Diving in Puerto Vallarta?

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overandunderwater
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Diving in Puerto Vallarta?

Post by overandunderwater »

I'm going on vacation next month and was wondering if anyone has any dive information including could charters there?
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Ken G
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Post by Ken G »

I think Calvin has done some diving in PV. You might want to check with him
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kirbycook
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Post by kirbycook »

Hi Over...

I did a few dives two summers ago in PV. I can't remember the dive site's name, or the charter (Vallerta Adventures or something) - I'll have to dig it out of my logbook. The site was on the south side of the bay... near a famous restaurant once owned by John Huston... shallow dive off of some small islands. Lot's of morays, and so so vis. All in all not the best dives in my log book... but worth it. If you get a chance to do the zip line up in the mountains... that was definately worth it.

Kirby-
Have gear will travel...
overandunderwater
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Post by overandunderwater »

Kind of the sense I'm getting. I'm going there for the sun and friends but since I'm there, I figure, what the heck. Thanks, I'll check into it.
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BASSMAN
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Post by BASSMAN »

An important piece of info is..."Chico's Dive shop" has been banned or blacklisted from any afilliation with PADI due to unsafe diving practices.
If you ask any other dive operation there they will inform you of the same thing.

I dove with Ocean Quest {PADI} I had fun, but the Dives were out of a small Panga boat. The Vallarta Andventures outfit, cost a bit more but they have a nice dive boat/platform and I would go with them if I ever go back to PV.
Water is warm but the vis is hit or miss depending on the water run off.
On any one dive, I think I had about 20 or 30 ft Vis.

The local dive shops keep track of the vis and when/where to dive.
Los Arcos Rock was a nice deep dive!

In PV if you go with the cheapest outfit you might get into some trouble.

Although, the Ocean Quest {Two Germin guys} were fun and safe to dive with, it was no dive charter operation.
Hi, my name is Keith, and I'm a Dive Addict! :supz:
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Joshua Smith
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Post by Joshua Smith »

My very first dive ever was in PV a couple years agao w/ Chico's dive shop- hard to say if it was any good, I was just amazed that I was breathing underwater.....wasn't till much later that I realized how dangerous resort dive "discover scuba" dives were.....anyway, from what I remember about the actual dive, I gotta say, I've had much better dives here. Head up to Sayulita and eat Camerone Tostadas on the beach and do some body surfing instead!
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Joshua Smith
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Post by Joshua Smith »

BASSMAN wrote:An important piece of info is..."Chico's Dive shop" has been banned or blacklisted from any afilliation with PADI due to unsafe diving practices.

I'll be damned. We posted at the same time- I didn't see this before I wrote mine!
I am in no way suprised by this news, however. Our Pool orientation consisted of a stoned teenager showing us how the regulator worked, but not showing us how to purge it, and summing it up by looking me in the eye, and saying: "just, like, totally breathe, dude!"

I swear to god, I'm not making this up.
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BbbleMkr
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Post by BbbleMkr »

Don't discount Puerto Vallarta for diving; there are a couple of dive sites that aren't bad.

I was in Puerto Vallarta a few years ago in April. The water had about the same vis as Cove 2 in Nov/Dec but was 20 degrees warmer. I wore a 5mm wetsuit and was comfortable.

I can't remember what organization I dove with, it was on the main street and they seemed pretty competent. I dove once at Los Arcos, once at Marietas and once at El Morro. Marietas and Los Arcos were relatively nice, easy little dives.

El Morro is a hair raiser. Knowing what I know now, I would not do it again. We took a small boat out for an hour to get out to this pinnacle. Over the side went the 6 of us-two pairs, the dive master and I. We dropped down, following the rock, to around 105ft on Al80s, managing surge and about 20ft of visibility. One pair couldn't do it and went back up to the boat. That left two women and, my buddy, the dive master and I. We got oriented and entered an uptilting cave. (Yep. Here's where I looked around and thought, "S*%@&. I'm in a cave. How did I allow this to happen? How am I going to explain this to my coolaid sipping husband?") Hyper aware, I'm keeping careful track of my dive master, my buoyancy (there was no way I was going to silt myself out in a cave), my air consumption and any/every possible way out of the overhead environment.

It was pretty fricken' awesome though. There were tons of little bright orange fish that made it look like a big fishbowl. There were 3-4 big green morays swimming out in the open. And I loved the closed in feeling of the rocks around me, just loved it. I know better now, I wouldn't go in an overhead environment without more training, but I am looking forward to taking cave training at some point.

After about 25 minutes, we left the cave at around 60ft by squeezing through a small opening that only allowed one diver at a time. We had to take a couple of safety stops (don't know how I managed to avoid deco) in the surge. The two women we were with were tossed none-to-gently into the barnacled rocks a few times, but since I was maintaining a horizontal profile and keeping a consistent space between me and the jutting points, I did just fine. I took it as a compliment when my dive master buddy went over and held hands with the women to keep them from becoming red ribboned. (As an aside, this was supposed to be a dive for experienced divers, but the woman hadn't gone diving for a year and had only about 20 dives apiece.)

Anyway, I enjoyed diving in Puerto Vallarta. Sure, it doesn't hold a candle to Belize, Honduras or Cozumel, but at least it's not Mazatlan. :)

dd
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Post by Diver_C »

The dive shop, BbbleMkr, was Pacific Scuba, http://www.pacificscuba.com.mx/ I thought PV had good vis and great water temps! Delaina's daughter and I had certified up here just before we went to PV. PV was a great time!

Here is a list of dives with brief descriptions (from the brochure, not me):

Beginner Certified Divers
Recommended first-time dive sites:
Marietas Islands - Originally made famous by Jacques Cousteau in the 1970's, the Marietas Islands Marine Reserve has now become one of the most popular areas in Western Mexico for scuba diving.
Las Caletas - The underwater coves, nearby natural reef and diverse array of brilliant sea life make this one of the finest dive sites on the Pacific coast of Mexico.

Experienced, Certified Divers
El Morro - This world-class dive site combines drop-offs, caves and arches with a great variety of marine life; mantas, large schooling fish, turtles and dolphins.
Los Arcos - The wall dive, the "Devil's Drop" and the fascinating underwater mountain range "El Bajo" combined with a rich variety of marine life make this a magical dive experience you'll never
forget!
Corbetena - This great dive site offers caves, arches, steep walls, and a large variety of marine life: mantas, turtles, sharks and dolphins. Guides and PADI certified dive masters are ready to take you on the diving experience of a lifetime!
Last edited by Diver_C on Sat Jan 12, 2008 9:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
jjhuff
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Post by jjhuff »

BASSMAN wrote:An important piece of info is..."Chico's Dive shop" has been banned or blacklisted from any afilliation with PADI due to unsafe diving practices.
Oh, great info...since I'm going to be there next month too!
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BASSMAN
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Post by BASSMAN »

Nailer99 wrote:
BASSMAN wrote:An important piece of info is..."Chico's Dive shop" has been banned or blacklisted from any afilliation with PADI due to unsafe diving practices.

I'll be damned. We posted at the same time- I didn't see this before I wrote mine!
I am in no way suprised by this news, however. Our Pool orientation consisted of a stoned teenager showing us how the regulator worked, but not showing us how to purge it, and summing it up by looking me in the eye, and saying: "just, like, totally breathe, dude!"

I swear to god, I'm not making this up.
:laughing3:

That sounds about right!

But Yes, there is some compitent Dive Outfits there!

Just stay away from "Chico's".

I dove: Marietas Islands and Los Arcos - The wall dive, the "Devil's Drop"

We were on Alum 80's with swim shorts and a t-shirt. Max depth of the dive was about 70'. at the Devil's Drop . But it was a definite Abyss below us. Lots of fun!

I hope to go back some day.
Hi, my name is Keith, and I'm a Dive Addict! :supz:
overandunderwater
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Post by overandunderwater »

Thank you everyone as knowing whom to avoid might be worth more than anything. If anyone is interested I'll post my review mid Feb. Since my expectations are low I should have a good time.
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spatman
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Post by spatman »

BbbleMkr wrote: I took it as a compliment when my dive master buddy went over and held hands with the women to keep them from becoming red ribboned. (As an aside, this was supposed to be a dive for experienced divers, but the woman hadn't gone diving for a year and had only about 20 dives apiece.)
what does "red-ribboned" mean?
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BbbleMkr
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Post by BbbleMkr »

Have you ever seen non-wetsuited, poor buoyancy'd divers come up after losing a fight with barnacle covered rocks? Or worse, fire coral? The scrapes make them look like they're wearing red-ribbons.

dd
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spatman
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Post by spatman »

BbbleMkr wrote:Have you ever seen non-wetsuited, poor buoyancy'd divers come up after losing a fight with barnacle covered rocks? Or worse, fire coral? The scrapes make them look like they're wearing red-ribbons.

dd

lol! never heard that expression before, but it is very appropriate!
overandunderwater
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Post by overandunderwater »

Red ribbons, LOL. Poor guys. I'll pack my lycra skin from my scuba days, sounds likt it'll come in handy.
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