Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo recommendations?... last two weeks in July.

[castone001]

Our first trip to this area. We are heading down for family vacation. Suggestions on dive shops/locations? Attractions? Sights? Things to "Must Do"?

 

[Asteve]

Interesting, fun place, It has been about 5 years since we have been there. Ixtapa is Gringo Hotel row, with great AI hotels and nice long beach out front. Zihuatanejo is old mexico town and harbor. Two very different places (do both). Taxi were cheap between the two, as always in Mexico ask about price before getting in cab. Lot of good restaurants and fishing. We did not do any diving so no help there.

 

[LizSpinks]

Hi castone001,

Before we were certified, we did a 2nd Discover Scuba with Ixtapa Aqua Paradise in February 2012. I believe they have an office in Zihuatenejo, but we went with them simply because they had a shop at the AI we stayed at, the Barcelo in Ixtapa. There may be better dive ops in the area, but I'm just sharing our experience, where everything went fine with them. Here are some notes, I put in my blog at the time. Hope it helps:

"The two tank dive was from 9am to 1pm. They drove us to Zihuatenejo bay (where their dive boat is moored) and we dove two sites:
Dive 1 was Manzanillo, average depth 38', bottom 45'. 10 lbs, 3mm long suit.
Dive 2 was Caleta del Chon, 40' average, bottom 45'.
About 35 min each. Saw seahorses and a cool pufferfish the guide held gently so we could stroke his back. Don't know if this is a good idea, but we were surprised that it felt rubbery instead of spiky.

The water was very murky at the top with viz of about 3'. We followed a rope down to where the viz cleared to about 20'. We purchased the photos taken during the dive. There was another couple with us, including the wife who was finishing her OW certification, so we watched as she did a few navigation exercises."
​

I don't know about water temp or viz in July. We prefer the Caribbean for clearer water, but it was neat seeing a seahorse and there was a fair bit of sealife: starfish, sponges, rays, eels, puffers, box/cowfish, sgt majors, butterflyfish.

On one non-dive day we went to Zihuatenejo and took a boat taxi to Playa las Gatas and spent an enjoyable afternoon on the beach loungers with service from a water-side restaurant there. I'd recommend that. Take your masks and snorkels, and if you're feeling adventurous, you can swim out to where there is a submerged bronze statue of Christ -El Rey de Reyes. It's over 12' tall.

Enjoy your holiday.