Scuba Diving in Puerto Vallarta

With summer and fall water temperatures in the Bay of Banderas running above 80 (26 C) our friend Norm who is an owner of the Twin Dolphin (Delfines Gemelos) Dive operation had been telling us of how incredible the diving has been this fall. Visibility 70 to 100 feet and water warm enough that a wet suit was unnecessary.  

We have been diving since the mid 80's when we lived in the New York area and could catch flights down to the Caribbean where the water is warm and the undersea life is prolific. Here, in the winter, the water is warm on the surface but due to Pacific current upwelling,  there are thermoclines below  which require you to wear a heavier wet  suit and being warm water divers, we've avoided it when the water is cold. But as we found out, now the diving is just about perfect.

  So one Sunday afternoon, my wife and I set out with Norm and the Twin Dolphin crew to see what was going on. In our diving here we had never dived Los Arcos and were stoked to do that. Los Arcos is a great snorkeling site, but it is also on the edge of an undersea canyon with a wall that descends to 1,800 feet. The diving was amazing with lots of undersea life. We saw two Spotted Eagle Rays, large schools of Angel Fish and Puffer Fish everywhere. We hit the wall at about 70 feet and were down to 110 feet before we knew it. The visibility was perfect and being able to leave behind our wet suits was a real bonus.