Puerta Vallarta dive op ?

[lerry]

Hi! Norma
I lived 5 years in Puerto Vallarta and as Divemaster, did some 100’s of dives all over the sites in-and-out the Bay. What Rick wrote is true but there is also some excellent diving during the winter, only that the conditions are more radical and you may get lower conditions like colder, rougher Ocean and less visibility. On the other hand there are more Giant Mantas, see the Humpback Whales and more nudibranchs and invertebrates. Diving during full moon period is the riskier time (4 days before to after). The quality difference between the dive operators may change with the quantity of people they take out. One takes down the certified and beginners together. That deprives the certified from going deeper and more challenging areas. You are also part of a partying group that has no regards for the divers. It’s an extra service to fill the boat (Vallarta Adventure). The other big operator (Chicos) is more like fast food. Carry as many as possible and disregard diving rules and safety procedures. Ex. Maintenance of the equipment, quality of air, up to 10 divers to dive master. It has lost its PADI membership. Although it still advertise its 5 Star IDC. Those two also give resort courses with personnel that are not even certified divers.
Two operators (Pacific Scuba and Twin Dolphins) are doing their best to cater to divers the way it should be: small groups, active-renewed certified Divemasters, equipment control, schedule adapted, to the divers experience and ability. Not big on advertising or volume of people. Relies more on word-of-mouth and Internet referrals.
Two more are Hotel Resorts (Ocean Quest and Mismaloya Divers (not dive shops) and are limited to what they will offer you as dive sites or how they will shorten the dives and service to lower the price. You may have to find to go a long way to where you will be boarding your boat.(They don´t own a boat)
If you are a real diver just be careful on how you will pick your dive operator. You should know what to ask and know the right answers. The list of the current operators is on PADI’s web site.
.
Lerry

 

[erubic]

Here is the link again to the padi webpage

Puerto Vallarta dive shops


Lerry how long ago did you live in P.V. and what dive outfit was your employer? Maybe I have met you.

 

[lerry]

Hi! Eric
I was in Vallarta from 1996 to 2001. I worked in the Real Estate in Marina Vallarta. After September 11, business was too scares and I left. I never worked as Divemaster. Although, I was one and spent most of my time-off diving. So, I tried all the dive shops, some are now gone. Being in timeshare at times, we got some courtesy with Chico’s and Vallarta Adventure. It was free, so how cares! It was a free ride out. For the rest, definitely not my style of diving. Consistency and ethics are questionable at best. Smaller dive shops can cater to your needs and dive profile. Over the years I have made friends with Divemasters and Instructors, in Vallarta: Ray, Eldi, Rick, Robert, Javier …. I keep in touch with these guys and they tell me what’s up in Vallarta. I also worked with Ray at Diver Dan’s in Santa Clara, California.(5 stars IDC, 3 course director on staff, (now CDC) a real University of diving) Dive shops have a hard time keeping good Divemasters and the bigger the operation, the harder it is. I know what my friends ethics and standards are and trust them more then anybody else. Now, there may be others and new ones but R,E,R,R,J are there, so why waste time. Vallarta suffers from an inversion of dive tourism. When the time is not at its best, is when most tourism comes to Vallarta. Rick Inman just went at the right time. He was not expecting much by all the comments he read on the Internet and he was amazingly surprised. Ray wrote to me last week and mentioned that an Underwater Photographer (San Jose, Ca) and a lecturer from an Aquarium (around L.A, Ca) came some weeks or a month ago and they where more then amazingly surprised of their discoveries. (Just like Rick) I wish these people would contribute more in posting their dive experience in Vallarta. I also had the privilege of hooking up (dive buddy!) with a Mexican Lady, Marine Biologist (Alicia) witch has made an incredible study of macro marine life of the Bay of Banderas. She just has the best Nudabranch and invertebrates picture collection (100’s) that I ever seen. She cannot post then on the Internet because they are copyright protected and property from the University of Guadalajara, for witch she is working and doing the research. But a print of some of her pictures can be seen in one of the dive shop in Vallarta.
I do not usually have time to read or post comments on the boards, they usually irritate me from the lack of knowledge and questions that I read. Answering them would be a full time job. Experienced or Good divers usually know what to ask for and should easily identify witch dive operator will be adequate for their skills and ethics. New divers should get recommendations or help from their local Instructor or dive Shop (if they can) or as to what to ask for, in their information inquiry and the answers they should get.
I do not favor anyone dive shop, but the persons that I know and trust wherever they work.
Your dive Buddy or Divemasters, Ethics and knowledge, are what is going to make a world of a difference to your dive experience. Not the shop, not the boat, not the price.
To some, Dive Shops are a business. Some! Just enjoy being IN the business.
What you should talk about is what you have seen, discovered, experienced.
May be we crossed path in Vallarta. Where you Divemaster for a shop?
How did you come up with Ocean Quest and Chico’s as your recommendation?
Very strange combination!
These letters just burn me off. This is the weekend.
O.K. I think that I need to go dive now! And relax!
See you later
Lerry

 

[yasushi]

We will also be in Puerto Vallarta next March (2004) for one week from 14th to 21st. I have no intension to hijack this thread, rather would like to know more about the dive sites, seasonal change (water/air temp, visibility, wave, current), business practice etc over there.

I contacted two dive shops as recommended here, twin dolphins and pacific, and am waiting for their reply. We have all gear except weights and tanks. It seems they do not give us any discount for bringing own gear. I do not mind it, if it is not possible. Anyway, I have questions.

Q1. I would like to know if there is any discount for multi-dive package. Eric mentioned he got one, but I would like to know how much discount usually a diver can get from the package. We are thinking about 4-day package (8 dives). Is it possible fpr someone to post a rough discount range (or %)? We have only three divers, but would like to visit in Corbetena, El Morro, and Matietas.

Q2. I would like to know if I should bring 7mm wetsuit or 3mm works in March. We just came back from Bonaire, but we got cold after each 60min dive with 3mm wetsuit. Water temp was min 85F at the bottom, but it still made us chilly at the end of each dive.

Q3. We cannot change our schedule, but would like to know how bad visibility would be. Should I expect 40 feet or less?

Q4. Could you recommend any other dive sites good in March besides those three?

Q5. There are many interesting words like mantas, sharks, whales etc found in some websites like scuba adventure, but I would like to know what kind of sea creatures can be actually seen (low/high probability is fine to me) in March time frame. If I have 8 dives, I would like to see one of those at least. Is it too much to expect?

Q6. How about a condition of coral reef? Is it colorful and healthy, or very dark like rock/damaged badly?

Q7. How much tip we should give in PV? $5/day/person is too much or too little? Or no need for tip?

Thanks in advance for your feedback,

 

[lerry]

Hi! Yasushi
Thank you for your information request. I will be happy to help you
the best I can. I hope these answers will be helpful.

Q1. I would like to know if there is any discount for multi-dive package. Eric
mentioned he got one, but I would like to know how much discount usually a diver
can get from the package. We are thinking about 4-day package (8 dives). Is it
possible for someone to post a rough discount range (or %)? We have only three
divers, but would like to visit in Corbetena, El Morro, and Matietas.
I am not in the dive sales business for them. So you will have to compare
what they will give you as a discount.
The discount % is not what matters. The final price with what options, are.

Q2. I would like to know if I should bring 7mm wetsuit or 3mm works in March.
We just came back from Bonaire, but we got cold after each 60min dive with 3mm
wetsuit. Water temp was min 85F at the bottom, but it still made us chilly at
the end of each dive.
Yes, your 7mm would be more adequate for that time of the year. The water may be
down to 65°. They will supply more if you need it.

Q3. We cannot change our schedule, but would like to know how bad visibility
would be. Should I expect 40 feet or less?
Sorry can’t tell you what it will be. Those guys can give you a more accurate visibility
conditions some days before.

Q4. Could you recommend any other dive sites good in March besides those three?
It is all depending of the sea conditions. They will change location if it is really
not possible to dive at any of those sites. There are 10’s more places and dive sites
available all around Los Arcos, Marietas and the south shore.
Those are just the most popular names.

Q5. There are many interesting words like mantas, sharks, whales etc found in
some websites like scuba adventure, but I would like to know what kind of sea
creatures can be actually seen (low/high probability is fine to me) in March
time frame. If I have 8 dives, I would like to see one of those at least. Is it
too much to expect?
Yes, it is all there. But will you be when they will?
You will be down about 2 x 50 minutes of the entire day! What is your probability?

Q6. How about a condition of coral reef? Is it colorful and healthy, or very
dark like rock/damaged badly?
The Pacific is a different coral then the Caribbean’s. You can investigate more
with books on the Sea of Cortez.

Q7. How much tip we should give in PV? $5/day/person is too much or too little?
Or no need for tip? If you are happy with the service and want to keep the staff
to give more of the same? It will be very appreciated. Most Divemasters make the major
part of their revenues on tips.$5 will be fine.
Lerry

 

[pitah]

hey... i do seriosly recomend vallartech at puerto vallarta. for serious advanced divers. please see this message i just wrote. i have hear nice comments form pacific scuba too. chicos, i have never dive with them, but i have see them underwater, please try to avoid that shop....

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?p=478092#post478092

and for a really nice view of the bay, from the top of one mountain, go to have dinner at las carmelitas.... also "el brujo" is really nice small restaurant.

happy dives.... diana

 

[Ron Brandt]

The two threads currently going on abut PV have caught my interest.

I have never really heard anything good about diving in PV.

I have ,however heard LOTS of good things about PV itself.

How good is the vis really? What about "advanced dive sites" like Coz has.

I know lots of people that head to PV every year and right now it is one of two direct flights to Mexico form my city on a regular basis. There are some really good deals.The people I know do not dive and for that matter really even snorkel enough to give me any info.

My budget for this year was spent in Coz at christmas but would like to try out PV diving at some point as a viable option to Coz.

Pm me or post publicly

Thanks
Ron

 

[Norma]

We went diving with Pacific Scuba and had a good experience. We found them personal and reasonable. A 3 day 2 tank package was 185.00 with additional 2 tank dives at 50.00 and because one of the dive folk lived across of our hotel, he picked us up each morning and drove us to the Marina. The bus fare was cheap to return (about $.40) each or taxis were available.
The water temp at surface was 76 and at depth (Jan 2-9) was 70. I wore a 6 mill 2 piece outfit and could have used a hood and hot soup after the 2nd dive. My daughter was given a 5 mill shortie to wear over her 3 mill jump suit which seemed to be adequate for her after a few other experiments. The wet suits were offered at no extra charge.
We brought our own equipment which was rinsed and kept by Pacific Scuba for the next day of diving. We took our own wet suits back to the hotel to dry on our patio.
Lunch was provided and for those of us who don't eat ham, we were given fish sandwiches. Containers of sliced onions, tomatoes, jalopena peppers and cucumbers were available to add to the sandwiches.
We were allowed to dive as long as we wanted which was almost always less than our dive computers permitted since we became chilly in the water despite the wet suits especially on the second dive. We 2 plus one other diver were never rushed and we dove in a small group separate from the newly certified divers. (We spent maybe 1 hr first dive and 45 minutes second dive on average). Each group had its own dive master.
Our daughter had one of those splendid life time experiences while diving. On dive 1, a giant Manta Ray looked at us. At SIT time daughter started snorkeling toward the "Love Beach". Giant Manta came cruising under her. He disappeared after we jumped in to see him. On Dive 2, the Manta appeared motionless and daughter zoomed over and attached herself onto him for a gentle ride. We were so fortunate that our Dive Master Leslie had a digital camera and took pictures which we can email upon request. The Manta wouldn't let me touch him but gently swam just out of reach from me with daughter on his back. My oh my, he was large.
On another day the 3 of us divers with 1 dive master (total 4) were staring at a black and white eel totally out of his crevice. We turned around and there was a smaller Manta staring at us about 5 feet away as if to see what was so intriguing. She wouldn't let us touch her.
Puerto Vallarta is not the Caribbean. We saw lots of Angels, Puffers, Trumpet Fish, Snappers, eels, Bat Rays, Sting Rays etc but no coral to speak of. We saw lots of Humpbacks to and from the Dive sites and Dolphins from our hotel restaurant at breakfast.
All in all it was a fun experience. As an aside, my battery needs to be replaced in a 1st generation UWATEC and they want 100.00 just to do that which means I probably will be in the market for a new dive computer since a wrist one can be had for 150-175.00
Norma

 

[BrianM]

Hi All,

I just got back last night from PV and I had a great time and did some really nice dives. I took the advice from earlier posts and dove with Pacific Scuba the day after we arrived. I figured I would try them out and call a few other shops just in case..... well, after the first dive there was no reason to check out the other shops!!!

Pacific Scuba is a very small outfit with one boat and 2 divemasters. The boat is a small ponga with a canopy that seats about 10 people. They provided wetsuits for the people who didn't have one or those who brought shorties, since the water was in the low 70's on the surface. We met at the Las Peines Marina at 8:30 and set out for El Morro. I was pleased to find both of the divemasters are friendly, knowledgable and have a great sense of humor so it was like diving with old friends. Since you usually get held up by the divers with the least experience, they split into two groups, the more advanced divers with one DM and the less experienced with the other. This worked out great as I was able to dive the tunnels at Morro without being forced into a beginner dive. I had my own lights but I surprised to see they had plenty of lights available to anyone who needed one.

I ended up doing 11 dives with them during the trip. I even got to do a night dive at los Arcos where we saw at least 6 lobsters and lots of other neat night-life stuff. Then we did the same dive the next morning to see the difference the day light makes.

One of the Divemasters had a camera and took some pictures of us and she is going to send them to me. Another lady had a camera and took a few shots of me holding an octopus (or it holding me) and hopefully she will send those to me. On that dive the whales were so close their singing was louder than my breathing!!! I was hoping to see one while diving but never did. It was so loud they must have been right out of our visibility. Emelio said he saw two right by the boat when we came up.

My girlfriend saw 2 huge Mantas flying over us and was trying to get my attention.... I was so absorbed at the sight of two beautiful bright orange seahorses that were at least 3 inches high that I missed the mantas all together. I must have seen 50 eels, from a tiny 6" garden eel to massive green morrays and medium sized yellow eels with black polka-dots. Makes me want to drop by the sushi shack and order some Unagi.

All in all it was a great trip....it rained the whole time but that warmed the water up a bit. It was 80 degrees on the last dive. I had a great time, Alex and Leslie are great to dive with, captain Emelio is a great guy and did a great job of getting us to the good spots. I had all my own equipment but they provided mares BC's that looked pretty new compared to the usual dive boat loaner stuff. The sandwhiches tasted good but the real difference is always the people, and that is where pacific scuba shines above the rest in my opinion.

PS - I am just a satisfied customer and not financially involved with Pacific Scuba.....other than I am wearing one of their T-shirts....lol

Brian Mathews

 

[Rick Inman]

Great post, Brian. It really took me back and made me want to go there again. Have Arie and Leslie send me my commission (just kidding!). PV is not really a dive destination, but PV is a great destination for any reason, and if there, why not enjoy the diving? The people of PV are a rare treat, indeed. Too bad I won't be returning this year, but my wife insists on Kona.
Well.. OK...