Dive Review of Aldora Divers in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Isla Mujeres

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Aldora Divers: "Amazing Whale Shark experience", Jul, 2018, by Cynthia Cook Boling , TX, US ( Sr. Reviewer 10 reports with 8 Helpful votes). Report 10504 has 4 Helpful votes.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation	N/A	Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	As most would already know, the whale shark experience is not a scuba diving experience - strictly snorkel BUT certainly worthy of a review in Undercurrent. Howard Kaiser, another U/C reader turned Mark and me on to this experience. We went out with Rafael de la Parra, a marine biologist who specializes in Whale Sharks. His sons started Cancun Xtreme as his "excursion" website but it is best to call - Rafael doesn't look at the website much. We arrived on July 11 and it was certainly a peak time for the Whale Sharks. We chartered Rafael's boat so we had a full day experience unlike an excursion experience where you may be in the water for 15 minutes. Also, Rafael was testing a new tracking device and it was amazing to watch him work; he's hoping for a grant from National Geo. Note, however, Rafael's boat is large, shaded and comfortable for us but there is no marine head - just the open water. He did provide a light lunch and lots of water. Because we were staying at a small place (not in the very crowded downtown area) he picked us up from our hotel pier on Isla Mujeres at 8 a.m. and we returned by 4 pm. It's a two hour boat ride to open water. There were at least 20 whale sharks around us at all times and right up to the boat - IT WAS AMAZING. So for our accommodations. Howard had recommended a place that had since changed owners and has horrible reviews SO I explored staying at the small villa/hotel next door with a small private beach - Maria's KanKin. 10 rooms and amazing. The staff was incredibly helpful; even arranged for a golf cart to be delivered to us and picked up so we didn't have to hassle with getting one from town - charged an extra $10. And the food - so good. The four of us were the only guests at Maria's until the last day - our own privately staffed villa - and that was so fun. Food is cooked to order so don't sit down with "fast food" in mind and it was delicious. I had fresh caught fish every dinner. I was very (very) surprised at how small our final tab was - including alcohol. We did visit some other eating places - via golf cart - and tooled around one whole day. Folks it has been 30 yrs since Mark and I were on Isla - only a few beer stands for day trip snorkelers from Cancun. Well it has changed a LOT - we're still asking how so much can be built on such a small island without the tip falling off into the sea. But Maria's is away from the crowd and the sunsets were amazing. Well worth the trip. Oh almost forgot - the Mantas were everywhere too during our whale shark experience - we knew one was swimming up when we saw a bright blue florescent light coming to us - it was their mouth open and feeding reflecting off the water!
Websites	Aldora Divers
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Caymans, Bonaire, Turks Caicos, Honduras, Costa Rica, Cozumel, Belize, Jamaica, DR
Closest Airport	Cancan	Getting There	Easy flight from Dallas/FTWorth to Cancun then transport to ferry.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	78-82°F / 26-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	65-90 Ft/ 20-27 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	Number of people in the water restricted to two with guide
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	> 2
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals	N/A	Tropical Fish	N/A
Small Critters	N/A	Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 4 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Aldora Divers in Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Isla Mujeres

Aldora Divers: "Amazing Whale Shark experience", Jul, 2018,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Aldora Divers in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Isla Mujeres