Puerto Vallarta dive report

[pnw_diver]

I'm a new diver (about 12 dives under my belt) heading to PV in about a month and wanted to see if anyone can provide me with guidance as to how thick of wetsuit I should plan on bringing? (I'm a tall guy so I have to bring my own suit as the rental suits don't fit me.) From looking at past posts it looks like 5mm is the minimum thickness that people find comfortable for January diving, although I think I've seen people suggest 7mm and dry suits as well. Any suggestions, input, etc. would be greatly appreciated!

I was in PV Dec 29-Jan 8. Most of the folks I dove with wore 7mm, a couple were in 5mm. I wore a 3mm shorty as I usually do and was a tad chilled at times. Water temps were ~68F at the surface, 63-65F at depth.

 

[sailor1127]

I have made many dives in the Bay of Banderas and always wear a full (not a shorty) 5mm plus a bonnet -- not a full hood. No gloves. Booties inside my fins. This has been a comfortable combination every year, at every dive site.

 

[decidedlyodd]

Just got back from doing a day of diving with PVScuba on Wednesday. Originally I had planned to do two days of diving, but some residual congestion from a head cold kept me out on Tuesday. My partner had a nice time in Los Arcos the first day while I spent the day on the beach.

By Wednesday, I was feeling well enough to dive again. The plan was to do El Chimo but red tide had made the visibility very poor by the time we got there. The divemasters (Natalia from PVScuba and Danny from Vallarta Undersea--the two operators were sharing a boat that day) decided that the site wouldn't be worth diving given the conditions. So instead we headed over to Majahuitas for one dive followed by another one at Caletas. The sites/profiles were quite similar. We started in the shallows then followed along a rock wall looking for interesting stuff.

Natalia did a great job showing us lots of nudibranchs, king angel fish, sea spiders and lots of other great sealife. The diving reminded us a lot of diving at home in the Pacific Northwest, but of course a bit warmer. As spectacular as diving the clear water of the Caribbean is, I do have a soft spot for the creatures and more murky conditions of the Pacific. Vis was limited (maybe 20-25 feet?) with water temperature of about 65F at depth, maybe 68F or so on the surface.

The highlight of the day was definitely the giant manta ray we saw at the end of the second dive. Natalia had unfurled the SMB to inflate it when she stopped and pointed upward. My heart skipped a beat as I saw the shadowy outline of the manta right above us! I'm guessing it was about 8 feet across. It continued to circle around, above and below us for several minutes, coming close enough to brush against us several times. We then did our safety stop and finished the ascent. Definitely an amazing end to a great day of diving!

We really loved the personal attention we got from Alex and Natalia at PVScuba. Natalia took great care of us both in and out of the water. We'll be booking with them again next time we're in PV.

 

[Sintax604]

Thanks for the recent trip/condition reports! My wife and I are heading to PV for a week on Thursday (then on down to Manzanillo for another week). We are die hard shore divers and therefore don't get excited about sharing the water with 30 other divers and snorkellers dropped off from the boats. However, we are considering hopping on a boat and checking out Los Arcos but based on what I've read, it is a VERY popular site. Can anyone comment on the number of people generally at the site at a given time?

 

[akirawut]

Sintax604: I was there last March, we ran into some cattle boats of snorkelers but not of divers, so non issue once under the water. Only other small boats. We dove with Vallarta Undersea, from their small boat (6 divers to 2 DMs and an instructor on the busy day) and would definitely recommend them. Ask for Nacho if he's still around.

-Tom

 

[Blackfish]

We were at Los Arcos earlier this month on a "cattle boat"---16 divers. There were several other boats there at the time and all the boats were somewhat worrisome when you were under.

You should inquire about visibility before you dive Los Arcos---vis was terrible until you hit ~45' and the thermocline---10-15' between 45 feet and the surface. Below the thermocline it was chilly, but the vis was decent (60'?)---since almost all of our dive was above 45', it wasn't worth it. I suspect that vis would be better at some of the more distant sites, but wouldn't know since that was the only spot we dove.

 

[Scuba Diver Mexico]

Back from Baja California and the Revillagigedos to Vallarta. ... should be diving a bit in the coming days with the new Canon 7D setup and the 60 mm macro lens, so I will be posting some reports . Yesterday I went out with Astrid from Ecotours to do some humpback whale watching and we had a blast, we saw great behavior of mothers and calfs as well as escort males.
Surface water temp 21 C or 70 F

 

[Scuba Diver Mexico]

Today at Los Arcos, 60 to 63 F from 30 to 100 feet of depth. Fair viz under the thermocline, moderate swell.

Incredible amount of invertebrate life, lots of turtles and the amzaing singing of several male humpbacks.

Images:

Puerto Vallarta cold water macro Feb 2011 - Robertocharce's Photos

Happy diving !

 

[UnderwaterCameraHouse]

I have not dived in your area, so I don't have much experience about there and can't say anything.

 

[Scuba Diver Mexico]

Last weekend the bay of Banderas had colder water but very good visibility under the thermocline, 59 to 60 F degrees and lots of cold water invertebrates to photograph !!

Happy diving and don't forget good exposure protection these days !