Hi Jay
I thought I'd use this same thread to ask you a quick question regarding Puerto Vallarta diving. Never dove in West coast of Mexico before. My first trip there. Staying at all inclusive resort which doesn't have any dive shop attached. So any dive operators that are reputable??
Thanks
Art
I dove with Vallarta Adventures in early March 2014. The dive was an option on a tour to Las Caletas which allowed my wife and friends to be on the beach while I did the dive (I joined them after the dive.) It was really a shore dive as we dove from the boat dock. Still went to a depth of 105 ft. and saw some neat stuff. Had not seen balloonfish before (small pufferfish with soft spines.) The visibility was about 15-20 ft. and we stayed down for 54 minutes.
Only did one dive for the following reasons:
- The water was 70 degrees F. I used the 5mm suit and fins of the company. Used my own bc and reg. and didn't lug my
own 3mm on this trip since I knew water would be colder than what I normally dive.
- Limited dIve sites were not a short boat ride but closer to 40-60 minutes away from Nuevo Vallarta. From Puerto
Vallarta, sites are still 20 -60 minutes away.
- Although there was a PADI "dive guy" at our resort, he was geared more toward trying to get people sign up for
lessons and the days they did dive, they only did one dive. Found that several dive ops in Puerto Vallarta tied them
into a tour like I did with Vallarta Adventures.
In a nutshell, I didn't want to spend time in a taxi, going to do one dive that would be shorter than the boat ride to get to the site, in 70 degree water with possibly not the best visibility. Had I had a dive buddy with me on this trip, I may have reconsidered.
Although I can't recommend a dive op (hope someone else can do that for you), try to find one that at least does a two tank dive trip to make it worth the boat ride. If you like the beaches and sightseeing, then definitely do the tour type of trip that you can tie a dive into.
Jon