ECPaul
Contributor
All of my previous trip reports have given generally glowing comments regarding the dive sites and the dive ops, but this will be different (sad to say).
My wife and I accompanied 4 neighbors on a trip to Puerto Vallarta (PV). This was our first time there, and anytime that we are anywhere near warm water, we think diving. This time was no exception, so we checked SB for comments from previous divers who'd enjoyed the warm waters of PV. It appeared that Pacific Scuba (PS) had received several favorable reviews, so we signed up for a couple of days of diving with them.
Somewhat unusually, Pacific Scuba quoted an "all inclusive" price for a standard 2-tank AM dive that included all dive equipment. At first we hesitated at the idea of using rental equipment (we have all our own gear), but the thought of not having to lug everything through the airport was simply too tempting, so we decided to simply bring along regs, octo, dive computers, masks and snorkels. We'd rely on PS to provide the BCD and fins.
First let me say that PV is a gorgeous setting - a huge natural bay and water that was 85 degrees. Great food and good accommodations, all at very reasonable prices. We ate everything and suffered not a lick of the fabled Montezuma's revenge.
Now to the diving.
I should also mention that Linda was one of our 4 fellow travelers who had recently completed all of their PADI O/W classroom and pool work back in our home (Maryland) and was thrilled at the idea of doing her 4 checkout dives in some tropical paradise, so Linda would come along with my wife and I (both certified some years ago) on the same 2 mornings - she'd work with an instructor while we checked out the local dive sites.
So much for plans. Unfortunately my wife was not feeling quite up to par (too many margaritas?) the first day, and so it was just me and Linda out to meet our fellow travelers at the dock. What we ended up with on our boat was a couple on a "resort dive" along with Linda and me. In addition to our 4-some were 3 PS crewmembers:
1 person to drive the boat
1 divemaster to serve as my buddy
1 instructor to serve double duty as Linda's instructor and to take the 2 resort divers on their fun first dive.
Of course, Linda and I were both alarmed about the idea of a single instructor trying to instruct Linda and herd the resort divers, but the instructor told us "no problem". According to Linda this turned out not to be the case, as the resort divers were either sitting on the bottom watching Linda run through her skills, or Linda was doing the best that she could to stay with the "tour" being given to the resort divers by the instructor.
To make matters far worse we were at a dive site very close to the beach called "Los Arcos", and the visibility was terrible, maybe 15' at most. So this made it quite a challenge for the resort divers and for Linda to stay within reasonable range of each other without banging into each other. When we took off from the dock I had made a point to ask which of a number of dive sites we'd be going to, and when they told me "Los Arcos", I questioned them on the choice of this site, as it had been raining the previous day and I was concerned about beach runnoff clouding the water near shore. The boat driver said this would not be a problem - boy was he wrong.
Despite the poor visibility I had a somewhat interesting first dive with my divemaster buddy - notable were a couple of sea snakes (I'd never seen any before), the usual assortment of morays, and a surprisingly large number of well-hidden stonefish - there were so many that I was reluctant to rest a finger anywhere despite some considerable current at depth.
After a reasonable surface interval came the 2nd dive of the morning....
We motored 100 yards to another site and my divemaster buddy and I dropped in first. He told me that we should drop down to the bottom so as to escape the surface current and then we could navigate to a nice coral pinnacle not far away. I followed him to the bottom (about 45' depth) as he suggested, and paralleled him for what seemed like way too long a time, just burning up air while finning across a very nondescript ocean floor with nothing (no coral or fish) to see. After 10 minutes of this I gave him the "where are we going?" signal and he indicated that he was not sure where we were (it turns out he did not have a compass), and he motioned for me to stay put on the bottom while he went up to the top to sneak a peek and get a bearing to the coral pinnacle. That's when the fun began....
Apparently he made a slow ascent to the surface, but forgot about the surface current, such that by the time he had taken a peek, the current had taken him some 50 yards away from me. And since the visibility was no more than 15', he couldn't just look down and find me. So after a couple of minutes he starts looking for me, signaling to me by shaking his noisemaker, and me signaling back with mine. After 12 minutes of both of us taking turns making a lot of noise (this strategy was doomed to failure as you have no sense what direction noise is coming from underwater) he stopped making noise, and I decided he'd given up and so I started making a slow ascent to the surface, including a safety stop. I should mention that this dive was not a complete waste, since a beautiful spotted eagle ray swam right by my as I was hanging out on the bottom waiting for my dive buddy to find me.
When I eventually made it to the surface I saw the dive boat about 150 yards away and signaled to it with my new surface signaling device - you never know when it will come in handy (I could never have yelled that far). Then I noticed my dive buddy about 100 yards away. The boat came to my buddy first and then to me and gave us a tow on a rope to the coral pinnacle - by now I only had about 15 minutes of air left even for this shallow dive site, but that was still enough to see the usual fun macro stuff (cleaner shrimp, blennies, etc.). This was the first time that a paid dive op "buddy" had ever lost me, and he was a bit embarrassed about it.
Day 2 was a bit better, but still problematic in certain respects. This time we went out to a dive site called Las Marietas, which had slightly better viz - maybe 30'. But here again our poor friend Linda had to share her dive instructor with a completely new "resort diver" couple, a practice which I think is completely irresponsible.
This site was far richer in marine life, and the highlight had to be a very cool octopus that we got to watch during our safety stop on our 2nd dive. And on the way out were caught a couple of skipjack tuna on a hand line and the boat skipper turned these into ceviche for us while we were down on our 1st dive - a nice treat.
As to equipment, if you want to dive PV, bring your own - all of it. I was not very happy with the old, outdated Mares BCD and full-foot fins that I got as part of my "all inclusive" package. That's a mistake I won't make again.
And I won't mention the names of any of the PS employees that I dove with, since all of them were really nice guys, and generally competent at their craft.
But the bottom line is this - PV is just not a great dive site, at least compared to the Caribbean locations that I'm used to (I know, some Great Lakes muck diver will tell me I'm spoiled, and I admit I am). So the next time I visit PV I'll just plan on admiring the bay from above water, and enjoying the rest that this location has to offer.
Tortola's next (1st week in December). Now THAT's going to be some good diving.
My wife and I accompanied 4 neighbors on a trip to Puerto Vallarta (PV). This was our first time there, and anytime that we are anywhere near warm water, we think diving. This time was no exception, so we checked SB for comments from previous divers who'd enjoyed the warm waters of PV. It appeared that Pacific Scuba (PS) had received several favorable reviews, so we signed up for a couple of days of diving with them.
Somewhat unusually, Pacific Scuba quoted an "all inclusive" price for a standard 2-tank AM dive that included all dive equipment. At first we hesitated at the idea of using rental equipment (we have all our own gear), but the thought of not having to lug everything through the airport was simply too tempting, so we decided to simply bring along regs, octo, dive computers, masks and snorkels. We'd rely on PS to provide the BCD and fins.
First let me say that PV is a gorgeous setting - a huge natural bay and water that was 85 degrees. Great food and good accommodations, all at very reasonable prices. We ate everything and suffered not a lick of the fabled Montezuma's revenge.
Now to the diving.
I should also mention that Linda was one of our 4 fellow travelers who had recently completed all of their PADI O/W classroom and pool work back in our home (Maryland) and was thrilled at the idea of doing her 4 checkout dives in some tropical paradise, so Linda would come along with my wife and I (both certified some years ago) on the same 2 mornings - she'd work with an instructor while we checked out the local dive sites.
So much for plans. Unfortunately my wife was not feeling quite up to par (too many margaritas?) the first day, and so it was just me and Linda out to meet our fellow travelers at the dock. What we ended up with on our boat was a couple on a "resort dive" along with Linda and me. In addition to our 4-some were 3 PS crewmembers:
1 person to drive the boat
1 divemaster to serve as my buddy
1 instructor to serve double duty as Linda's instructor and to take the 2 resort divers on their fun first dive.
Of course, Linda and I were both alarmed about the idea of a single instructor trying to instruct Linda and herd the resort divers, but the instructor told us "no problem". According to Linda this turned out not to be the case, as the resort divers were either sitting on the bottom watching Linda run through her skills, or Linda was doing the best that she could to stay with the "tour" being given to the resort divers by the instructor.
To make matters far worse we were at a dive site very close to the beach called "Los Arcos", and the visibility was terrible, maybe 15' at most. So this made it quite a challenge for the resort divers and for Linda to stay within reasonable range of each other without banging into each other. When we took off from the dock I had made a point to ask which of a number of dive sites we'd be going to, and when they told me "Los Arcos", I questioned them on the choice of this site, as it had been raining the previous day and I was concerned about beach runnoff clouding the water near shore. The boat driver said this would not be a problem - boy was he wrong.
Despite the poor visibility I had a somewhat interesting first dive with my divemaster buddy - notable were a couple of sea snakes (I'd never seen any before), the usual assortment of morays, and a surprisingly large number of well-hidden stonefish - there were so many that I was reluctant to rest a finger anywhere despite some considerable current at depth.
After a reasonable surface interval came the 2nd dive of the morning....
We motored 100 yards to another site and my divemaster buddy and I dropped in first. He told me that we should drop down to the bottom so as to escape the surface current and then we could navigate to a nice coral pinnacle not far away. I followed him to the bottom (about 45' depth) as he suggested, and paralleled him for what seemed like way too long a time, just burning up air while finning across a very nondescript ocean floor with nothing (no coral or fish) to see. After 10 minutes of this I gave him the "where are we going?" signal and he indicated that he was not sure where we were (it turns out he did not have a compass), and he motioned for me to stay put on the bottom while he went up to the top to sneak a peek and get a bearing to the coral pinnacle. That's when the fun began....
Apparently he made a slow ascent to the surface, but forgot about the surface current, such that by the time he had taken a peek, the current had taken him some 50 yards away from me. And since the visibility was no more than 15', he couldn't just look down and find me. So after a couple of minutes he starts looking for me, signaling to me by shaking his noisemaker, and me signaling back with mine. After 12 minutes of both of us taking turns making a lot of noise (this strategy was doomed to failure as you have no sense what direction noise is coming from underwater) he stopped making noise, and I decided he'd given up and so I started making a slow ascent to the surface, including a safety stop. I should mention that this dive was not a complete waste, since a beautiful spotted eagle ray swam right by my as I was hanging out on the bottom waiting for my dive buddy to find me.
When I eventually made it to the surface I saw the dive boat about 150 yards away and signaled to it with my new surface signaling device - you never know when it will come in handy (I could never have yelled that far). Then I noticed my dive buddy about 100 yards away. The boat came to my buddy first and then to me and gave us a tow on a rope to the coral pinnacle - by now I only had about 15 minutes of air left even for this shallow dive site, but that was still enough to see the usual fun macro stuff (cleaner shrimp, blennies, etc.). This was the first time that a paid dive op "buddy" had ever lost me, and he was a bit embarrassed about it.
Day 2 was a bit better, but still problematic in certain respects. This time we went out to a dive site called Las Marietas, which had slightly better viz - maybe 30'. But here again our poor friend Linda had to share her dive instructor with a completely new "resort diver" couple, a practice which I think is completely irresponsible.
This site was far richer in marine life, and the highlight had to be a very cool octopus that we got to watch during our safety stop on our 2nd dive. And on the way out were caught a couple of skipjack tuna on a hand line and the boat skipper turned these into ceviche for us while we were down on our 1st dive - a nice treat.
As to equipment, if you want to dive PV, bring your own - all of it. I was not very happy with the old, outdated Mares BCD and full-foot fins that I got as part of my "all inclusive" package. That's a mistake I won't make again.
And I won't mention the names of any of the PS employees that I dove with, since all of them were really nice guys, and generally competent at their craft.
But the bottom line is this - PV is just not a great dive site, at least compared to the Caribbean locations that I'm used to (I know, some Great Lakes muck diver will tell me I'm spoiled, and I admit I am). So the next time I visit PV I'll just plan on admiring the bay from above water, and enjoying the rest that this location has to offer.
Tortola's next (1st week in December). Now THAT's going to be some good diving.
you would have read that PV (and the Pacific side of Mexico in general) is not as nice (viz-wise) as Cozumel and Caribean diving, and you would have gone with lower expectations (as I did). In addition, the Pacific side doesn't get the huricanes that the other spots do, and after two disastrous attempts at vacationing in the Cozumel area in 2005 I now schedule my "huricane season" tropical dives in the Pacific.
