Puerto Vallarta diving operators

[GARYWSHORT]

I will be in Puerto Vallarta for 1 day during a cruise ship port call on Wed, Jan 7th, 8am-10pm. I am interested in 3-4 dives that day. I am an expert (always learning mentality) diver and my son is an intermediate. I need recommendations on dive operators/shop and destinations for the day. Any thoughts, opinions, and recommendations would be helpful. Thanks

 

[AintTelin]

Hey there, Im in the same boat you are but im going in feb. I looked in frommers travel book and it listed these 4 dive shops. Im doing my research on them right now and the vallarta adventures is the one that is booked through the ship. I contacted them and found out they get fully booked up by NCL so if you want to dive with them you must do it threw the ship. I read somewhere as well that boat carries about a 100 people as chico's and the smaller ones are like 5 to 8 it seems like. I will add the email as well that i got back from Chico's relating to diving that time of year.

It wont let me post any URL's actually so email me at ainttelin@aol.com and I will give you all the details I have.

 

[h2ovideo]

Hate to add negative comments regarding ANY dive sites, but my diving experience in PV was not great. My husband and I actually drove to an area that was recommended by the local dive store, and hired some fisherman to take us to the "prime" spot. Although it was OK, it was far from a great and memorable dive. Mostly sand. Not much terrain and not much sealife. You might consider doing only 2 dives. Not much really interesting in PV, lots of sand, and if you do the stuff through the cruise ship, it is filled with snorkelers and tons of people that will scare everything off within 50 miles.......at least a smaller operator, you would have a leisurely dive.

 

[bpawlows]

... Not much really interesting in PV...

I guess everything is relative. I've only been diving twice in PV, but plan to do so again when we vacation there in January. Depending on what you're used to, Banderas Bay may be a different experience. The water is cooler than the Carribean, but not as cold as Minnesota lakes ten months of the year. And it's green, not blue, again more like a lake than than your pristine sea. Visibility isn't unlimited, and thanks to nutrient-rich water krill tends to be everywhere, making UW photography challenging. The dive operators may not all have brand-new rental gear, but so far I've found them to be friendly, careful and attentive. (I tend to prefer small, informal operators) Marine life seems to be abundant in the Bay. There are dive sites with rugged, interesting rock formations. It's not all just bare sand. At the Pinnacles we saw more Porcupine fish, angels, morays and scorpion fish than I've ever seen anywhere in one place. Also plenty of macro subjects like nudibranchs, arrow crabs, scallops, starfish, lobster and small sponges. It's a place to go slow, as lots of the creatures are camoflaged. Gee, I'm getting excited to get back there just thinking about it!

 

[pvscuba]

Hate to add negative comments regarding ANY dive sites, but my diving experience in PV was not great. My husband and I actually drove to an area that was recommended by the local dive store, and hired some fisherman to take us to the "prime" spot. Although it was OK, it was far from a great and memorable dive. Mostly sand. Not much terrain and not much sealife. You might consider doing only 2 dives. Not much really interesting in PV, lots of sand, and if you do the stuff through the cruise ship, it is filled with snorkelers and tons of people that will scare everything off within 50 miles.......at least a smaller operator, you would have a leisurely dive.

May I suggest that next time you hire a local diving guide to take you to diving. The fishermen you hired probably put you on the sand bars right next to one of the reefs.

cheers

Alex from PVScuba

 

[dataquatics]

Hi to all,

I was in P.V. last month for a day stop on NCL cruise. I dove with Vallarta Undersea (you can find "otegui" on this forum) and had a blast. Good dive conditions, plenty of sea-life, and great people to dive with. Best of all, including myself, the DM and the captain there were only 7 of us on the dive boat. I completed 2 PADI specialties on the dives I did (deep & multi-level) and had my cert cards waiting for me when I got back here to Australia 2 weeks later.
I can't comment on any of the other operators in P.V. but can strongly recommend this operator.
Just my 2 cents worth.

Cheers,

Greg
AUSTRALIA

 

[laurelrn92]

Hi We were in Vallarta last week (12/24 - 12/31) and really wanted to go diving. We had read some really negative postings regarding diving in Vallarta. Frankly we didn't like what we read, and decided to "see for ourselves". Well, we were definitely disappointed. We dove with Vallartech a.k.a twin dolphins or delfines gemoles. WE DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS DIVE CENTER AT ALL!!! We did 2 dives - one at Los Arcos and one at Majaritas (sp??) the visibility was poor, the equipment we rented through Vallartech was even worse. Previously we had dived several spots in Hawaii and in San Carlos, Mexico. Puerto Vallarta was very disappointing by comparison.
Good Luck.

 

[Capt Mo]

I just got back from diving Puerto Vallarta and I have this to say of my experience. I came to SB first and got several referenced of shops that were not cattle boats. I contacted all of them via email starting a month before leaving. Forget that, replies were either cut and past what they offer or they did not know and depending on how many people they have signed up for that day. I also learned that certain boats go to certain places during the week so if you want to go to Los Arcos on Tuesday and Majaritas on Thursday for example you have to go the Chico's (Just an example).

I really wanted to do some tech diving, Vallartech is the only game in town and they are the worse to respond to questions by either phone or email. Forget preplanning a Trimix dive, the planets will have to align and national debt zeroed.

So I resigned myself to fish diving on a cattle boat and have to say the crew of Vallarta Adventures were a really good crew. I had brought all my own equipment so I was not hindered like the other divers having to fit in what equipment was available.

PV is destination dive area if you like fish counting but definitely not a tech site.

One very interesting thing was a pod of 30 dolphins that swam by when we were leaving the dive site.

 

[Scuba Diver Mexico]

For those of you diving in the Bay of Banderas or Puerto Vallarta year round but even more so in the cold water low viz months, check out some pictures of small animals you can find in the Flickr web site under for example; chromodoris marislae

It is very interesting stuff, even more so for f UW photography

There is a bunch of stuff to see there !!

 

[maremd50]

After reading the posts, I'm counting my blessings that I know the operators and divemasters that I do in PV. I got certified a little over a year ago in PV and have been there twice since then. I'm returning again in two weeks. I've found that the coral is not as brightly colored or as varied as in the Caribbean or the Keys, but I've found that the variety of sea life is incredible and even better than in places I've dove in the Caribbean or the Keys. To my knowledge, there are not the wreck dives - in fact, none that I know of. But I am always impressed with the sea life and rock formations. I always go with small ops - not cattle boats. Pacific Scuba was great, but they have had a changeover of personnel. The guys (and girl) I used to dive with at Pacific Scuba have gone on to do their own thing. Their op is called La Ola Ocean Adventures - and I know they have all brand new equipment. Donna and Alex are great - they know the area very well and I have not been disappointed. Check out their website. Safe diving!