daclozer:I was there the week before you were and dove for the firt time with the outfitters you dove with. We had 2 guides that were excellent, One was named Fransisco and the other was Chauie. It was our first time diving and my girlfriend was scared to death, Chauie stayed with her the whole time and made sure that she was ok and all was good. I have been snorkeling for years, so I was lovin every second of it. The day we dove was pretty limired vis and some current was running. We were supposed to dive Manzanillo bay, but it was even worse on that day. There was a huge school of yelow butterfies as soon aas we hit the bottom that surrounded us. Tons of big starfish, the biggest arrow crab I have ever seen, and tons of very colorful wrasses and parrots. We snorkeled Las Gatas and hada a great time there also. I was surprised at the variations of wrasses and gobies that were there. There was one silver fish that looked like a cross between a mono and a freshater angel fish. I thought is was a batfish (plataxius tiera), but it was very different up close. He was about 10 feet down, I dove down with the Coolpix 4300 in a housing to get a good close up (he had no fear of me), just as I was about to shoot.... BAM !!! I was attacked by 3 very large seargent majors on my leg, my side and my hand.. They drew blood in all 3 spots. I surfaced , dove again and was attacked again, so I said heck with it.. We are starting our certification classes next week and have trip to Islamorada Florida in August and some where in the Caribbean in late December...
P.S. There is a small PADI dive shop at the marina in Zihuatanejo. There are actually 2 piers in Zeewa, one the mexicans call the fishing pier (the one on the left side of the canal) and the other they call the marina. The dive shop is at the marina..