Guitarcrazy
Contributor
Trip Report, Puerto Vallarta Oct 15 to 21
My wife and I just returned to Puerto Vallarta after a 4 year absence. We have been there quite a few times, but in the last 4 years we have predominantly been going to Cozumel. We booked flights on United (not my favorite, but had award availability and better schedule). We arrived in PV on schedule and had no issues in Customs. No questions were asked about cameras or scuba gear, and we were quickly outside at the Cab Stand.
We booked our stay at the Grand Park Royal south of Puerto Vallarta as it is close to Mismaloya, where we would be departing for our dives. We have stayed at the GPR in Cozumel several times, and have always enjoyed it there. The hotel is a nice property, and the service was great. They were very meticulous about mask wearing when in public areas. We are vaccinated and don’t worry too much about masks, but if we went to the buffet table and forgot to put on a mask one of the staff would politely remind us to put one on.
The food was pretty good. Not exceptional, but it compared well to many all-inclusives we have visited. There are 3 sit down restaurants, the buffet restaurant, and a rooftop bar with a tapas menu. We tried them all and had no trouble finding something we liked in each restaurant. The rooftop bar and pool is an additional cost, but for some reason they gave us access for no additional charge. I am not sure if it was because we booked direct through the hotel vs. a travel agency or website, or if it was because we have visited other GPR locations, but either way we appreciated the access. The drinks there were all top-shelf, and it was never crowded. We rarely saw more than 3 or 4 other couples when we were there. The hotel has a secluded beach and street vendors aren’t able to access it, which was very nice. We happened to luck out and a sea turtle hatch occurred while we were walking on the beach and we were able to watch them make their way to the ocean.
The hotel has a couple of pools by the beach, swim up bar, kids play areas, and lots of loungers and shady beds. We were obviously not there in the high season, and we never had a problem finding a place to sit. The room was pretty spacious, and had been recently remodeled. It is very nice with a huge bathroom and walk in shower large enough for two.
We dove with PV Ocean Tours, led by Marc Pearsey. He is a British ex-pat and he has been running the business since approximately 2016. The cost is a bit higher than Cozumel as diving is not as prevalent in PV, and they don’t have nearly as many operators there as in Cozumel. The tanks are more expensive, and Nitrox is much harder to find, but these are just the cost of doing business in an area not known as much for diving.
The dives depart from Mismaloya Beach, which puts you very close to the best dive sites in PV. If you depart from the PV Marina you have around a 45 minute boat ride just to get to the first of the typical dive sites. They have a newer panga-style boat that is very large and has seating for more than a dozen. We dove Majahuitas, Los Arcos, Yelapa, and the Wrecks north of Mismaloya. We were planning to dive El Chimo, but the timing of our Covid test made us reschedule to yelapa and Los Arcos. It turned out better that way as we saw some great wildlife at both locations.
The water was unbelievably warm, easily the warmest water I have ever dove. My Shearwater said the water ranged between 85 and 87 degrees for most of our dives. There was a thermocline at varying depths, and when you went below the temperature dropped 7 or 8 degrees. I was almost happy to go below the thermocline as I was very warm in my 3 mil suit. The visibility varied from probably 20 feet on the worst days, to 40 or 50 feet on the good days. Certainly not the crystal clear water you find in Cozumel, but we got used to it quickly and really enjoyed the dives.
We saw several Manta rays, Eagle Rays, and huge school of Devil Rays, an Electric guitar ray, tons of fish, macro life, innumerable eels, many octopus during the day, and a white tip reef shark. We were very excited to see the white tip as it was our first encounter with one. He has taken up residence in a small cave area north of Los Arcos, and we were able to see him again later in the week when we dove the site again. It was an impressive array of wildlife and we enjoyed it immensely.
We love the topography of Puerto Vallarta, and the city offers a lot that you don’t find in Cozumel. We are looking at possibly snow birding to Mexico or other warm climate soon, and PV is a good candidate. I will still probably go to Cozumel more often than other locales for diving, but we will not be waiting 4 years to go back to Puerto Vallarta.
We dove 5 days with PV Ocean tours, and we only had other divers on 1 day. The other days it was just my wife and I with Marc, Chuy (divemaster and marine biologist), and Captain Alonso. I am sure that they were not making much if anything taking only the two of us each day, but they were always happy to go out and found us a ton of great animals to photograph. Marc is a pretty accomplished underwater photographer and spent a lot of time helping me with my camera setup. I purchased a strobe last winter and have not had a lot of success with it. We found that my fiber optic cable had a crack which made the strobe fire intermittently, and it finally completely broke during the wreck dive. This was actually a good thing as I was able to cut the end and repair the cable, so it worked flawlessly for the rest of the trip. The videos and photos are not as dramatic as in Cozumel or Roatan where the visibility is much better, but still took some decent shots.
All in all we really enjoyed the visit and can’t wait to go back. Whale season starts in November so maybe we will have to come back later in the year next time. The water gets a lot colder then, so a 7 mil suit may be preferable in December or January, but the chance of seeing whales makes it an appealing proposition. I highly recommend diving with Marc if you find yourself in Puerto Vallarta. They are very accommodating, focused on safety, and a lot of fun to dive with. I will add some photos and videos a bit later. Thanks for reading.
My wife and I just returned to Puerto Vallarta after a 4 year absence. We have been there quite a few times, but in the last 4 years we have predominantly been going to Cozumel. We booked flights on United (not my favorite, but had award availability and better schedule). We arrived in PV on schedule and had no issues in Customs. No questions were asked about cameras or scuba gear, and we were quickly outside at the Cab Stand.
We booked our stay at the Grand Park Royal south of Puerto Vallarta as it is close to Mismaloya, where we would be departing for our dives. We have stayed at the GPR in Cozumel several times, and have always enjoyed it there. The hotel is a nice property, and the service was great. They were very meticulous about mask wearing when in public areas. We are vaccinated and don’t worry too much about masks, but if we went to the buffet table and forgot to put on a mask one of the staff would politely remind us to put one on.
The food was pretty good. Not exceptional, but it compared well to many all-inclusives we have visited. There are 3 sit down restaurants, the buffet restaurant, and a rooftop bar with a tapas menu. We tried them all and had no trouble finding something we liked in each restaurant. The rooftop bar and pool is an additional cost, but for some reason they gave us access for no additional charge. I am not sure if it was because we booked direct through the hotel vs. a travel agency or website, or if it was because we have visited other GPR locations, but either way we appreciated the access. The drinks there were all top-shelf, and it was never crowded. We rarely saw more than 3 or 4 other couples when we were there. The hotel has a secluded beach and street vendors aren’t able to access it, which was very nice. We happened to luck out and a sea turtle hatch occurred while we were walking on the beach and we were able to watch them make their way to the ocean.
The hotel has a couple of pools by the beach, swim up bar, kids play areas, and lots of loungers and shady beds. We were obviously not there in the high season, and we never had a problem finding a place to sit. The room was pretty spacious, and had been recently remodeled. It is very nice with a huge bathroom and walk in shower large enough for two.
We dove with PV Ocean Tours, led by Marc Pearsey. He is a British ex-pat and he has been running the business since approximately 2016. The cost is a bit higher than Cozumel as diving is not as prevalent in PV, and they don’t have nearly as many operators there as in Cozumel. The tanks are more expensive, and Nitrox is much harder to find, but these are just the cost of doing business in an area not known as much for diving.
The dives depart from Mismaloya Beach, which puts you very close to the best dive sites in PV. If you depart from the PV Marina you have around a 45 minute boat ride just to get to the first of the typical dive sites. They have a newer panga-style boat that is very large and has seating for more than a dozen. We dove Majahuitas, Los Arcos, Yelapa, and the Wrecks north of Mismaloya. We were planning to dive El Chimo, but the timing of our Covid test made us reschedule to yelapa and Los Arcos. It turned out better that way as we saw some great wildlife at both locations.
The water was unbelievably warm, easily the warmest water I have ever dove. My Shearwater said the water ranged between 85 and 87 degrees for most of our dives. There was a thermocline at varying depths, and when you went below the temperature dropped 7 or 8 degrees. I was almost happy to go below the thermocline as I was very warm in my 3 mil suit. The visibility varied from probably 20 feet on the worst days, to 40 or 50 feet on the good days. Certainly not the crystal clear water you find in Cozumel, but we got used to it quickly and really enjoyed the dives.
We saw several Manta rays, Eagle Rays, and huge school of Devil Rays, an Electric guitar ray, tons of fish, macro life, innumerable eels, many octopus during the day, and a white tip reef shark. We were very excited to see the white tip as it was our first encounter with one. He has taken up residence in a small cave area north of Los Arcos, and we were able to see him again later in the week when we dove the site again. It was an impressive array of wildlife and we enjoyed it immensely.
We love the topography of Puerto Vallarta, and the city offers a lot that you don’t find in Cozumel. We are looking at possibly snow birding to Mexico or other warm climate soon, and PV is a good candidate. I will still probably go to Cozumel more often than other locales for diving, but we will not be waiting 4 years to go back to Puerto Vallarta.
We dove 5 days with PV Ocean tours, and we only had other divers on 1 day. The other days it was just my wife and I with Marc, Chuy (divemaster and marine biologist), and Captain Alonso. I am sure that they were not making much if anything taking only the two of us each day, but they were always happy to go out and found us a ton of great animals to photograph. Marc is a pretty accomplished underwater photographer and spent a lot of time helping me with my camera setup. I purchased a strobe last winter and have not had a lot of success with it. We found that my fiber optic cable had a crack which made the strobe fire intermittently, and it finally completely broke during the wreck dive. This was actually a good thing as I was able to cut the end and repair the cable, so it worked flawlessly for the rest of the trip. The videos and photos are not as dramatic as in Cozumel or Roatan where the visibility is much better, but still took some decent shots.
All in all we really enjoyed the visit and can’t wait to go back. Whale season starts in November so maybe we will have to come back later in the year next time. The water gets a lot colder then, so a 7 mil suit may be preferable in December or January, but the chance of seeing whales makes it an appealing proposition. I highly recommend diving with Marc if you find yourself in Puerto Vallarta. They are very accommodating, focused on safety, and a lot of fun to dive with. I will add some photos and videos a bit later. Thanks for reading.
