Diving Vallarta

[no1rookie]

My wife and I were in PV from Sept. 1 to Sept. 6. We stayed at the RIU Palace Pacific. We booked our first dive through Scuba Caribe at the resort. Erick Sanchez was Extremely helpful and he booked us with Vallarta Adventures. Our diving excursion took us to Las Caletas where we did 2 dives. Hugo was our DM and he was very professional. This was a private dive for us as there were no other divers, only snorkelers. The only down side to the trip was that it lasted all day. After the dives we sat on the beach for 3 hours and waited for the catamaran to pick us up and while the snorkelers ate at an all-inclusive resaurant.
Our primary purpose for the trip was to dive so we didn't want to spend another 2 days on a party boat. We asked around and found a DM named Ernest Domingez. He does private and group dive trips. We dove with him for 2 days and found him very knowledgable and professional. We highly recommend his services. He has been PADI certified for over 20 years.

Contact him at: alfaro_em@hotmail.com

 

[Chocoholic]

so what did you think of the diving, fish life, vis?

I have dove Puerto Vallarta about 6 times and each time it takes FOREVER to get to the dive sites. I think it was 1 1/2 hours to El Morro and 1 hour to Las Marietas. The closest dive site was Los Arcos - about 30 mins from Las Pienes Pier. It ended up being almost an all day thing each time. I was impressed with the diving, but i wouldn't go there just to dive.

 

[no1rookie]

This was the first time we dove PV. Since the Hurricane played havoc with the vis it was only about 25 ft. The diving iself with Ernesto was great, however there was little or no real plant life below, only crushed coral. Lots of different types of fish. I couldn't believe how many puffer fish there were. But like you I don't think we will go back soon for the diving. And certainly not for the people in PV. Always sticking their hands out for tips. We had been there about 10 times up until 10 years ago. Just found the people to be getting too gready. We prefer the Caribbean.

 

[Scuba Diver Mexico]

Check out the following links from earlier this summer,


Images by Kevin Lee

http://diverkevin.smugmug.com/gallery/8953423_cj2tY#597426133_EofPh

Images by Allison Vitsky

Puerto Vallarta/Bahia des Banderas - Allison's Photos

Images by Alicia Hermosillo

Vallarta julio 2009 - a set on Flickr
Puerto Vallarta highlights - a set on Flickr

Also when you have the chance check out the Puerto Vallarta Dive report thread regularly here at Scuba Board,

Happy diving !!