Diving with Aldora report from early June

[Lorenzoid]

perhaps I’ll take my two 1lb soft weights with me again (and hope they don’t confiscate them again at the Coz. airport ) just in case.

They confiscated your soft 1-lb weights? I have brought those for diving with Aldora, and nobody at any airport said a thing. I guess that's the Mexican airport lottery for ya.

 

[divingjd]

Sorry, I don’t know the exact weight/buoyancy difference between the 120s and 117s. I‘m sure someone will chime in. I know that I use no weight with either one, and I wear a 5 mil suit, plus a hooded vest, plus a 1 mil shirt.

 

[ReadyTo Dive]

Aldora still has 120s and 100s. They added the 117s to the mix. I’ll still use the 120s, but much prefer the 117s. It’s easier to gear up with the shorter tank and to manage trim.

Very interesting. I’ll be back down there for my 6th7th? trip with them in a few months and have always loved the 120’s because it allows me to use 0 lbs of weight while still coming up with 1200+psi even after 80–90 minutes… What is the weight difference with the 117‘s? I remember during my first trip I would use 4 pounds and then dropped to 2 pounds and then nothing; perhaps I’ll take my two 1lb soft weights with me again (and hope they don’t confiscate them again at the Coz. airport ) just in case.

They confiscated your soft 1-lb weights? I have brought those for diving with Aldora, and nobody at any airport said a thing. I guess that's the Mexican airport lottery for ya.

Yes we finally struck out the third time we took them, just a small hassle to have to go buy more. No biggie but if the 117s are no different than the 120s then I won’t even bother taking them, they never came out of the bag last time we were there.

 

[rmssetc]

I wandered down to the dive shop and identified myself as a former instructor with decades of diving experience dating back to getting my basic open water in 1982 and my instructor cert in 1986, and I was looking to book a package. The guy working the counter had a bit of a 'tude and asked the last time I was diving. I replied it was Little Cayman in 2019 and I had done no diving since then (other than the pool with my 2 sons getting them ready for a Discover scuba experience for future travels)

As an instructor, how would you have reacted to a potential diver who hasn't been in the water for about 4 years?

As an instructor, how would you have reacted to a diver who flaunts inactive* credentials and wants preferential treatment?
* Have you kept your instructor certification current?

I had never decided to do nitrox because my air consumption has always been great and I had never wanted to give up using my trusty bulletproof Orca Edge computer.

That sounds like you're conflating some relationship between gas consumption and gas composition. Perhaps that's because Nitrox wasn't widely used when you were certified. I certainly hope that that the "Discover Nitrox" course addressed any misconceptions you might have had.


Yes, you made the right choice with Aldora. Glad to hear that you had a good trip.

 

[rmssetc]

Very interesting. I’ll be back down there for my 6th7th? trip with them in a few months and have always loved the 120’s because it allows me to use 0 lbs of weight while still coming up with 1200+psi even after 80–90 minutes… What is the weight difference with the 117‘s? I remember during my first trip I would use 4 pounds and then dropped to 2 pounds and then nothing; perhaps I’ll take my two 1lb soft weights with me again (and hope they don’t confiscate them again at the Coz. airport ) just in case.

Checking my logs from successive trips with Aldora, using 120s and then 117s, I used the same amount of weight with the 117s (and a more buoyant wetsuit), so for me, the real-world difference in the tanks is 0 lbs.

 

[Lorenzoid]

My impression has been that Aldora doesn't pre-judge divers but rather reserves judgment until the DM discreetly observes them in the water. Based to a good extent on that, they take you to appropriate sites, put you on a boat with divers of similar skills, etc. You could be a newbie who's actually very skilled, or a veteran diver whose skills are rusty, and they would show you a great time and take you to appropriate sites without questioning your credentials and without you ever feeling you were being judged. Aldora is a class act.

 

[rmssetc]

My impression has been that Aldora doesn't pre-judge divers but rather reserves judgment until the DM discreetly observes them in the water. Based to a good extent on that, they take you to appropriate sites, put you on a boat with divers of similar skills, etc. You could be a newbie who's actually very skilled, or a veteran diver whose skills are rusty, and they would show you a great time and take you to appropriate sites without questioning your credentials and without you ever feeling you were being judged. Aldora is a class act.

Sort of... their reservation page asks for the diver's number of logged dives and says:
This is important for us to be able to group divers with same skill level and experience

My observation is also that the DM's judgement of the diver's comfort and ability and air consumption guides the grouping on each boat.

Oh, and Aldora's FAQ states:

Divers that have been out of the water within the last 2 years are strongly encouraged to take a refresher course.

 

[diversmith]

As an instructor, how would you have reacted to a potential diver who hasn't been in the water for about 4 years?

As an instructor, how would you have reacted to a diver who flaunts inactive* credentials and wants preferential treatment?
* Have you kept your instructor certification current?



That sounds like you're conflating some relationship between gas consumption and gas composition. Perhaps that's because Nitrox wasn't widely used when you were certified. I certainly hope that that the "Discover Nitrox" course addressed any misconceptions you might have had.


Yes, you made the right choice with Aldora. Glad to hear that you had a good trip.

As an experienced instructor, I would never have considered telling (insulting) another experienced instructor that they need to do a pool dive. Doesn't matter if they are current or former. I'm guessing you have also never worked in the industry like the other safety Nancy piping in here?? I have NEVER been asked to do a pool dive, EVER, as a current or former instructor. That includes California, 3 different Hawaiian islands, the middle east, South Africa, Fiji, and numerous spots in the Caribbean. Now would I absolutely have a conversation back and forth about actual experience...sure! But about the only situation I would consider asking a current/former instructor to do a refresher is the person hasn't been diving in 10-15 plus years and they had gotten much older, or were in not very good physical condition. Those are red flags regardless of cert level. I can watch a person descend one time and I can accurately gauge just from that if they are a skilled diver or not by the time we get to the bottom. Sounds like Aldora did just that with me, rather than acting like a little Nancy and insisting that I waste everyone's time!

Regarding nitrox, I'm not conflating anything or had any misconceptions. I really liked my Orca Edge and I never wanted to give it up. It and alum 80s & 100s (and some steel 95s with air that my buddy kept on his boat in SoCal) always did the job. Sounds like you need to fully re-read the things I've posted. I obviously understand the difference between consumption/composition. The points I was making for never wanting to go nitrox before this trip involved several factors which I described. If you don't understand then I'm going to quit wasting my time with the couple of people that want to piss in this thread.

After upgrading our computers and trying out nitrox, I can most certainly see the benefits if you are on a small boat with only 5-6 other people who have above average skill sets and you can really maximize dive time with nitrox and big tanks and depth isn't an issue.

 

[diversmith]

Checking my logs from successive trips with Aldora, using 120s and then 117s, I used the same amount of weight with the 117s (and a more buoyant wetsuit), so for me, the real-world difference in the tanks is 0 lbs.

Sort of... their reservation page asks for the diver's number of logged dives and says:
This is important for us to be able to group divers with same skill level and experience

My observation is also that the DM's judgement of the diver's comfort and ability and air consumption guides the grouping on each boat.

Oh, and Aldora's FAQ states:

Divers that have been out of the water within the last 2 years are strongly encouraged to take a refresher course.

Getting back on track here, they now have 117s but it looks like their website still states 120s. I first tried the steel 100s on day 1 but realized I might be cutting it close with the other guys on the boat. They were all excellent divers with great air consumption so I didn't want to be "that guy" having to level out with the DM's octo in case I stayed a little deeper than the others and used more gas doing that. Switched over to the 117s and never looked back for the rest of the trip. I was almost always first down and always last up and I still usually had 700-900 psi left.

as far as weight goes, I was using a new BC and a different wetsuit, so I decided to use 4 pounds with the steel 100 but I could have gotten away with zero after doing a buoyancy check at the end of the first dive. Ended up with nothing using the 117s.

like I said, Aldora was absolutely great and it sounds like they are one of the few ops that offers a lot of flexibility and no silly safety Nazi blanket rules, allowing you to get max bottom time.

One afternoon we walked down to the Iberostar to check out the accommodations and see what Dressel Divers had to offer. Iberostar looked nice, but Dressel seemed to be a cattleboat operation with a lot of hard and fast rules, and another counter person with a bit of a 'tude. Dressel would be a hard pass for me. Aldora does pick up at the Iberostar so they would be the best choice there. You get what you pay for!!

 

[ChuckP]

As an experienced instructor, I would never have considered telling (insulting) another experienced instructor that they need to do a pool dive. Doesn't matter if they are current or former. I'm guessing you have also never worked in the industry like the other safety Nancy piping in here?? I have NEVER been asked to do a pool dive, EVER, as a current or former instructor. That includes California, 3 different Hawaiian islands, the middle east, South Africa, Fiji, and numerous spots in the Caribbean. Now would I absolutely have a conversation back and forth about actual experience...sure! But about the only situation I would consider asking a current/former instructor to do a refresher is the person hasn't been diving in 10-15 plus years and they had gotten much older, or were in not very good physical condition. Those are red flags regardless of cert level. I can watch a person descend one time and I can accurately gauge just from that if they are a skilled diver or not by the time we get to the bottom. Sounds like Aldora did just that with me, rather than acting like a little Nancy and insisting that I waste everyone's time!

Regarding nitrox, I'm not conflating anything or had any misconceptions. I really liked my Orca Edge and I never wanted to give it up. It and alum 80s & 100s (and some steel 95s with air that my buddy kept on his boat in SoCal) always did the job. Sounds like you need to fully re-read the things I've posted. I obviously understand the difference between consumption/composition. The points I was making for never wanting to go nitrox before this trip involved several factors which I described. If you don't understand then I'm going to quit wasting my time with the couple of people that want to piss in this thread.

After upgrading our computers and trying out nitrox, I can most certainly see the benefits if you are on a small boat with only 5-6 other people who have above average skill sets and you can really maximize dive time with nitrox and big tanks.

You went from a counter person that was doing his job to a counter person that maybe wasn't.

I remember the day they put a one day super experienced diver on our boat going to Barracuda y San Juan - worst dive ever - but hey, the guy said he had all this experience.... I also remember a few instructors that had next to zero buoyancy control, a few that probably haven't taught in years, a few that looked like pool specialists......

You want to talk about the "AOW" certed divers I've seen??? The conversations I have overheard with "nitrox certified" divers? There is both terrible instruction and terrible absorbtion out there in the world.

Why did Pro Dive want you to get in the pool? Because they work out of a resort, they have a pool right there, it's quick and easy. Because you haven't dove in four years, I don't care who you are, they don't know you. They must not have a policy about private DM being standard for divers that have not been in the water, they probably don't have that policy because they have the pool. You know the other big red flag for me, you are not even nitrox certified - how can you be an instructor for so long and not nitrox certified? I don't understand how you don't see the value in teaching that to others? You have this old trust worthy computer, great, but it's 2023 and as an instructor, I would think you would want keep abreast of the real world and to pass that knowledge onto new students.

Pro Dive is a big operation that has bunches of happy customers that like to dive that way. They also run bare minimums so there is no extra DM to help you deal with any problems on descent, which now that you have dove here, maybe you understand those potentials. The big operations, Pro Dive, Dressel, Scuba Du etc.. get hammered locally all the time about their operations, divers and DM's - I applaud them for doing the right thing in screening divers.

How do we and virtually all other operators handle a situation like this? It's either a refresher or private DM. Because I'm too nice of a guy, if we had a full boat, I would have went along as an unpaid DM to see how the first dive went. Let me explain a little bit about here in Cozumel - everyone is so afraid to have a potential customer walk away, some are willing to cut any corner to get you on that boat, in that rental car etc....

So what did Aldora do? Either the front desk guy had no clue, didn't care OR which happens there: He/she knew there was a boat with two something DM''s or maybe even a boat with long time customers and they put you on that boat. Aldora does not work their DM and Instructor candadites but at times, it's nice to have them there as any extra set of hands/eyes and often the customer has no idea...... They also have boats with people that have 100's of dives with them, people that are well known. The odds are very great that you had someone there in case of a problem.....

As a fellow dive professional, I would expect a whole lot more respect from you for those in the dive industry. We are supposed to be leaders in the way we act and especially with safety - nothing we do is above anyones rules or policy.