My cheerleading (aka
TRIP UPDATE):
We just got back from Coz yesterday (Jan 2) after two weeks, and it far exceeded expectations. We are a family of three (son is 17) all with around 120 dives...first time in Mexico. We stayed at Villa Aldora (the hosts there are Kay and Greg and they do everything they can to meet any needs you have). We put in 25 dives (each) over the two weeks all with Aldora Divers (Memo, et al). Everything they offer is well outlined on their web sites (
Villa Aldora).
The Villa Aldora hotel is 10-15 mins walk north of the main town. It's quiet, small (only about 12 suites), lovely and rooms come with kitchenettes, or not, whatever fits the budget. Easy to night dive or great snorkeling right out front. Only those diving with Aldora Divers stay at the Villa (not for party-types). The boat picks you up out front on the dock early each morning (7:30am) for two-tank dives ($89) or they also offer two tanks in the afternoon, the second dive is a twlight dive. They usually do a guaranteed night dive on Wed and Sat nights. Boats were all comfortable (large or small depending on conditions). If the waves and wind are up, they get you to the main dock in town to load on the boat, very quickly by taxi and they pay....5 mins.
It is a very safe area. The restaurants are great...town is busy when cruise ships in but otherwise pretty quiet. We rented a car for $35-40 one day and drove around the island visiting the ruins, parks and beaches. Great ceviche at Playa Bonita part way down the coast on the east side.
All the Aldora DMs were great (we had our favs too) and our experience was that Aldora really looked after all our needs. And the diving...well, it's top notch for sure, mostly drift diving. Drift diving was new to us and our son particularly loved it! They called him the 'yogi diver' cause he liked to cross his fins lotus-like and glide along with the current, head tucked down in meditation (or maybe he was catching a few zzzs with that early morning start!). The ocean is very healthy and basically we didn't have a bad dive. The boats usually head pretty far south for the first dives of the day and then do the surface interval at Mr. Sancho's outdoor restaurant for lunch (while this gets a bit
routine after two weeks, you can also just sit on the beach if you don't want food/drink...beats bumping around for an hour in the waves.) The second dive is always closer to 'home' and in shallower reefs. They provide free dive computers and we needed them to watch the depth and NDL. We'd be back 'home' mid afternoon and wash up, take a rest and then go in for dinner most nights, or order in from some of the local restaurants. Be sure to check out some of the spots off the main drag...good food, great prices.
My best dives were Palancar Gardens and Devil's Throat although we did most of the popular ones and three night dives. We did a couple dives on the north side...bit more advanced, fast drifts...they were good too. We also dove with Aldora one day to the cenotes south of Playa Del Carmen, and Aldora looked after everything including hauling gear, ferry, lunch, transportation, etc. It was terrific and worth the cost ($149).
If you go, say hi to everyone for us and have a few meals at Kinka, Guidos and Kondesa.
But seldom have I surfaced with more than 500#....which is still a lot of air in a bigger steel tank. And seldom are dives less than 1 hour. Many times they are approaching 80 or 90 minutes. Send me a PM if you'd like to follow up.
