Looking for dive op offering 4 dives a day

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I dived with Pelagic Ventures several years ago. Our group of four had a boat all to ourselves for the whole week. Not chartered, it just worked out that way. They picked us up at the El Cantil pier for all dives except the night dive. DMs were great about finding stuff and once we got to the shallower part of the dive were happy to let us swim around as long as we wanted. Hugo was a great Captain. No complaints at all.
 
Safety is a huge reason for that policy.

[...]

Sending buddies to the surface on their own is a huge risk, nobody wants to see anyone get hurt.
How do you quantify that risk as "huge"? How many divers have been hit by boats as a result of dive ops implementing this policy? Boat captains piloting around dive sites are well aware that there are surfacing divers in the area, and I don't see where the risk of being hit is all that much greater for a pair of divers than for a group of six or so, especially if everyone is properly using their SMBs.
 
To me these threads always break down to two related questions:

Do you want your DM to be a guide underwater leading the group? Or do you want the DM to be underwater fulfilling the legal requirements for a DM and leave you alone?

If you want the later and dive with the former, you are going to have a frustrating trip and vice versa.
 
How do you quantify that risk as "huge"? How many divers have been hit by boats as a result of dive ops implementing this policy? Boat captains piloting around dive sites are well aware that there are surfacing divers in the area, and I don't see where the risk of being hit is all that much greater for a pair of divers than for a group of six or so, especially if everyone is properly using their SMBs.

Dear Gordon,

You are right "if everyone is properly using their SMBs". How often do you see that?


Dave
 
3 dives a day with Aldora will give you more bottom time than 5 dives with the in and out operations as long as your gas consumption is reasonable. 1 hr 10-15 minutes ++ each dive vs 40-45 minutes with a lot of ops. My wife doesn't really enjoy the longer dives and diving with the resort is included or Aldora would be my choice every time.
 
I've always wondered how the Aldora dives are structured.

For reference, I can pull 60-70 minutes out of an AL80 and my wife is even better.

Not all dive sites at Cozumel are continuous and it seems that many run out of reef at around 6-70 minutes and you end up over sand or the abyss. Frankly I get a bit bored in the last 5-10 minutes.

What do you do for a 90 minute dive? Do you kick over to a new site? Do you float along over sand?

Frankly I don't like 4 dives a day (its just too long of a day) so I am wondering if 2 longer dives might be a better option. But I am wondering what kind of dive quality you get out of that last 15-20 minutes.
 
@Charred , two long dives from Aldora and a leisurely afternoon and evening (with a couple of night dives sometime during the week) is what my wife and I ultimately determined is our ideal Coz itinerary. While you have a point that if you drift with the current you might run out of reef, isn't that only true if the current is really ripping? We sadly haven't been in a few years, but from what I recall, we mostly weaved our way around the reef slowly enough that there was plenty to see throughout the dive. The extra dive time allows you to stop and really take a good look at interesting finds. I remember one dive on which a 3-minute safety stop turned into 15 minutes watching a moray chase lobsters; everyone had plenty of air to spend the extra time.
 
I've always wondered how the Aldora dives are structured.

For reference, I can pull 60-70 minutes out of an AL80 and my wife is even better.

Not all dive sites at Cozumel are continuous and it seems that many run out of reef at around 6-70 minutes and you end up over sand or the abyss. Frankly I get a bit bored in the last 5-10 minutes.

What do you do for a 90 minute dive? Do you kick over to a new site? Do you float along over sand?

Frankly I don't like 4 dives a day (its just too long of a day) so I am wondering if 2 longer dives might be a better option. But I am wondering what kind of dive quality you get out of that last 15-20 minutes.
The one trip I dove with Aldora the pattern was drop on reef and follow it to a certain point then the DM would cross over to a shallower reef and continue the dive. But yes, there were times we were over sand or scrub.
 
Someone earlier mentioned Blue Angel.

We used to use them. They did a two tank dive in the morning and again in the afternoon. Since we were not staying with them, they would pick us up and then take us back to their place we’re we had lunch. They would drop us off back at the hotel after the last afternoon dive.

In contrast to other dive shops that we have used in the past, they were very flexible with were we wanted to go and they let us dive our gas or computer.

The only reason why we don’t go with them anymore is that we now always stay at scuba club Cozumel. They are not as flexible, but the food is almost always edible.
 

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