Puerto Vallarta dive report

[pvscuba]

Hi all divers.

For all of you coming to visit Puerto Vallarta in the future, please check our dive report to see what you can expect.

For those who have dived our area, please post comments on your experiences while diving PV.

Feel free to ask any questions about diving Puerto Vallarta and surroundings.

Hope to see you when you come!

Alex from PVScuba

 

[pvscuba]

January 18th.

Dive conditions have improve a lot since the holidays. Water temperature is in the upper 60s / lower 70s (up from the lower 60s a couple of weeks ago). Viz is around 30-40 ft near the surface and 80-100 below 60 ft.

Today's weather was cloudy and cool, so bring a sweat shirt or a windbreaker for the ride out and back. Puerto Vallarta has been unusually cool this year, but our Canadian friends tell us we're bananas when they see us all covered up...

It's whale season, so we regularly see them on the ride out and back from the dive sites. With very rare exceptions, they are not to be seen underwater.

On just about every dive you can expect to see dozens of species. The most common: angels, butterflies, parrots, 5-6 species of puffers, cornets, surgeons, chubs, filefishes, scorpions, 3-4 species of sting rays, 5-6 species of moray eels, gobies, blennies, damsels, squirrels, morish idols, pompanos, milkfishes, sargent majors, and many more. On some dives we also get to see turtles, giant mantas, eagle rays, and others.

check our posting regularly to see how things evolve...

Alex from PVScuba

 

[pvscuba]

January 20th

Dove El Morro and Marietas today. BEAUTIFUL!! Visibility around 70 ft and temperature 70-72 F. A bit windy on the surface, as is the norm this time of year.

We saw a sea lion today. Quite unusual, since they don't noremally inhabit our bay. Probably got lost or was brought down from Baja by a current.

Whales everywhere! great sightings during our surface interval and on transit.

Back to Los Arcos tomorrow...

 

[Randy-S]

Great idael on dive reports! Keep it up. If you really want to get us dreaming post some pics of your dives.

 

[Randy-S]

PS I will be there feb 24 can't wait to return one of my fav home away from home

 

[maremd50]

Thanks for the update. I will be in PV again from the 23rd to the 30th - diving, conference, and looking at property. Yes, I'm hoping to TRULY make it my home away from home! Is 3 degrees F here right now, so "cool" in PV will be nothing to me!!

 

[joel-diver]

Just dove with Alex at PV Scuba last week. The diving was great, we did a two tank dive at Los Arcos. The water temp was around 72 F at the surface and 69 F at 60 feet, and the viz averaged around 35-40 feet. Saw lots of sea life, from turtles and pufferfish, to large schools of fish and even a spotted a Pacific Manta Ray above us that looked to me like it was about 20 feet across. Alex's operation at PV Scuba was a professional organization that had good rental equipment for those who rented and had a large, safe, comfortable dive boat. His crew was very knowledgeable of the area, and very helpful to the "newer" divers we had with us. I noticed underwater, our divemaster was always aware of where we were and that we were headed in the right direction, without us even realizing it. I look forward to diving Puerto Vallarta again, and would use them without any hesitation.

 

[uaflyer]

Hi All

I went diving with PVScuba 3 times (6 dives) from the end of December 2007 and into January 2008.

Having gone diving in Bahamas, Hawaii, California and Thailand, I was very pleased with many things.

The Staff is exceptional and I watched both Alex and Caesar instruct new divers.
Its also good knowledge they are all Instructor qualified.

On the water, everyone was very helpful and went out of their way to assist in anyway. Its an advantage there are showers and location to wash your gear, along with an Olympic lap pool.

The conditions were pretty good in terms of water temps, though visibility on one dive was pretty bad. It didn't last long. Was fun to see whales, dolphins, turtles and a lot of fish and sea rays.

Alex also offered to accommodate me with another dive shop to visit a more distant dive site to fit my schedule and experiences, but I chose to dive with them again. This is something I have not found most other dive shops would do.

Very knowledgeable about the area, peer dive businesses and very positive and respectful of this. Our boat captains were very capable of safely handling the boat and were knew very well the waters.

Their equipment and boat is very well maintained and safe. All the dive gear is either new or near so, no obvious rips or wear. All the tanks are stainless and in great shape. no dings, bent valves or abuse.

The boat is a stable tri-hull fiberglass (like a Boston Whaler) with a Bihimi top. It has twin new Evinrude outboards.

The boat leaves from the Best Western Nautilus and its a 15 minute bus (50 cents) ride from the hotel zone into the Marina or a $4 taxi ride. This location happens to be the start of a Marina Vallarta bus line so its very simple. One could walk from the cruise ship area, as its just across the Marina.

I appreciated Alex being flexible with cash or Paypal, as we made out decisions only the day before. I really like how things were flexible and no rush or stress. It was all about diving and doing so comfortably.

I also spent a bit of time fishing off the Marina dock and caught a few, so its otherwise fun no matter what.

As we have several timeshares in PV for the next 25 years, I most certainly will dive with PVScuba again.

 

[pvscuba]

January 22nd

Today it was Majahuita's turn for our dive.

Very nice ride out, about 45 minutes getting there. Saw lots of whales on the way there and back.

Didn't go deep today, as we were working on dives 1 & 2 for an open water certification. Viz was about 30 ft.m at shallow depth. Temp around 70 F / 21 C

Besides the many species of fish that we see every day, today we saw turtles and spotted eagle rays, which are common to our area yet not seen on every dive. Lots of moray eels also.

keep tuned for our (almost) daily report.

Alex from PVScuba

 

[pvscuba]

January 25th

Sorry... very busy and haven't updated the report in 3 days.

Did an impressive dive at Devil's Canyon in Los Arcos National Underwater Park today. This is a 100+ft deep dive that is one of the most impressive and my personal favorite in the area.

We dive down a sloping bottom starting at about 50 ft following a ridge. Once at 100 feet, we turn into what we call the Devil's Jaw, which is a rock formation in the shape of a giant mandible. Once "inside" the mandible, we start on our way up to about 80 ft. From there we follow the bottomless wall, ascending slowly to increase our bottom time. At about 45 ft, we leave the wall and continue the last part of our dive on a shallow reef.

For more advanced divers, this dive is a must!

Wonderfull viz at the wall, 80ft+. Near the surface 30 ft. Temp 68-70 F (20-21C)

Have a great one!

Alex from PVScuba