Aldora Review

[lionfish-eater]

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.

This highlights the problem of people(me) with limited exposure in an area speaking about their experiences. I have dived in three places in FLA. West Palm, Boynton, and Key Largo. We had to pick up and return tanks and weights to a shop in town, separate and unaffiliated from the boats. Ocean Divers in Largo has an onsite shop and provided tanks and weights from the shop. None were like Coz ops that have your tanks waiting for you onboard. My limited dive experiences have not given me a reason to return to Fla. now that Grandma has passed.

 

[mmmbelows]

"

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

Richard.

Got invited on a lionfish hunt with the natives (not in mexico) a few years ago, about 30 of us after their shift at the resort was over, quite the eye opener, the dive equipment looked like it all came out of the bottom of somebodies closet or a fleamarket that nobody wanted, drinking native moonshine on the boat ride out. Was totally out of hand experience, only in about 30 ft of water, but totally addictive, and crazy, the blood lust takes over, we filled up about 10 5 gallon water cooler bottles, must have been 6 or 7 hundred of them in about 40 minutes. First time I'd ever done something like that, but the hunt is really addictive and I can see why so many people enjoy it.

 

[Wookie]

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.

And hike uphill both ways to the dive site, 12 miles through blinding snow, barefoot, with the wolves nipping at your heels?

 

[ReefHound]

I've dived with at least six different ops in Key Largo and all of them provided tanks and weights in the standard rate. Many would offer a discount if you brought your own since they get a lot of local divers. And not all had shop facilities by the boat like Ocean Divers or Conch Republic so you'd go to the shop, do your paperwork, and bring your tanks to the boat. I think that was the case with Silent World and Capt Slate. Not all have nitrox so for that you'd get them somewhere else. Some would have a deal with another shop, when I dove with Blue Water we would stop and get our nitrox tanks at Ocean Divers since they are in the same marina. The only shop I dove with in Boynton had the tanks in a storage locker by the boat where we would analyze and carry them onto the boat. Many smaller ops in Pensacola use MBT for tanks and they can arrange to have air tanks on the boat or you go to the shop to analyze nitrox and bring them to the boat.

So the bottom line for me is that most if not all shops in FL will provide or arrange tanks and weights in the basic rate but they won't always be sitting on the boat waiting for you when you board.

 

[BRT]

And hike uphill both ways to the dive site, 12 miles through blinding snow, barefoot, with the wolves nipping at your heels?

Ahh... the snow isn't that bad in mid summer. But there are different ways to do things.

 

[old gaffer]

When I travel to Coz it is just me and my non-diving wife. So I am always the guy that gets moved around which is understandable. I did a week with Aldora and dove off 3 different boats with different groups each day. I am completely deaf but hear with bilateral cochlear implants. There are only about a quarter million people on the planet that have them and of course just a scant few of those dive. CI manufacturers do not warranty the implant for diving so when I did research trying to find divers who have dove with them and to what depths I struck out. I then contacted DAN and talked to one of their doctors and he told me that the manufacturers have safely tested in the chamber to a 100ft, he told me to stay above that and I would be fine. So each day of diving I spoke with the divemaster and would spell out my depth limitation and reason for it. One day our first dive was Maraicabo (great dive!) and the divemaster told me to stick with him so I did. We were on the wall and I was just enjoying the view trusting the DM when I did a quick check on my computer and was at 118ft! I went up above the group for the duration of the dive and when I got back on the boat, crossed my fingers and put on my speech processors and was relieved the implanted devices still worked! Learned from that! Always cover your own arse!

Gaffer

 

[samplin]

Hi Gaffer

I am planing another trip to Cozumel the first week in November.. Did Scuba Club Cozumel last year. I was very happy with their operation.. The only thing that
did not work for me was the 45-60 min boat ride to the dive sites. The dive staff and resort staff were great.. Food was good.

On this trip I am planning to go with Aldora divers.. (Great reports here)

I am trying to decide on a AI hotel on the South side near the dive sites. My wife is also a non-diver and all she wants is a ocean view deck to read her Kindle.
We are not that interested in going into town for meals. We s?re both watching our diets..

Any suggestions?

Joe

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

And hike uphill both ways to the dive site, 12 miles through blinding snow, barefoot, with the wolves nipping at your heels?

Mountain lions actually. Not only are the waters tropical, orcas like to be DPV's for us. But don't share this on the Internet. I don't want the word to get out and not be able to get on a boat charter anymore.

I know Bandito has a bag of weights just in case. I'd imagine that the others (Oceanquest, Lu Jacs, etc.) do as well. I just have never paid attention as I obviously bring my own. I just happened to notice one time with Bandito.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

This begs the question. I'm one of "those" divers that doesn't want anyone touching/setting up my gear. I have always mentioned this when I show up that I'll set up my own gear. But when I dove with Ed Robinson's boat in Maui, that request was refused. The DM who set up my gear bitched about my pony bottle (same guy who dug an octopus out of a whole for someone to take pictures, I hate that). Well, I did say I wanted to set up my own gear, so there shouldn't be complaints. Anyone else who likes to set up his/her own gear run into such issues?

 

[Lorenzoid]

This begs the question. I'm one of "those" divers that doesn't want anyone touching/setting up my gear. I have always mentioned this when I show up that I'll set up my own gear. But when I dove with Ed Robinson's boat in Maui, that request was refused. The DM who set up my gear bitched about my pony bottle (same guy who dug an octopus out of a whole for someone to take pictures, I hate that). Well, I did say I wanted to set up my own gear, so there shouldn't be complaints. Anyone else who likes to set up his/her own gear run into such issues?

My wife and I generally regard ourselves as "those" divers, too. On Florida boats where you're generally expected to set up your own gear, we generally refuse offers of assistance from well-meaning crew. However, when we decided to give Aldora a try on our last Coz trip, we decided to let them do their thing--the valet service is what they're known for. We figured that, given their reputation, if there's any dive op out there that's going to understand our gear, handle it carefully, and set it up correctly, it would be Aldora. We had no issues. They didn't seemed fazed by our BP/W rigs with 7-ft hoses. When you board the boat, your gear is often already set up, and that avoids delays and the difficulty of having to set up gear on a bouncing boat. We checked it over, of course. I don't mind valet service if they seem to know how to properly handle the gear.