A disappointment
Written: Dec 03 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Safe, professional, friendly
Cons: Small boat, lousy equipment, mediocre diving, mediocre dive master, no lunch/snacks
The Bottom Line: You won't be disappointed with Aldora's - as long as you set your expectations appropriately
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| boettger1's Full Review: Aldora Divers |
After reading the glowing reviews at epinions.com, I had expected great things from Aldora Divers. I went with my girlfriend on November 26, 2006 for a two-tank morning dive. I was disappointed.
First the good. Aldora’s a professional, trustworthy operation. The dive shop is clean and the staff are friendly and helpful. Memo – the shop manager – even offered personally to take us out on a night dive on a day on which no night dives were scheduled and during which we would have been the only two divers (we ended up not going). He also led us to a place that had incredible seafood sopas after the day’s dives.
Now the not so good. The boat is the smallest dive boat I’ve ever been on and is powered by a couple of really noisy 130 hp outboards – not fun when you sit in the stern. With six divers, a dive master, and the captain, the boat felt cramped. The water wasn’t too smooth on the morning we dived and the ride out to the reefs was not comfortable. My girlfriend’s stomach was quite upset by the time we got to the reef and one of the other divers hurled twice as we were suiting up. Although we used our own gear, the gear supplied by Aldora’s – even the stuff used by the dive masters – is crap. Ignore the reviews that say the equipment is “slightly worn”. It’s not; it needs to be replaced, plain and simple.
The diving was just mediocre. The visibility was only fair and there wasn’t a whole lot to see – just the species typical of the Gulf and many areas of the Pacific. The most interesting things we saw were a small turtle, a spotted eel, and a single parrot fish, plus some corals. Worse, our dive master Mateo really didn’t do any leading when we were down. He just sort of took us down and then waited while we did what we wanted, occasionally taking us to other areas. Nor was he particularly adept at spotting flora and fauna (I found the eel myself), or discussing what we saw after we were back on the boat. Except for safety reasons, I’m not sure why Mateo was even there.
There were other annoyances as well. This is a “we set your gear up for you” place and they failed to notice that my BCD air line wasn’t connected to the first stage properly. Sure, it was actually the fault of the shop where I bough the BCD for not connecting it correctly in the first place, but if Aldora’s isn’t going to let divers set their own gear up, then they should be damn sure all the air lines are connected properly. (To be fair, Mateo had a couple of wrenches on board and had me hooked up in a couple of minutes, although not without putting a nice gash in my first stage in the process.) My girlfriend’s second tank was way low on air: easily 40 bar less than mine. Mateo had to let her share his air so that she could stay down with the rest of us.
Other reviews say that Aldora’s is “slightly” more expensive than other places. At $87 (Nov. 2006, not including taxes and fees) for a two-tank day dive, it’s 25-30% more than elsewhere. The price you pay does not include lunch, or snacks, or drinks except for (warm) bottled water. Maybe I’m spoiled, but I find this unacceptable.
I’ve read that Aldora’s is the best dive operation in Cozumel. Not having been to any other ones, I can’t confirm or deny this. But on a global scale, Aldora’s is mid-pack. I wonder if this has something to do with the fact that the owner (Dave) doesn’t even live in Mexico.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
boettger1
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Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 0 members
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