Hey ya hat. Sorry I didn't see your previous post.
Here's how things went in Mexico. Since I'm sure you're concerned primarily with the diving conditions, I'm not going to get into resorts, night-life, cruises, etc etc. All you need to know is that if you want to do it, it can be done.....it's only a question of how much you're willing to pay
.
We stayed in Puerto Vallarta. It's in the 2nd largest bay in the world (the Canucks have the biggest I think
). Puerto Vallarta is on the Pacific coast. We went in late March - early April.
Our first dive trip was to Los Arcos national park. There are a few dive shops in PV; we used Chico's Dive Shop (
www.chicosdiveshop.com) exclusively. All the guides were very helpful and courteous (and spoke English fluently - a little of a downer for me actually since one of my favorite things to do on vacation is to work on my Spanish). Los Arcos was a little bit of a let-down for me. Since the trip could be done in a half day, there were piles and piles of family snorkelers in the area. Since my girlfriend can only snorkel (and she proved to even need some work on that :blackeye), I stayed in the shallower areas with her. I didn't have a fit though, because the vis was only 12 feet that day. The water was a little chilly (about 72 F). Most of the snorkelers we coming out of the water within an hour. We stayed warm in our shorties for a couple hours before the cold got to us. If you have a 3mm suit, that would be perfect for hours and hours. I wish that I would have brought my 5mm pants. Since I was dropping down, going though thermoclines, the shorty wasn't enough. There was one thermo at about 30 feet (temp dropped to 64) and another at 70 feet (temp dropped to 50). I only ventured below 70 feet a couple times because the cold was just too much (even with my 3mm hooded vest on under my shorty). So if you want to go deep, I recommend at least a full 3mm suit.
On my next two dives, my lady stayed back at the resort and ordered nachos and pineapple drinks by the pool....so I was free to dive without having to worry about her ocean panick attacks. These dives were much better. I went on full day scuba tours (but of course I only used the tanks my momma gave me). The water clarity was much better at Las Mariertas and the other place I can't remember than at Los Arcos. And the place wasn't constantly getting buzzed by drunken party boats either. Vis was 25+ feet and was as good as 40 in a couple spots. Most of the rock/sea life was at 50 feet, so it made the diving more fun for me. And being the only freediver onboard made buzzing the scuba tandems a constant source of entertainment
).
There are no spearfishing tours (I don't know if that's something that would interest you - why don't you fill out your profile so all of us on DB know who the heck you are
), but if you tell the clerk at chico's that you want to talk to the "short, stocky guide who spearfishes amberjacks", he may be willing to take you out. He offered to take me out on my final day of vacation, but then a cruise shipped docked, tourism picked up, and we lost our boat to the snorkel tours....bummer :waterwork.
K, at the risk of rivaling IYA for the title of "mr. long post", I'll wrap this up. If you have any specific questions, I'll be happy to answer. I'll keep my eye on the thread.
Ted
