Puerto Vallarta dive report

[Mike Olson]

Two very good days of diving in PV last week.

We arranged trips through Alex at PV Scuba. We were a little bit of trouble; my daughter and I are both certified, but my son had never done that and was interested in joining us for the first day. Alex arranged for him to be taken through the beginner course on Wednesday morning before our dive. Rameses was his instructor (and our dive leader); that went great. Short lectures and some pool time to get comfortable with the gears and skills set him up, and he had a great day in the water.

We dove Los Arcos on Wednesday. Visibility was okay, about 5 to 6 meters at depth. It is raining pretty much every night right now, very hard, and Banderas Bay has a lot of suspended sediment from the rivers that flow into it. Water was very comfortable -- 85 degF. Saw the usual warm-water Pacific fish (puffers, morays, king angels, etc) and an enormous lobster, plus several octopi.

We took one day off and then went out on Friday for a second day in the water. This time we took the boat south to Collimitas. I told Alex at PV Scuba that we particularly wanted to see some rays, and we were not disappointed -- three bat rays swam by us almost immediately when we got to depth. Visibility was better at Collimitas, maybe 10 meters. Lots of schooling fish.

Our guide on Friday was Natalia. My son enjoyed Weds but decided to stay on the beach for the second day, so Natalia took us deeper and to more interesting terrain than we saw at Los Arcos. Lots of rock walls, some good crevices with plenty of activity and some dramatic overhangs.

Really great trip! PVScuba took great care of us and made sure we had a good, safe time in the water.

 

[FosterBoondoggle]

My wife & I took our newly certified teens (13 & 16) out with Vallarta Undersea (aka PVScuba) for two trips, to Marietas and Mahahuitas. We had Nacho as dive master on both trips. He's very experienced and efficient, and also very friendly. As a guide, he took it slowly which worked well for us - I've had cruisers before where I could never slow down to look at anything. He found us a couple of octopi and a couple of seahorses. Water temp was high 80s, visibility 30-40', and there were strong currents and rougher seas out by Marietas.

Even though PV isn't a great dive destination (at least not at this time of year), the kids had a great time and the team made the dives really easy.

 

[brovash]

PV diving the week of 8/15-20. Our first time in PV and diving in the Pacific. I found PVScuba via the Padi website and they were great. Alex was a pleasure to deal with and we did 3 - 2 tank dives over the week. Rameses was the dive master and Moy the captain. Great experience. We were told by folks here in Houston not to go there if we were diving. Boy were they wrong. The water in August was a bit murky due to the rain, but the temperature was great. we used only rash guards and my wife a 2 MM shorty. The dive sites were never crowded and there was plenty to see on every dive. I would recommend it and go back again!

 

[Scuba Diver Mexico]

Visibility was not too good and the deeper water temperature was unusual for this time of the year.


86-84 F and then at 95 feet a thermocline with 68 F degree water, it was full of colder water fish under it.


Fun dive and great cooperation from the local reef inhabitants...

Here are some faces of a few of them living both above and below the thermocline.

 

[Scuba Diver Mexico]

Very nice night dive at Los Arcos yesterday ! Good conditions and lots to see.


We had a very interesting encounter with a Hawksbill turtle that was hidding behind a black coral colony right at the wall no deeper than 70 feet.


Hawksbill turtle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Happy diving !!

 

[pvscuba]

Yesterday at Los Arcos, min temp 80F and viz at the bottom 40 ft.

Saw a Giant Manta at "El Bajo de Cristo" and sea horses at "El Cañón". The fish were very active at both sites.

 

[pvscuba]

Today at Los Arcos. Viz wasn´t fabulous (25-30ft) yet fish activity was quite high: lots of octopi, morays, sea horses, and the usual array of tropical fish. Surface temp 30C / 86F and min temp 28C / 82F

The rainy season is in its last days so viz should be improving greatly over the next few weeks.

Greetings from Alex at PVScuba

 

[pvscuba]

Oct 7 at Chimo:
temp: surface 30C/86F thermocline @30ft: 26C/79F Viz 30ft

Oct 8 at Los Arcos:
temp: surface 30C/86F thermocline @70ft: 28C/82F Viz 45ft
Lots of activity at Los Arcos: Gian Manta, large schools of Yellowtail Surgeonfish, octopi, turtles, nudibranches...

 

[pvscuba]

Conditions have changed a lot in the past week. A cold current has come in sharply decreasing the temps and bringing lower viz. This is not the norm for October, when our conditions are normally among the best of the year. We expect these conditions to last a few days and improve before moving into the regular winter conditions.

Surface temp in the high 70s F decreasing to high to low 60s at the first thermocline. Friday at Los Arcos we encountered a low of 51F at 100 ft. Brrrr!

Viz near the surface at around 20 ft with a layer of 5ft viz between 20 and 40ft. Below the thermocline the water clears to 50-60ft viz

Greetings from Alex at PVScuba

 

[Scuba Diver Mexico]

Alex is correct,

I have been teaching experienced divers/ intructors a bit these past few days with very challenging conditions both north and south of the bay, and yesterday was time for 2 scooter fun dives with dive buddy Natalia. At Majahuitas and los Arcos the first 12 to 15 feet were 74 F, and then we had chilly 63 F water down to 100 feet. Of course, my favorite Popeye Catalufa (cold water fish) showed up.

Just a few days ago the water in Bahia de Banderas was 85 F . Suddenly these past 5 or 6 days everything changed.

0.5 mm wetsuit to drysuit in no time !!

I hope it doesn't last too long ! Water temp should not vary too much until Dec or so.

Don't be caught offguard with too little thermal protection !

Happy diving.