Cozumel .. Jan. 2008
Story…. Norm Friday
U/W Pics ….. Roeland Papen
Tony Amenta and I stayed at Villa Aldora in Cozumel from 1/12 to 1/19. Roeland Papen joined us from 1/12 to 1/15. Typhoid Tony was sick with a cold the entire week and had to console himself with sitting on the waterfront, enjoying the bikinis and self medicating with Dos Equis and Jose Cuervo!! I dove with Roeland for three days and with another group on the fourth day.
We chose Villa Aldora for two reasons.
First, the villa is a small waterfront “hotel” with only 9 suites that is reserved for people who are diving with Aldora Divers. We felt this would be more relaxing than a large resort and give us an opportunity to enjoy fellow divers in a small group. This proved to be an excellent choice!
Our suite consisted of an enormous room with a king bed and two queen beds, a dining area, a full kitchen, full bathroom, and large dresser and open closet area for $105 a night. (This does not include food or diving.) We were about 20 steps down a hallway to the waterfront “palapa” area with concrete floor ..tables, ..chairs….lounges, the sand covered open area with lounges, the infinity salt water pool, and two sets of steps down to crystal clear water.
Greg and Kay manage the Villa and really made the vacation something special. Before we got there they answered all our questions promptly via e-mail and set up any requests we made. Upon arrival and settling in baggage they took us to the dive shop to drop off our equipment and check in with our “c” cards.
The second reason we chose Villa Aldora was because we decided that Aldora Divers would be the best choice for charters according to all the reviews we read. Memo is in charge and every service is expeditious, flawless, and backed by a truly exuberant and warm personality. B.C.’s, regulators and any other gear you choose are put into a large mesh bag with your name on it.
When you reach the boat, or it picks you up at the Villa, all your gear is already set up on your first tank (steel 120’s!!!) Between dives they set your gear up on a full tank. All dives seem to be a minimum of sixty minutes!!!
After check in at the dive shop, which is about five minutes away from the Villa in downtown San Miguel, Kay took us to the large grocery/department store and left us off to do our shopping. Food, Deli, beer, wine, liquor…..and anything you forgot to bring…..under one roof!!! The only “drawback” was that we had to split a whole $5 to have a taxi haul everything back to the Villa!!! All Taxi’s ran $3—$5 depending on # of people and distance. My $20 ride at the end of the vacation is another story for later!!! Wish their taxi union would take over our cities here in the U.S>
The next day Roeland, myself, and two other divers were “cabbed” to the pier in town (5 mins.) at Aldora’s expense to get on the “large” boat with 4 other divers.
Aldora limits group size to 6-8 divers….no cattle boats. They also furnish everone with steel 120’s (with adaptors if needed) and a computer( if needed). Our first dive was to 120’ multi level drift up to about 30 with a mandatory 3-5 min safety stop. No matter the depth we never had a dive less than 60 mins.despite having some “newbies” with us. When a newbie got to 1000 lbs the divemaster would have them pair up with him/her to breathe off their seven foot octopus. The only unfortunate part of this is that the dive master is not free to spot critters for the rest of the group!! After our first dive each day we were taken to a lovely beach area with a restaurant, bathrooms, (watersleds, lounges, and parasailing at a price) where we stayed for an hour to an hour and a half. Food ranged from $6-15. Then we re-boarded our boat and did a second dive in the 60’ range. The reefs are very healthy with a lot of life. Nothing really exciting the first day except for the 4’ turtle that tried to play “chicken” with me. It won, but I got some great video footage!!!
Aldora delivered us back to the dock at our hotel by about 2:00 and, after rinsing cameras and setting up batteries to charge, we joined Typhoid Tony for self medications and socializing with other resident divers. Just about all the other divers staying there were from Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota etc. Good group, but definitely had a different sense of humor. I am sure they are saying the same about us!!!
Aldora delivered us back to the dock at our hotel by about 2:00 and, after rinsing cameras and setting up batteries to charge, we joined Typhoid Tony for self medications and socializing with other resident divers. Just about all the other divers staying there were from Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota etc. Good group, but definitely had a different sense of humor. I am sure they are saying the same about us!!!
Day 2 and we hit the jackpot!!! We had David as a dive master and he was awesome at locating critters and great shots for us photo/video nuts even though he had a newbie in tow. We were in a smaller, but fast, boat and had to hand up our gear before climbing an easy to use side ladder to get back on the boat. I am including Roeland’s shots on the next page.
In addition to those shots I got great footage of the Splendid Toadfish (indigenous only to Cozumel), an action shot moving slowly 5 feet under an overhang through a wall of bright yellow grunts to a very large green moray, who obligingly posed upright 4 feet for me. (Tight space that required very slow movements to extract myself from with nervous Morayus Giganticus watching my every move!!) And then I turned around to see another diver motioning to me and there was about a 4 foot turtle that was feeding on coral with three humungous French Angels swarming all around it looking for tidbits. All this is in current requiring me to find a place to hold on with one overstressed finger while steadying camera for stable footage!!!
Day three was a repeat of day one with the exception of seeing a spotted eagle ray slowly “winging” away from us when we entered the water on our first dive. Everything else was the “usual”, beautiful reefs, critters, etc.
Roeland had to catch a ferry back to Playa del Carmen at four so we saw him off over a few cervesas, replenished food and liquid stock at supermarket, and returned to the Villa.
That night Greg and Kay furnished the guests with a gourmet buffet of appetizers , beers and wines. Great group of people, great food, liquid refreshment on a patio watching the sunset!!! Of course, as the liquid refreshments dwindled the tales got taller!!! I think I got up to the part of videoing the prehistoric 50 foot Morayus Giganticus which swallowed my camera requiring me to prop its mouth open with my tank while I swam down its gullet and retrieved the camera!!
On day four whatever gods that I had offended the night before decided it was time for revenge. During the first dive my neck, which had been bothering me all week, ached during the entire dive. After the dive and getting back on the dive boat I had a sudden epiphany that I could not turn my head in either direction without pain equivalent to when I ruptured a disc in my back. All the way back to the beach for lunch I sat bracing my head with both hands trying to minimize the boat’s action. All I could think of was: “Where the hell is Linsley when I need her!!!!”
Somehow I got off the boat, had lunch with one hand propping up my head, and opted to take a $20 taxi ride back to the Villa rather than face bouncing around in the boat. The taxi driver quickly got the concept of my problems and did his best to avoid bumps, potholes and slow down almost to a standstill for speed bumps despite the constant horn blowing of other drivers!
Long story/short….Typhoid Tony went into town and got me some Valium (over the counter in Mexico). That and the Tequila didn’t help one bit. The next day Greg and Kay took me to their doctor ( (very cheap$60 visit) and I got three prescriptions which performed miracles and alternate realities.
The last night Typhoid Tony and I took Greg and Kay out for dinner to one of their favorite restaurants downtown. Wow!!! After that I will never think of “Mexican” food in the same way again. This was a very nice, modest restaurant, but the food was gourmet local fare!!!!
Greg and Kay are more than happy to direct guests to the best restaurants in town. As I said before, these people are what made this trip quite a few levels above the ordinary!! They are an absolutely lovely, fun couple that really go out of their way to accommodate the needs of their guests.
And the service of the Aldora Divers certainly equaled all the great reviews we had read on Trip Advisor and Undercurrent. Go to their website, www.aldora.com ,to check out the many, many things that I didn’t have time to include here!!

Villa Aldora is the perfect place for those looking for a small, quiet, dive friendly, cozy environment where you can truly relax and enjoy. The couple who manage the Villa, Kay & Greg, are the absolute best!

We have always been attracted to small resorts and Villa Aldora is a gem! No, there is no room service, bar or restaurant here, but that just adds to the charm. The Villa has about 9 rooms, each varying in size. Some have full kitchens but at a minimum, they have a refrigerator, microwave, coffeemaker, and few other necessary kitchen items. The rooms are cleaned daily and on the day you arrive, Kay or Greg will take you to the grocery store to stock up for your stay.

We always enjoy the short walk into town in the evening and after dinner at on of the great restaurants, we normally take a cab back to the Villa and it's only about $3.00.

As for diving, Aldora Divers is associated with the Villa and talk about first class, they are far better than any other operation that we have used in Cozumel! They pick you up at the Villa's dock (unless of course the weather/waves aren't cooperating) and you dive in small groups, usually 6 or less, steel tanks and YOUR bottom time. Not at all like the "60 feet for 40 minute" type operations that have a dozen or more divers on board! They also do their best to group you together with divers who have similar skill levels, etc.

This was our first stay at Villa Aldora. We searched the internet for a highly rated dive operation and found Aldora Divers. Then we checked their recommendations for hotels and found Villa Aldora. It is located on the "north side" and that appealed to us. We are not much for hustle and bustle. They also have accommodations to fit all budgets and group sizes. Well, we loved it! The couple who run this place are great! Kay was waiting for us when we arrived, settled us in, then helped us to the grocery store to lay in some supplies. All the rooms have refrigerators, microwaves, and coffee pots, if not a full kitchen. That's nice because sometimes we are just too tired after a great day of diving to head into town for dinner. Mostly divers stay here so everyone has much in common.

Frankly, we're not used to being so well taken care of....but the next time we return to Cozumel you know where we will be staying.

Thanks, Kay and Greg.

We Stayed From Dec 28th through Jan 4th, 2008. Over All Experience: The hotel just lacked in service and attention to the guests.. There were so many inconveniences that the hotel could really correct to make the experience better.