Aldora Review

[drrich2]

"The other issue happened on the last day. New DM for this day. I dove with an entirely new group. While the people were very nice and fun to dive with, it just wasn't the same. I won't mention the DM's name but I just didn't like his style. The other divers had been diving with him all week and seemed to really like him. He really catered to their needs and not mine. He didn't really care where I wanted to go and spent a lot of the dive time helping a diver catch lion fish and feed them to eels and fish. The other divers seem to really enjoy this, but it just didn't seem fun to me. He was a good DM, but didn't take care of me like the others. I had to break down my own gear and put it in the bag which I didn't have to do all week."

You were there. I wasn't. Some subjective inferences from your post, for what they're worth, if anything.

1.) The DM & group and been working together for days, probably had a smooth workflow established & the group likely meshed with each other. You were the newcomer. Plus you'd just had had an excellent experience with somebody else, so unconsciously your standards may have been high.

2.) 'Style' is subjective. What one person really likes will be off-putting to another.

3.) The other divers seemed to really like him, so he probably did a good job with them, impressed them. So he was at least doing a lot right.

4.) If he 'really catered to their needs and not yours,' be mindful he's one guy, dealing with all of you often simultaneously, and if people have very different agendas (e.g.: lion fish hunting vs. looking for big stuff vs. inspecting coral heads for macro. subjects), sometimes you've gotta pick one at a time.

5.) Feeding lionfish to eels & other predators would be quite interesting and entertaining to many divers. You can't please all of the people all of the time.

Somebody else indicated at the end of diving with Aldora you break down your own stuff, right?

Richard.

 

[ggunn]

5.) Feeding lionfish to eels & other predators would be quite interesting and entertaining to many divers.

Didn't we reach a consensus (or as much of one as we ever do in here) a while back that this practice probably isn't a good idea?

 

[BRT]

That's the silliest thing I've read all day. I have yet to be on a boat here in Florida that did not provide weights and tanks. I'm sure there's one or two, but I dive here pretty extensively. It certainly doesn't fit my experiences.

Don't know a thing about Florida but here in the warm tropical waters of Washington State the divers bring their own weights and tanks.

 

[BRT]

Didn't we reach a consensus (or as much of one as we ever do in here) a while back that this practice probably isn't a good idea?

Might be a consensus but I am an exception to that who really likes to watch the lionfish feeding process. Yeah I know, but I'll take my chances with the sharks, morays and barracuda.

 

[The Chairman]

Don't know a thing about Florida but here in the warm tropical waters of Washington State the divers bring their own weights and tanks.

I've never dove there. He specifically mentioned Fl, and that's what I thought was silly. I live here and have dove extensively throughout the state.

 

[drrich2]

"Didn't we reach a consensus (or as much of one as we ever do in here) a while back that this practice probably isn't a good idea?"

There's cause for concern; mainly moray eels and (if they're involved) sharks associating divers with food and accosting people looking for hand outs. Whether and to what extent that's a practical issue, is probably worth hashing out on another thread. It does entertain the paying guests. I don't know whether Aldora has a company policy on the practice.

In this case, it may've been the customer, not the DM, who was doing the killing & feeding? That's a bit different from the DM doing it. And raises another question; is Aldora cool with customers spearing lion fish & feeding them to the local predators? Wonder about how other Cozumel dive op.s handle this issue?

Being allowed to lion fish hunt would be a selling point for some people.

Richard.

 

[The Chairman]

Being allowed to lion fish hunt would be a selling point for some people.

Indeed it would.

 

[drrich2]

Ironically, I used to want to try it, till diving off the Sun Dancer 2 (now Belize Aggressor IV) last year, I watched a pair of reef sharks make life interesting for one of the staff who'd been carrying a lion fish around on his spear for awhile. Nobody got hurt. And at DAN's online Alert Diver magazine, Mary Maguire has written a piece, A Shark's Tale, where a fella name Art speared lion fish and was heading to the boat when a reef shark made a play for one and grabbed his left hand instead. Lots of blood was lost per the article. It's my understand he's okay (DAN was involved), but here we have a guy injured killing lion fish who wasn't even trying to feed them to predators.

Granted, one or 2 anecdotes needn't govern policy, so to speak, but I think Ggun's point merited the added info. So far, it's cooled my enthusiasm to spear the little beasties.

Then again, if things fell into place and the opportunity was right there, I'd probably try it.

Richard.

 

[The Chairman]

I shoot fish. Not as much as I used to, but I enjoy it. Sharks have been opportunistic with spearos since the very first one. There are ways to handle them, but you have to be bold.

 

[Ron Lee]

I would temper your concerns about your last day based upon diving with Aldora for many years. I don't recall if I do it every day but I believe that I at least pack the dive bag with my gear on the last day since I carry it to the hotel to clean and dry. Sure I could ask that the DM do it but I am self-reliant.

As for being attentive to your selection of dive sites, I did not hear the discussion. Perhaps the others knew what they wanted and that was the reason. Often when it is known that it is a person's last dive day, they get priority in site selection. It is a nice thing to do and getting your preference for one dive would have been desirable.

As for personalities, that is never 100%. I do not recall every DM but with my failures of recollection, I only recall one Aldora DM that I really did not like. He is no longer there but you cannot eliminate the possibility that the problem ego was me. Actually, the chance that I was the issue really does sound silly so we can discount that.

I do have my favorites. One male who was probably the first Aldora DM and another a female. I do believe that I have asked to dive with the female and that worked so add that as a comment when you make your reservation for the summer.