'm torn between my desire to be brutally honest and my desire to protect my friends in Coz whose livelihood depends on the dive tourism dollars.

Coral Princess. Nice place. Good overall bargain. Clean, quiet, friendly, everything was as advertised. Great place for families. If you are looking for a two bedroom condo with a good air/hotel package price it is a good deal. There is a nice pool, decent food (although not worth eating there for more than breakfast and snacks) and a very friendly staff. If you are going make sure and take a portable DVD/CD player. Once again, mind your manners. Call the staff by their names, ask how they are doing, ask about their families. Make a friend. Work on your Spanish. You would be surprised how many ugly Americans treat the staff like s**t and then complain that they don't get good service. What a surprise! Be an exception not the rule. It doesn't take much effort to stand out from the crowd of cruseros and touristas.

Aldora Divers. Coral Princess was within walking distance from Villa Aldora. They picked me up and dropped me off there. We were invited to a staff Super Bowl party at the house and throuroughly enjoyed the experience. My family (non-divers) was made to feel welcome and I think everyone made a point of talking about something else besides diving in order to make them more welcome. I dove with the DM I chose (Bill "Memo" LaRosa) all week. More of a very close friend now. Met some cool fellow divers and one or two not so cool divers. I ultimately dove the sites I wanted to. I was asked for my opinion and as always felt like I was in charge of my own dive experience from soup to nuts. All dives were over an hour and a couple approached an hour and a half. Profiles were relatively conservative but divers had the freedom to establish their own as long as you didn't impinge on the rest of the group's experience. My son (10 yrs. old) did a Discover Scuba course and discovered that scuba might not be for him. He might try again in a few years. I won't push it. Overall high marks for Aldora all around. As usual no complaints whatsoever. I've never dove with anyone else in Coz and don't feel a need to try any other op.

The Diving. I did the following dives: Cedral, Palancar Gardens, Palancar Caves, Delilah, Tormentos, Yucab, San Francisco and Santa Rosa. To tell you the absolute truth it broke my heart. I have probably a dozen pre-Wilma dive trips into Cozumel. I know what is missing. The shallow reefs are not what they were. I told my wife that it was like looking at the most beautiful flower garden you have ever seen with two inches of snow covering it. Its still pretty but . . . The shallow reefs are dusted with a coating of sand that obscures a lot. Don't get me wrong, its still good diving, and if you have never been to Cozumel you won't know the difference. We still saw all the usual suspects as far as big marine life (lobsters, turtles, morays, nurse sharks, rays, etc.) but the fish count is down (seasonal?) and the reef is badly damaged. Would I go again. . .absolutely. Will ever be what it once was . . .maybe, but it will take years to come back.
 
Hey, Tim, it's too bad you didn't do any shallow diving down at the south end; Colombia Shallows is the least damaged shallow reef I saw when I was there in May. We dove on it five or six times and didn't repeat much if anything. It's a huge reef, and it's in pretty good shape.
 
The Coral Princess offers dive packages. Did you book your room and diving separately or as a package? Does the Coral Princess use Alodora's for their package?

I've been disappointed and embarrassed at how poorly some Americans treat the locals too.
 
Thanks Tim.... We're planning a trip early this summer and are looking forward to the "critters", but we're keeping in mind it won't be as gorgeous as it was our last trip there 1 month before Wilma. It's still a good budget getaway for us in central Texas....but we're really glad we got to dive it before.
 
Just wondering, who is the current cast and crew at Aldora? Does Memo still run the show? Who are the DM's? We're planning on going last week of April or first week of May, and wondering who we'll hook up with at the shop.
 
EricJ:
The Coral Princess offers dive packages. Did you book your room and diving separately or as a package? Does the Coral Princess use Alodora's for their package?

I've been disappointed and embarrassed at how poorly some Americans treat the locals too.


The Coral Princess offers a package with their onsite dive op Pepe Scuba. I have no info. about them. We booked the air/hotel package and then booked Aldora seaparately.
 
DiverMo:
Just wondering, who is the current cast and crew at Aldora? Does Memo still run the show? Who are the DM's? We're planning on going last week of April or first week of May, and wondering who we'll hook up with at the shop.

Memo is still the on-island manager. He does a great job. As for DM's I know that Bill LaRosa and Matteo are still there. I'm not sure about anyone else.
 
thanks for being honest Tim........lol
I am preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. We plan on doing most if not all of our diving south so hopefully we wont be as disappointed.
 
I believe you, but, this idea of how great the diving is in Coz. also may be from
pre-Pacific dives. Yes the diving in the Caribbean is great, but the amount of fish in comparison to the Pacific destinations....it is not really the same. And, I too have dove the Caribbean and sadly have thought how great it was previously to hurricanes...example; Bonaire/Klien Bonaire previous to the big hurricane surge 6-7 years ago....most of the shallow reefs were destroyed and the north side of Klien Bonaire is totally trashed. Then there's the hurricane that swept across the south side of Cayman Brac in the mid 1980's...trashed all the shallow massive elkhorn stands. It is heartbreaking when you know what the difference is and then to be able to dive in the Pacific areas where these types of things have not happened yet, makes diving in the Carribbean less attractive. Not to say that the diving is no good, it's just "not what is used to be" is a phrase that I can identify as fitting for Coz, Bonaire, Brac/Grand.
 
(singing the; "It's a small world" tune from Disneyland in my head)

I had a chance to meet and dive with Tim during this visit........ Tim, this is Scott
from San Jose... remember I told you I wrote under the name "Sherpa" here. well,
Sherpa was taken, so it's Sherpa_fab......

I had a blast at Cozumel...... I gotta tell everyone, when the wife lets a husband
have a kitchen pass for a whole week of diving with his buddies, brother, you best
take advantage of it..........

The (3) of us had a real good time.... Dave; tall-guy balding, Mark; quiet slender guy,
and Scott, the handsome-(fat) guy.........lol...

Tim, I gave the book to "XX" as requested...... I don't think Bill cares too much for him
fyi....

I really wanted to hang out with you guys at the Villa, but my compadres aren't foot-
ball fans, so I sorta went with the flow...... Greg never knew I was the mysterious
Case-O-Beer donator until I asked if he received it.......... I never go to a party without bringing suds for everyone......... wish I got to watch the game... next year.

I had a damn good time in Cozumel, and you're a good guy to dive with...
BTW, how's the weather in upstate treating you-?? ouch.............lol.

--CHeers,
--Scott............ er, Sherpa....
 

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