Trip Report Zihuatenejo
Disclaimers: What we consider good diving might not be what you consider good diving. What we consider good service might not be what you consider good service, etc., etc. Anyone who chooses their vacation destination on what an anonymous couple post on a message board is not too bright do your own research. We are not affiliated with any dive operators, anywhere.
Dates Nov 11-13, 2007
Location Zihuatenejo is on the pacific coast of Mexico, in the state of Guerrero. It is a 3.5 hour drive north of Acapulco. We drove so can not comment on flights. Zihuatenejo is a fishing town that is embracing tourism, including cruise ships. Adjacent to Zihua is Ixtapa, a modern, planned resort town. Like many beach towns on the pacific coast of Mexico, the scenery is stunning, with mountains reaching almost to the ocean. And, as is generally the case throughout Mexico, we found the people to be gracious and easy-going, the food delicious, and the beer cold and cheap!
Climate Hot. Its the end of the rainy season now and its 90+ degrees F everyday. In the evening it gets to the low 70s. Sunny and blue skies everyday we were there.
Accommodations There are rooms to meet every need in Ixtapa Zihuatenejo. We stayed in town (in Zihua) for two nights and close to the beach for two nights. Theres hostels, rooms with shared baths and no AC, basic rooms, bungalows, luxury resorts, you name it.
Dive operator We dived with Thierry, from Carlo Scuba (Carlo Scuba · PADI Diving · Zihuatanejo-Ixtapa, Mexico) and we could not have been happier with the service provided. There are a couple of other dive shops in town but we can not comment on them. Carlo Scuba is located on La Gatas beach an isolated peninsula, accessible only by foot or by boat. They picked us up every morning at the pier, we normally made a quick stop at the dive shop on Las Gatas then went out for two tanks of diving. We dived for three days and Carlo Scuba was always at the pier earlier then they said they would be. At the end of diving, after a rinse of you and your equipment and after a few beers (the first one is on the house at Carlo Scuba a very nice touch), you tell them when you want to be taken back to the pier and they take you. Its only a five minute boat ride! Carlo Scuba uses AL tanks, they give a full fill, and although on the surface a time limit was occasionally mentioned, it was never enforced in the water we dived until we had 700 psi and then made a safety stop and ascended. Diving is conducted from small boats, backroll in, one boat had a ladder the other you utilize the fishbelly flop to get back on the boat.
Diving We did six dives, three days of two dives each. We dived: Los Morros de potosi deep. Los Morros de potosi Caves, Sacramento bajo (one side), caleta del chon, deep Sacramento, Sacramento bajo (the other side). The water was warm (74-78F) but plenty of thermal climes. The visibility ranged from 25-45 feet. The water was generally calm with very little current but some of the sites had substantial surge. We saw eagle rays, jacks, eels, lobster, crabs, stonefish, puffers, large schools of assorted juvenile fish.
A note about diving the pacific coast of Mexico. Its NOT Cozumel. Visibility can be anywhere from 15 feet to 70+ feet. Bad visibility does not (in our opinion) equate to bad diving. We saw plenty on our dives, you just have to focus a little closer. There is not much coral but there is plenty of rocks and rubble for creatures to hide in.
Summary
The good friendly people, good diving, incredible topside vistas, the service provided
The bad poor viz, expect to pay stateside prices for diving,
Would we go back diving at Zihuatenejo absolutely although we want to dive all of Mexico!
Would we dive again with Carlo Scuba absolutely.
YouTube - Eagle Rays
Disclaimers: What we consider good diving might not be what you consider good diving. What we consider good service might not be what you consider good service, etc., etc. Anyone who chooses their vacation destination on what an anonymous couple post on a message board is not too bright do your own research. We are not affiliated with any dive operators, anywhere.
Dates Nov 11-13, 2007
Location Zihuatenejo is on the pacific coast of Mexico, in the state of Guerrero. It is a 3.5 hour drive north of Acapulco. We drove so can not comment on flights. Zihuatenejo is a fishing town that is embracing tourism, including cruise ships. Adjacent to Zihua is Ixtapa, a modern, planned resort town. Like many beach towns on the pacific coast of Mexico, the scenery is stunning, with mountains reaching almost to the ocean. And, as is generally the case throughout Mexico, we found the people to be gracious and easy-going, the food delicious, and the beer cold and cheap!
Climate Hot. Its the end of the rainy season now and its 90+ degrees F everyday. In the evening it gets to the low 70s. Sunny and blue skies everyday we were there.
Accommodations There are rooms to meet every need in Ixtapa Zihuatenejo. We stayed in town (in Zihua) for two nights and close to the beach for two nights. Theres hostels, rooms with shared baths and no AC, basic rooms, bungalows, luxury resorts, you name it.
Dive operator We dived with Thierry, from Carlo Scuba (Carlo Scuba · PADI Diving · Zihuatanejo-Ixtapa, Mexico) and we could not have been happier with the service provided. There are a couple of other dive shops in town but we can not comment on them. Carlo Scuba is located on La Gatas beach an isolated peninsula, accessible only by foot or by boat. They picked us up every morning at the pier, we normally made a quick stop at the dive shop on Las Gatas then went out for two tanks of diving. We dived for three days and Carlo Scuba was always at the pier earlier then they said they would be. At the end of diving, after a rinse of you and your equipment and after a few beers (the first one is on the house at Carlo Scuba a very nice touch), you tell them when you want to be taken back to the pier and they take you. Its only a five minute boat ride! Carlo Scuba uses AL tanks, they give a full fill, and although on the surface a time limit was occasionally mentioned, it was never enforced in the water we dived until we had 700 psi and then made a safety stop and ascended. Diving is conducted from small boats, backroll in, one boat had a ladder the other you utilize the fishbelly flop to get back on the boat.
Diving We did six dives, three days of two dives each. We dived: Los Morros de potosi deep. Los Morros de potosi Caves, Sacramento bajo (one side), caleta del chon, deep Sacramento, Sacramento bajo (the other side). The water was warm (74-78F) but plenty of thermal climes. The visibility ranged from 25-45 feet. The water was generally calm with very little current but some of the sites had substantial surge. We saw eagle rays, jacks, eels, lobster, crabs, stonefish, puffers, large schools of assorted juvenile fish.
A note about diving the pacific coast of Mexico. Its NOT Cozumel. Visibility can be anywhere from 15 feet to 70+ feet. Bad visibility does not (in our opinion) equate to bad diving. We saw plenty on our dives, you just have to focus a little closer. There is not much coral but there is plenty of rocks and rubble for creatures to hide in.
Summary
The good friendly people, good diving, incredible topside vistas, the service provided
The bad poor viz, expect to pay stateside prices for diving,
Would we go back diving at Zihuatenejo absolutely although we want to dive all of Mexico!
Would we dive again with Carlo Scuba absolutely.
YouTube - Eagle Rays
