on the edge: 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.

It was so good that I called our son Ed when we got back and we scheduled a return dive later that week. The two of us have been diving together since 1985. Ed and I got our PADI certification together on Grand Turk Island when he was 11 and I was 40. The underwater shots here are his. Our return dive the following Friday was equally as great. There was a turtle (I didn't see it), an Eagle Ray and the schools of fish were mesmerizing. We were with a group that had some beginner divers so Norm, Ed and I took off on our own down the steep cut in the cliff that leads to the wall. For me there is nothing more exhilarating than having the bottom drop away and to drift leisurely down a vertical wall exploring as we go. until we reach our maximum depth.

When Ed and I learned on Grand Turk we learned on an undersea wall that dropped away vertically, in the case of Grand Turk for a mile. Grand Turk sits on a mile deep trench and is literally on an undersea cliff edge. The undersea terrain in the Bay of Banderas does not drop away as deeply but it actually is a series of underwater canyons similar to Monterey Bay in California. Because of the depth and upwelling of colder water from the depths laden with nutrients, there is an abundance of sea life which attracts larger creatures particularly the whale population in the winter months. The Carribean has its beauty, but diving here is well worth the effort to see close up the beauty of the sea life.