cozumel

[deep diver]

Our 6th trip to Cozumel and things here sure have changed! We are at the end of our 2 week stay and will post more pictures and details when we get home, but here are a few.

The vis was about 100+ the first, but then with the rain we had it dropped some. The life wasn't what it used to be, but I believe that is because of the tons of divers on the reefs every day that the life is going to reefs farther out where they can feed. Also lots of signs of broken coral, storms or beginning divers anyone's guess.

We stayed at Iberostar because it was closer to the best dive sites, but they are the only hotel at the moment that we found out AFTER getting here that charge any dive company other than their own cattle boat big bucks to pick up divers at their pier. We had pre arranged for Aldora divers to dive with, but had some confusion the first 3 days as to where we could get them to pick us up from and finally after loosing 3 days of diving we got them to let us wade out from our hotel and get on the boat that way and it worked just fine. Aldora is a small run shop.. only had 4-6 tops at any time on the small boat and they were great. 120 and 100 for the wife steel tanks rather than the smaller tanks... thanks Bric for the tip!

[Gdog]

Great pics! Love Coz. Will always be one of our favorites. What about the food, did you eat in town at all?

[deep diver]

No, only ate at the club. Most of the time it was pretty good. The few times we had to go to town for the dentist we stopped at Starbucks, but that was it.

The town was just packed with cruise ships every day, one of the taxi drivers said that every day but Sunday there are 5+ sometimes 9 in port at the same time.

[Gdog]

Yes, we have been there several times when there were 9. The key is you just avoid the waterfront. Go in one block as the cruisers are afraid to venture in very far. Some very excellent food in town. Did you get a chance to dive the east side with aldora?

[Tom Nic]

Beautiful pics!

[coach_izzy]

Aldora is awesome! Thanks for sharing!

[deep diver]

Yes, we have been there several times when there were 9. The key is you just avoid the waterfront. Go in one block as the cruisers are afraid to venture in very far. Some very excellent food in town. Did you get a chance to dive the east side with aldora?

most of our time in town was back11 blocks, but then when we did have to go into town that is what we did as often as possible too.
No, just on the West side.

[Scubie Doo]

That first shark photo is great! They are good, but I really like that one.

[deep diver]

Back from Cozumel, here are some of our pictures.
We stayed at Iberostar, which was a nice all inclusive hotel that was far away from the town and close to the reefs. The main trouble was it cost the 2 of us $42 round trip to town each time and they wouldn't let any other dive boat come to their dock without a $100. fee. Iberostar is the only hotel in town (or Dressel) that charges this fee ... so far. We lost a few days diving because Aldora couldn't tell us how they were going to pick us up but then we finally called us and told them we would wade out on the far side of the property corner and they could pick us up there. That worked out fine and that is what we did from then on out. Bric had recommended Ernesto as a divemaster, but he is no longer with Aldora. We had Edgar at first and he was fine. We read some bad reviews on him, but I understand it is mostly with the new divers and it seems he "has changed". Adrianne is who we had the remainder of the dives and she is from US and she was great. Only request she had was that you stay where she can see your bubbles and you can spend your time taking your pictures as you wish.
They are hunting the lion fish now as most dive masters have spears with them so the lion fish are getting flighty now to get pictures.
Were talking to divers that went with Dressel and they said that most of the gear they used didn't work and when they questioned it they were told that they didn't need it, just stay close to the dive master (great advice) Most dives the dive master had 12 divers to look after.
Most of the hotel dive boats are cattle boats.
Since about 5 years ago when we were there we notice that there are tons more companies and lots and lots of boats. If you are with a smaller boat at least you can get to the reef and finish your first dive before the other boats get to the reef as the smaller boats are faster and takes less time for only 6 divers to get ready ....

[Gdog]

Love the shots. Makes me wish I were going there instead of Hawaii this winter. We have stayed at a resort south of town, but found over the years that we prefer to stay in town, enjoy the huge variety of food options, catch the dive boat at the Caleta, and enjoy the town in the afternoon. The reefs post Hurricane Wilma are in recovery mode, and seem to improve each year.
Im glad you enjoyed Aldora, a much better choice than the resort house dive shop. Your photos make me jones for a trip back to Coz! Thank you for sharing your trip with us!

[oldsalt]

Your first picture reminds me, whenever I dove from a resort, and would watch the boat crews load up to 200 tanks and I would think of some guy spending all night filling tanks - one after another. It would be o.k. if it were in preparation to dive with some friends the next day. But I expect it was someone who spent his nights filling tanks for someone else every night. I was grateful for those people.
-Curt