I spent a few days in Puerto Vallarta in mid-September and selected La Ola Ocean Adventures, primarily based on what I read here. Wound up doing three 2-tank dives on three successive days. The weather was good, and the water was warm enough to go sans wet suit. But all in all, the diving was just okay... nothing spectacular. The visibility was much lower than any other place I have dived. Alex is a safe, competent dive master. But each time we were down, I felt that we were wandering aimlessly, as if Alex had never been there before. We spent more time than I would have liked swimming over open ocean floor. There were a few interesting corals and fish, though nothing really new for me except a huge green eel, a decent-sized octopus, and some pretty sea snails (or slugs?). I'd kinda hoped for more over the course of six dives.
But the thing that really ruined the entire experience was the last day. We had been playing musical boats & crews all week. (This itself annoyed me, since part of La Ola's reputation is based on their boat & crew, and Donna didn't bother telling me that their own boat was in dry dock when I booked.) Each day we'd had two crew in addition to the divers and dive masters, except the last day, where there was only one. To make a long story short, the ship's mate (if that's the term) stole 600 pesos out of my backpack during the first dive, while he was the only one on the boat. Since there was no way for me to prove it, I wound up coughing up an additional 600 pesos.
I was not thrilled by the diving, nor the bait-and-switch boats, nor the refusal to take a credit card (which is why I had cash on-board in the first place). But the theft incident puts La Ola in the "avoid" column for me. There must be better dive operations in PV.
But the thing that really ruined the entire experience was the last day. We had been playing musical boats & crews all week. (This itself annoyed me, since part of La Ola's reputation is based on their boat & crew, and Donna didn't bother telling me that their own boat was in dry dock when I booked.) Each day we'd had two crew in addition to the divers and dive masters, except the last day, where there was only one. To make a long story short, the ship's mate (if that's the term) stole 600 pesos out of my backpack during the first dive, while he was the only one on the boat. Since there was no way for me to prove it, I wound up coughing up an additional 600 pesos.
I was not thrilled by the diving, nor the bait-and-switch boats, nor the refusal to take a credit card (which is why I had cash on-board in the first place). But the theft incident puts La Ola in the "avoid" column for me. There must be better dive operations in PV.
