Going to Puerto Vallarta

[diverdowndh]

It sounds great, I think I'll have to plan another trip down there. I absolutely loved PV, the beaches were incredible. I must have just been down at a bad time for the plankton, but good for the whales and other plankton feeders so I'll have to live with it! I dove Los Arcos but the viz was so poor we all got lost and really didn't get to see much. The plankton really can muck up the water...

 

[leslieinpv]

the water is wonderful in the summer time. nice and warm with good vis.

 

[alam555]

great advice all, just what I needed to make up my mind on going to Mexico (for the first time). I have been all over the world, but having recently moved to the west coast, am finally considering diving in mexico. I have read and heard a lot about food poisoning and stuff. I have two young boys and non diver wife. So am looking for recommendations for places to stay. There seems to be no shortage of deals on packages from Vancouve area to PV. Too many.

can someone provide feedback on any favorite resorts with beach and kids club, with access to dive shop. I am assuming that the places mentioned will pick up from the popular resort.

thanks

 

[rossandmaureen]

First let me echo many of the things said by Maremd50 in her response. Pacific Divers is a good dive operator and I used them in May of this year as well as Local Divers who I felt were outstanding as they are a smaller dive operator who seem willing to go the extra mile. The best diving in Puerto Vallarta tends to be on the outside of Banderas and it is not just the plankton that causes limited visibility. Eight rivers flow into that Bay and, over many years of diving the area, I have never found vis such as you would find on the Caribbean side. That being said, there are some great dive sites such as Isla Marietas, Majahuitas and El Morro, all of which are further out. You will also find the water colder than in the Caribbean and I needed a full suit rather than the shorty that normally is sufficient. (I am used to very cold water at home but use a dry suit here). I have never been a fan of diving at Los Arcos because it tends to be overused and beaten up quite a bit. Its major advantage is that it is close to town.

Picking your hotel/resort might be based on who you choose to dive with. PV has grown to the extent that there are distinct areas that extend way out of town past the airport to Marina Vallarta, Nuevo Vallarta, Bucerias and Punta Mita and you should check and see if your choosen dive operator will pick you up at your hotel. If they don't it adds to your cost (taxi fare) and your dive day with travel time. You can always hook up with the dive concession at your hotel but my experience with hotel based operators is that they tend to be cattle boats with severe time, air and depth limitations. I do believe you get a better dive experience with the dive operators not affiliated with hotels. We stayed out at the Allegro Occidental in Nuevo Vallarta and it was a fairly good property (although it doesn't compare to the Grand Occidentals in Cozumel or Xcaret) and enjoyed it and the very nice beaches. There did seem to be more than enough for children to do and they do have a kid's club. What I did find, however, was that very few dive ops from PV will pick you up and I did have to cab it to the marina until hooking up with Local Divers (I think that is the company) who picked me up just across the way from my hotel at the water taxi location. Regardless of where you end up you will find that the boat rides to the dive sites outside of the bay take quite a while due to the distance.

Enjoy the trip...the diving is very good to excellent. My last dive of the trip was to El Morro and there were enough moray eels in that location to open up a wallet store! Just kidding everyone....leave them alone for divers to see.

 

[68raggtop]

I don't know if you have already done this trip, but I will throw in my $.02. I have dove with Vallarata Adventures (3 different trips), Pacific Scuba (1 trip) and this past November, I dove with Valarta Adventures on one day and with Nacho from puertovallartadivers.com . This is the review I wrote
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/mexico/209797-great-dive-nacho-puerto-vallarta.html
I felt that all of them did good job, all have their strong points and areas for improvement. I think that on any given day, you could get a wonderful DM or a not so wonderful DM. When I dove with Nacho , I KNEW who the DM would be. Next time I go there, I will also know who the DM will be, Nacho or Leslie (leslieinpv)!

 

[The Chad]

I personally think you can't beat the Camino Real, now Dreams located just south of town, even further south is hotel Mismaloya. If your in Nuevo Vallarta the only place I've stayed was Marivale which was all-inclusive and nice if you never wanted to leave the resort

 

[dmhunt]

I recently return from a week in Puerto Vallarta where we had a fantastic time. I had the privilage of spending 3 days in the water with Leslie and Nacho, Local Divers, My Homepage

They went out of their way to make sure I had a great way to ensure I had a great time. I was lucky to have spent two of the three days with Leslie as a personal guide, and we saw all there was to see. Six fantastic dives although one of them was deffenitly challenging with very strong current but even then they made sure we were safe and still had a good dive.

As I'm a newer diver with less than 30 dives at the time and they had had some rough weather just previously, they took us to the spots that were appropriate and still had lots to see. We managed to spend our time enjoying the rays, eels, fish, snakes, dolphines, whales, I held an octopus, etc. It was a trip that I will never forget and I would recomend this team to anyone looking to get the most for their diving dollars in Puerto Vallarta.

To the sceptics, no it is not the Carribean, but I dive the waters off of Vancouver BC Canada and the visability was better than anything we usually get here, and there was tons to see and experience, and thats what its all about anyway, being in the water and enjoying the sights.

Thank you Leslie and Nacho for a trip I will not forget.

David Hunt

 

[adelman]

I would second the "Vallarta Adventures" as an operation to avoid. We dove with them about a year ago (DM: Sabastian Melani) and they were nothing but trouble. The first sign was he didn't want to take us to any divable site on the first day (the better sites were further away and require they burn more gas to get to them). We left some of our equipment with them (BCs and wetsuits) to clean and store, and it came back molested (my wife had two octo holders on her BC; they removed the "extra" one because they figured it didn't belong there; when asked, it was returned immediately). At the end of the trip, they ran our credit cards for more money than the prenegotiated price and it eventually took the concierge at the Four Seasons we were staying at to resolve the issue with the dive folks.

 

[Chocoholic]

I've only stayed a couple places and they were in Nuevo Vallarta. Grand Mayan Palace in Nuevo is awesome; mostly because of the lazy river pool and the wave pool. Since you have two kids they would love having a water park to play at all day. We also stayed at Paradise Village which has nice pools and a good beach to body board at. We stayed at Bahia del Sol too, which is a little timeshare, inexpensive condo with a nice pool and a good beach.
I've used Pacific Scuba and Twin Dolphins and would recommend both. I have also used Vallarta Adventures and would recommend them with one caveat.... know what you are getting into. Vallarta Adventures is a cattle boat with shortened dive times and just ok choices for dive sites BUT if you are taking your family it is fun to be on the same boat where they can snorkle and you can dive and then you can all hang out on a huge boat together. Their boat has a huge deck upstairs, two bathrooms and a little kitchen area as well as an entertainment staff.
I liked the diving in PV but it is a long boat ride to get to the sites, from PV Marina - Los Pienes pier it is 30 minutes to Los Arcos, 1 1/2 hours plus to Las Marietas and longer to El Morro so it is an all day affair. The vis was just ok but there were lots of fish. Not much for soft coral. Lots of puffers, eels and tropicals. In November I dove with just my bathingsuit and was fine, but since there can be jellyfish I would wear a full suit next time. ( in April I needed a 3mm with hood).
Have fun and let us know how it goes. Choco

 

[pvscuba]

If you're not looking for anything fancy and diving is a priority, the Howard Johnson Nautilus hotel is probably your best option. It's the only hotel in Puerto Vallarta that has it's own private dock with the dive boat right there, so no transportation expenses will be needed to go diving.
They offer both all-inclusive and european plan options.
please contact us if you need additional info.
Alex Vega from PVScuba