Pacific Mexico

[ticokitty]

I will be visiting my friends in Guadalajara for the month of July and traveling around that coastal area of Mexico. I know it is rainy season as I lived in Costa Rica on the same cost last year. I understand that some of the rains affect viz... My question is, where is the best diving. I have read that the area around Manzania, due to its small waves and rocky shore, are very good. I would like suggestions as to dive ops and sites if any of you folks have been there. I will be in the country for a month and will be with locals. I have a lot of experience in latin hostel travel and am not opposed to riding buses. I will have a house to keep my stuff at. ???

Puede ayudarme?

[WaterWayne]

Here's a thread about Manzanillo:
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=34654&highlight=manzanillo

It's about three hrs by bus from GDL.

Farther south, Huatulco supposedly has the best diving on the Mexican Pacific coast. If you can make it down to Huatulco in the first week of July, I'm looking for dive buddies that week to flesh out minimum excursions. I'm set for the standard, two-tank dive days, but want to dive nights, third tanks in the afternoons, and a couple of area excursions. The Huatulco op just needs two for a minimum.

In GDL, I'm sure your friends will take you to the Tlaquepaque neighborhood (pronounced just like it's spelled), and perhaps the Restaurante Sin Nombre (Restaurant With No Name.) That's my favorite stop in all of Mexico, and I visit quite a bit.

Seria un placer.

[pablovi]

You can dive Puerto Vallarta too, it's about a 4 hour drive from Guadalajara city. You can do a search on Puerto Vallarta, alot of people here have dived there.

[ckofabq]

Ixtapa/Ziuhantao doesn't suck. Carlo Scuba- great op.

[pitah]

Hi. Im from Guadalajara actually. When you there, please contact "betotas" he runs a dive facility in Guadalajara called Oceanos and he has several week end dive trips to puerto vallarta, manzanillo, tenacatita, faro de bucerias, chamela (pacific ocean) or maybe some lake dives : santa maria del oro, la media luna.... among others. some of these places are only small villages with basic acomodation and no scuba stores, so will be better to carry all your stuff if you want to get there. viz conditions change constantly but in general the early the dive, the better viz...

all this sites are more or less 4 hours far from Guadalajara. Maybe you can join him for one trip or get detailed information about how to get there....

here is betotas e mail and website info@oceanos.com.mx www.oceanos.com.mx

good luck.

[caroayala]

I'm going to Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo... undecided between Aqua Paradise and Carlo... Actually Carlo hasn't been as responsive as the other place and they are the only 2 diveshops I found in the area... any comments?

[scubamex]

I suggest you go to www.divemanzanillo.com for diving info about Manzanillo, only 3 hours from GDL.

[ticokitty]

I'm in Mexico now, in Hueltulco. We did a few days of diving and my boyfriend did his OW course. I was not impressed with the service here, especially our dive master who was on his own dive. Luckily I was buddied up with a person with solid skills and we ended up helping the couple who were bobbing up and down and having trouble. We ended up basically working. We kept looking at eachother and shrugging because we had no idea where the dive master had gone.

The third day my boyfriend was my buddy and the fellow I had dove with the previous day buddied up with a woman who had not been in the water in well over a year or so. He showed her how to put on her equipment and helped her a great deal. Once again our dive master was no where to be found when we hit the water. I kept my boyfriend close and kept an eye on the woman who was struggling a great deal. We tried to keep up with the dive master who was swimming very quickly, which I find incredibly annoying. I found an octopus and was trying to observe it but my boyfriend was getting nervous because the dive master had split.

When we got to the surface I politely told the DM to slow down. (we had discussed this the day before because we lost him repeatedly) He blew it off.

The second dive of that day I saw him only twice, which would not have been a problem if I hadn't had to help the woman repeatedly. She was bobbing to the surface near rocks and waves and was very nervous.

As the DM was a student of the dive shop I don't know if they are aware. He is young and I am hoping will learn. Very nice folks, just very poorly run dives. If I had not felt secure in my own abilities I think I would have been very nervous. Ultimately I was just a bit annoyed. I felt like I was working, which isn't a bad thing but not great when you are paying $70.

We are heading to Puerto Angel and Puerto Escondido to try the diving there. Hoping that it is better. If we have a DM in the water, I want him/her to be with the less experienced clients so that I don't have to constantly keep my eye on them as well as my buddy. (Especially considering my buddy is now my boyfriend who is not an experienced diver.) I'm hoping he enjoys this next bit of our trip. Otherwise I may have trouble convincing him to do another dive vacation

[scubamex]

Hi, Susan again, and I just wanted to say one more thing. If the person who took you diving really is an instructor or divemaster, you have recourse by filing a complaint againt him or her with the orgainization he is a member of. You can help us make diving safer and better by being a responsible diver and reporting rule violations.

[erichK]

I'm in Mexico now, in Hueltulco. We did a few days of diving and my boyfriend did his OW course. I was not impressed with the service here, especially our dive master who was on his own dive. Luckily I was buddied up with a person with solid skills and we ended up helping the couple who were bobbing up and down and having trouble. We ended up basically working. We kept looking at eachother and shrugging because we had no idea where the dive master had gone.

The third day my boyfriend was my buddy and the fellow I had dove with the previous day buddied up with a woman who had not been in the water in well over a year or so. He showed her how to put on her equipment and helped her a great deal. Once again our dive master was no where to be found when we hit the water. I kept my boyfriend close and kept an eye on the woman who was struggling a great deal. We tried to keep up with the dive master who was swimming very quickly, which I find incredibly annoying. I found an octopus and was trying to observe it but my boyfriend was getting nervous because the dive master had split.

When we got to the surface I politely told the DM to slow down. (we had discussed this the day before because we lost him repeatedly) He blew it off.

The second dive of that day I saw him only twice, which would not have been a problem if I hadn't had to help the woman repeatedly. She was bobbing to the surface near rocks and waves and was very nervous.

As the DM was a student of the dive shop I don't know if they are aware. He is young and I am hoping will learn. Very nice folks, just very poorly run dives. If I had not felt secure in my own abilities I think I would have been very nervous. Ultimately I was just a bit annoyed. I felt like I was working, which isn't a bad thing but not great when you are paying $70.

We are heading to Puerto Angel and Puerto Escondido to try the diving there. Hoping that it is better. If we have a DM in the water, I want him/her to be with the less experienced clients so that I don't have to constantly keep my eye on them as well as my buddy. (Especially considering my buddy is now my boyfriend who is not an experienced diver.) I'm hoping he enjoys this next bit of our trip. Otherwise I may have trouble convincing him to do another dive vacation
Which dive shop were you with? We will be diving in Huatulco in February and want to avoid such operations at all costs!

[jay freeman]

I'm going to Huatulco and DON'T want to use shop u had this problem with... can you tell me who to avoid?

[leslieinpv]

hi, puerto vallarta is close to guad. and offers great diving in july. the water is warm and the visibility is good to usually more than 45 feet in july. the rain actually helps the water get clear, and usually only the runoff from the rivers only effects the first 5 feet. i have seen a whale shark in july in vallarta.

[great-bear]

I have been diving in Huatulco in 05 and 06. In Santa Cruz there is a dive shop called Hurricane Divers. Roberto, the boss, and Nata, the head dive master are professional and thorough. Some dives are better than others, needless to say, and sometimes the first time out they are more cautious because they are trying to assess their customers' skill and comfort levels. There are others there that I wouldn't trust for a lift into town let alone to organize a safe day diving. Lots of things to see both on the dive (seahorses, black coral, rays, lots of fish) and the way to the dive site (whales, dolphins, turtles, rays). They have a website hurricanedivers.com and there is a Huatulco website www.tomzap.com that should help your search. Good luck!