Kudos to Aldora Divers

[Montana Diver]

I just returned from Playa del Carmen this past weekend. More of the same weather that the lower USA greeted me for the week. Scheduled 5 dives, hoping to do 8 and got only 3 1/2. Dived Monday, port closed Tuesday and Friday, Wedsnesday on Cozumel.

However, I had contacted Aldora Divers on Cozumel for a mid morning dive from the mainland. The two dives were the most enjoyable dives ever. Since the ocean was a little rough, we used the big boat. The first dive was on the Santa Rosa Wall, the second was Tormentos reef. Saw three rays each dive and two sea horses, however the best part of the dive was the DM, David. As a part of his briefing he told us that he would not send divers to the surface one at a time. When one had dived the tank limit, we would ascend as a group. We dived to 79 feet and I was buddied with a DM candidate. The other 4 divers joined us from a cruise boat. The dive went well until slightly past the mid point one of the divers was low on air. David made a choice to take the diver to the surface and return to complete the dive for us. Needless to say I was impressed. We finished the after 53 minutes. The second dive was shallower at 57' max. Again the heavy breather was low on air so the DM shared his octo with him. The DM candiadite shared her octo late in the dive with one of the other divers so we could dive the maximum of our computers. We did 5 min safety stops on both dives, which also impressed me, since I love long safety stops. Second dive was 63 minutes, with my tank pressure still around 800# at the surface.

I chose Aldora from a recommendation from Dive Matrix members and have to say that they exceeded my expectations.
__________________

 

[Mike]

Aldora rocks.

Poor dive masters, they spend most of their time juggling gas management of their divers sometimes. You gotta appreciate them for it!

 

[Montana Diver]

Aldora rocks.

Poor dive masters, they spend most of their time juggling gas management of their divers sometimes. You gotta appreciate them for it!

Yeah, worked hard this Fall to get my gas management in control, then I look like I'm great compared to this other diver. Been working outs and concentrating on my breathing during the pool sessions this Fall, since we haven't dived in MT since September, which was 37 F air temp and 46 F water at 40'.

Must be learning something!!! LOL. Still have lots of things that I don't know I don't know.

Great dives! Great DM, I hope they tipped him more than I did, he deserved it!

 

[billindenver]

It's very difficult to fault Aldora. I've used five different dive ops on the island and can find things to praise in all but one of them, but I always end up back at Aldora when we get off the plane. Memo in the office is a great guy, as are all of the captains and DM's....though, like everyone, I do have a favorite DM (Sherief). Living Underwater is also extremely good for a one boat operation, but Aldora can split groups up better due to the number of boats they have, which helps reduce the chances of getting into a group of heavy breathers if you are not (though that possibility exists no matter what dive op you choose). Memo and the office crew do a good job of putting like divers together...or at least as good as can be expected. If there are only 4 divers that day and two of them are new and breathe hard...so be it. I did once get back in the boat with 1950 psi of nitrox left in the tank after a dive of 35 minutes or so. That stung a bit, but its diving and that is going to happen from time to time, especially since we are typically down there at non peak travel times.

When my Oceanic CDX5 developed a bit of a freeflow problem during a dive, they swapped my reg with a spare on the boat, took the boat to the pier and ran my reg to their shop...fixed it (new seat, o-rings etc) and had it ready for me on the afternoon dive....for free. Throw in the east side diving during Norte's and Aldora gets hard to beat.

I am not a brand loyal guy. In all things, my money goes where it delivers the most return. Out of the dive ops I've tried thus far (Aldora, Living Underwater, Dive with Martin, Dressel Divers and Blue XT Sea) I feel most at home and like my money goes the furthest (dollar/bottom time) with Aldora with Living Underwater a close second. If money is short, Dive with Martin is an excellent aluminum tank choice. We were on the island this past weekend finalizing some wedding plans and though we didn't dive (no time)...we still stopped into Aldora's shop twice attempting to say hello to Memo. They are that kind of crew, even if you are not diving you still want to stop in.

 

[diver 85]

Aren't they good------will be back in about 3 weeks--will tell Memo you said 'hey', lol.....

 

[5615mike]

It's very difficult to fault Aldora. I've used five different dive ops on the island and can find things to praise in all but one of them, but I always end up back at Aldora when we get off the plane. Memo in the office is a great guy, as are all of the captains and DM's....though, like everyone, I do have a favorite DM (Sherief). Living Underwater is also extremely good for a one boat operation, but Aldora can split groups up better due to the number of boats they have, which helps reduce the chances of getting into a group of heavy breathers if you are not (though that possibility exists no matter what dive op you choose). Memo and the office crew do a good job of putting like divers together...or at least as good as can be expected. If there are only 4 divers that day and two of them are new and breathe hard...so be it. I did once get back in the boat with 1950 psi of nitrox left in the tank after a dive of 35 minutes or so. That stung a bit, but its diving and that is going to happen from time to time, especially since we are typically down there at non peak travel times.

When my Oceanic CDX5 developed a bit of a freeflow problem during a dive, they swapped my reg with a spare on the boat, took the boat to the pier and ran my reg to their shop...fixed it (new seat, o-rings etc) and had it ready for me on the afternoon dive....for free. Throw in the east side diving during Norte's and Aldora gets hard to beat.

I am not a brand loyal guy. In all things, my money goes where it delivers the most return. Out of the dive ops I've tried thus far (Aldora, Living Underwater, Dive with Martin, Dressel Divers and Blue XT Sea) I feel most at home and like my money goes the furthest (dollar/bottom time) with Aldora with Living Underwater a close second. If money is short, Dive with Martin is an excellent aluminum tank choice. We were on the island this past weekend finalizing some wedding plans and though we didn't dive (no time)...we still stopped into Aldora's shop twice attempting to say hello to Memo. They are that kind of crew, even if you are not diving you still want to stop in.

Could'nt agree with you more Bill.

 

[vlkr]

yes i have to admit that i have become an airhog in my old age. david just put out a long octopus for me last year.
have been going to coz for a long time and tried several ops. after i tried aldora i never went with anyone else again.

 

[idocsteve]

I dove with Aldora on Wednesday January 13, and did both of those dive sites. Myself, and several others were off a cruise ship along with 4 DM candidates.

I wonder if you're talking about that same dive?

 

[Mayor]

I really like Aldora and can't wait to get back in the water with them!!!

 

[Islandheart]

Sounds like they are top notch......... When I get off the Cruise Boat, how do I find them?
Thanks,
Bob C.