Puerto Madryn

[Wbwilly]

What's the best way to travel to Puerto Madryn ? Is the diving as good as advertised ?

 

[Matias Vidal]

What's the best way to travel to Puerto Madryn ? Is the diving as good as advertised ?

Im from Argentina, having been there a couple of times I can tell you that is quite a good place to dive. The whales are fantastics, the water visibility is >20m most of the time but quite cold (dry suit preffered). There are lots of dive shops to select, one live aboard and lots of places to go in boths gulfs (San Jose and Golfo Nuevo). You can get Nitrox and even trimix, all quite cheap now.
The best spots are in a near city called "Puerto Piramides" but you should better make all arangements in Madryn. Look in the urls below for photos.

To get there you can get a plane from Buenos Aires to Trelew and a bus to Pto Madryn with Aerolineas Argentinas. I think LAN Argentina flights directly to Madryn.

Now, this is cold water diving, no great reef colors, no caribean visibility don' t get me wrong, I love the place but all depends where are you used to dive and your preferences.

Perhaps a more challenging place is Ushuaia, where you can dive near the Antartic (I have not been there but in my dive club they told me that the place is fantastic), the point Im trying to make is that I do not think flying from Tenesse to Madryn worth it, you leave to much in the midle (Brasil is great, Galapagos, Costar Rica). If you want to get wet while working here, Madryn is one of the best options, but maybe Ushuaia is a better one (provided that you have the time to fly almost 3500 km from Buenos Aires).
Im a little biased... I would kill to go to Ushuaia my works now sends me to Houston TX for a couple of weeks and I will take revenge in "Flower Gardens".

Fell free to PM me in case of questions.

Some URLs:
Madryn Dive shops
http://www.abramarbuceo.com.ar/
http://www.lobolarsen.com/
http://www.madrynbuceo.com/

Golf Azul live Aborad
http://www.pinosub.com/golfo/

Ushuaia Diving
http://www.tierradelfuego.org.ar/divers/

Dive Club/Shop in Buenos Aires
http://www.buceo.com.ar

/Matias

 

[Mucksavage]

I didn't think the diving was great there nor the set up. There was not a great deal to see. I went with Golfo Azul, link in above post. It cost a fraction more but you got to go out in a Catamaran instead of a tub with a putt putt engine.

Also they did do a special trip to a colony of Los Lobos - sealions which was a great dive. The colony was about 30 strong and very, very curious.

It was not whale season when I was there so that was a pity although I did hear you can dive with whales although you are not supposed to. A moral choice to be considered!