To dive or not to dive...Puerto Vallarta & Acapulco

[jazzydiver]

My husband & I dive in the Caribbean quite a bit - we just did a cruise last month with great dives in Cozumel & Roatan.

 

Next week we are going on a Panama Canal cruise.  The Mexican ports on the Pacific side are mostly new to us, and we have never dove on the Pacific side.

 

My husband has the impression the visibility and amount of life aren't nearly as good, and I have the impression water may be cool enough I'll need a wetsuit (I never use a wetsuit in the Caribbean).

 

On the one hand, we may never get the chance to dive the Pacific side again.  On the other, we just had some fantastic diving just last month and maybe this will seem mediocre in comparison.  The two ports where we might choose to dive are Puerto Vallarta or Acapulco.  Trying to decide if it's worth it.  Any input out there from anyone who has dove either of those places?

 

Thanks!

J

Edited December 28, 2022 by jazzydiver
grammer ;-)

[mac66]

I've never dived in the Pacific but given the chance to dive on a cruise why wouldn't you regardless of where it is?

[omeinv]

The water will be colder than the Caribbean, and wetsuits will likely be necessary (PV for sure, Acapulco unless you're very cold tolerant).  The Pacific has greater biodiversity than the Caribbean, but that's on the macro scale.  Particular sites you get no guaranties.  

 

I've not dived either Acapulco or Puerto Vallarta.  A lot of people I know have dived in Puerto Vallarta and like it it fine, but I've not heard anything that indicates it's amazing.  I know nothing about the quality of diving in Acapulco.  

 

If you contact Oceanos Dive Center in Guadalajara (https://oceanos.com.mx/?fbclid=IwAR0O-w_cZUfYa5LnEh__igB4a4p5k5RU6sCGD23YsaQAmu29OWGJbEy3Ayo), they're frequently running trips to PV, and could give you the name of the dive operator there that's good.  The only thing I can advise directly is to avoid Vallarta Adventures.  They're part of a chain throughout Mexico, and I've had bad experience with them in Cabo, and have heard of many similar stories from their various other locations  

 

Harris

Denver, CO 

[Bobroo]

I dove PV off a cruise ship last February,. I will be forever grateful to the humpback whale that gave us a private performance on our way back to the dock. We watched him for 20 minutes—alone.

 

I dove my drysuit that whole week.

 

We divers who cruise do not go on excursions or two tank dives. We go on adventures. There is no telling what you may find or not find, but there is always a good chance it will be epic. In my case,  PV was epic because of the ride back hone. 

[jazzydiver]

Thank you for replies, everyone.  Looks like things are lining up to have Acapulco be our dive day (due to time in port in PV, etc).  Swiss Divers in Acapulco has good reviews, but looks like no availability.  I am still checking things out and will let you all know how it goes.

[jazzydiver]

Was scrolling through the scuba threads and noticed I never followed up as promised.  We used Swiss Divers in Acapulco and had an extremely positive experience with them - I highly recommend them.  The diving itself was somewhat murky and not a huge variety of life (lots of pufferfish though, and a couple turtles and a seahorse), but the absolute best part was hearing humpback whale song for over 20 minutes!!  We were very glad to have dove there.

[Laurie S.]

I've dived at Puerto Vallarta for the last 12 years.  The last couple of years it got worse and worse, so I will not dive there again.