West coast SCUBA?

Free diving is WAY different and easier in warm, clear water than in the PNW. Relax and enjoy!

Bahia Tenacatita, Jalisco. Coral reef. Not pockmarked by divers every 5 meters. Air is tough but there is dive air in Manzanillo.

Much of the oceano Pacifico is mar abierto. Cuidado! You will get cheese grated across a rock if you dive when it's rough.

Do NOT have a speargun on you or in your motor vehicle when you dive with air. Bad bad expensive juju and there are a lot of marinas around to put the nab on oyster poachers and lobster poachers. My son is law is a federally registered diver (air) for lobster, oysters, and huauchinango. Red snapper.

You might want to consider tank diving, to locate decent fish, go put the tanks in your hotel room and return and skin dive with a spear gun.

Perhaps the best diving in the gulf of California is off of Agua Verde, just south of Loreto. The road was destroyed by the hurricane but by next winter it should be fine. Hire a panga at the village. Go to the south end of isla sta catalan. Do not dive on the north end. Sea lions and great white sharks. At the moment the north end may have tigers. The south end has a spine of rock descending and you can sometimes catch a grouper.

Hope this helps - saludos

I can recommend diving in and around Chamela bay,(Perula). West coast of MX about 100 miles south of PV The diving is much better in the summer but is good year round. There is a dive shop in the town and the owner is well versed in all of the dive sites in the local area. He rents gear to certified divers and will provide guided dives or arrange for transportation do dive sites if you need assistance. Google Perula and check out some of the photos of the area.
I'd recommend bringing Masks ,Fins, Snorkels, and rash guards and leaving the tanks etc. at home. The coldest water temp last winter was a freezing 78 degrees f.

San Carlos has some fair diving with air & tank rental available. We haven't been there for a few years but always enjoyed it. We backed the truck up to the water & dove the lagoon. You can take a boat out to a wreck & also to the sea lions. It is not 'World Class" but better than being stuck on dry land. We always took our own gear & tanks. Tanks have to have current annual inspection sticker, do that in the US.

worst dive I ever had in Mexico was in La paz. Leaky equipment, I had to buddy breathe my wife up, then on the second dive my gear leaked and i also saw bubbles from the octopus hose on the dive masters gear. Plus they almost left us behind. i can certainly relate to taking your own gear.

BTW the only dive shop in Manzanillo was great.

PNW_Steve wrote:

Desert Captain wrote:
I spent 7 months on my 34' sailboat cruising the Baja and west coast of Mexico. Diving on the outside of the Baja is cold (like southern CA), until you get south of Bahia Santa Maria. The west coast was OK but not much to write home about but.... the Sea of Cortez is nothing short of amazing. I didn't have a compressor but carried 3 tanks one of which was always held in reserve in case of boat problems that required dive time.

I had a friend who was a master free diver and he patiently introduced me to the sport with some success. Spent far more time free diving than with tanks and that would be my recommendation for anyone traveling by RV. Scuba requires an inordinate amount of gear and frankly the diving is better (visibility and temperature wise), in 35' or less which is well within the range of most folks who free dive.

:C

You are fortunate. I would love to learn more about freediving. It would expand dive opportunities exponentially. If your friend offers lessons please put me in touch with him.

I highly recommend the book "The last of the Blue Water hunters" by Carlos Eyles as an excellent introduction to free diving. Carlos taught my friend, Tom Lyon, to free dive and he went on to make amazing underwater films "without bubbles" as all of his filming was done while free diving. They were capable of incredible underwater feats such as 4 minute dives and even free diving to 100'.

Back in 1994 I was privileged to have Tom on board for 6 weeks as we sailed from San Diego to Cabo, La Paz, up into the Sea of Cortez, and on to Puerto Vallarta. I don't think either of them are still free diving but learning from them was an amazing experience.

:B

Desert Captain wrote:
I spent 7 months on my 34' sailboat cruising the Baja and west coast of Mexico. Diving on the outside of the Baja is cold (like southern CA), until you get south of Bahia Santa Maria. The west coast was OK but not much to write home about but.... the Sea of Cortez is nothing short of amazing. I didn't have a compressor but carried 3 tanks one of which was always held in reserve in case of boat problems that required dive time.

I had a friend who was a master free diver and he patiently introduced me to the sport with some success. Spent far more time free diving than with tanks and that would be my recommendation for anyone traveling by RV. Scuba requires an inordinate amount of gear and frankly the diving is better (visibility and temperature wise), in 35' or less which is well within the range of most folks who free dive.

:C

You are fortunate. I would love to learn more about freediving. It would expand dive opportunities exponentially. If your friend offers lessons please put me in touch with him.

Tequila wrote:
However a dive is dive.

Hallelujah Brother!!!

briansue wrote:
We have tried diving on both the west and east coasts of Mexico. There is good diving in some areas of the Baja but we have not heard of any good diving on the mainland west coast. There are dive operators but if you are an experienced diver there is not much to see. On the east coast there is good diving in a couple of areas - Cozumel for sure - and a couple places across from Cozumel on the mainland. There is also cenote diving in the Yucatan - cavern diving as opposed to cave diving - very interesting. We took our dive gear to Mexico one year but have not done it again as we were not thrilled by what we found - other than Yucatan and Cozumel. If you do go to Yucatan we recommend the operations in Akumal over those in Paa Mul - by a long shot. We have not been diving in the Baja but have heard there is some good diving there.

I did my open water cert at Playa del Carmen and have spent time there & southward. Mostly Belize. Awesome diving IMHO.

We are very serious divers. Just take your snorkel gear. If you decide you need other, rent it. Yes, I know, it's way not the same, but you can always lug the gear down next year! Also, getting tanks filled can be tough.