Cabo, Manzanillo, Puerto vallarta

[daplatapus]

Hey all. I just booked a cruise out of San Diego in Feb. Ports of call are Cabo San Lucas, Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta. Anyone have names and experiences of any decent dive shops out there I should try and meet up with or dive spots to go see? I'm thinking I'll have the most time in Cabo (2 full days I believe) so any help would be much appreciated!

[WarmWaterWuss]

Sounds like a great trip. I have dove both PV and Cabo. I think Cabo is your best bet because the dive sites are within 10min boat ride of the cruise ship. My favourite sites are Sea Lion rock and across the bay. You will see lots of fish, eels, rays, porcupine fish, white tip reef sharks (if you are lucky) but not much for soft coral.
PV seems to have the same type of underwater terrain and fish but you might have the chance of seeing mantas(in the right season).
The dive sites were at least 1 hour from the PV dock - I really liked Las Marietas but it was 1 hr 30 mins from the cruise ship dock. Los Arcos in PV is about 30 mins but not worth the effort to get there. Los Arcos in Cabo is beautiful above water.
The water temp in both PV and Cabo is chilly in the winter high 60s. I wore a 3mm shortie, 3mm long and a hood and was toasty but the DM only had a 3mm long and froze. Have haven't been to Manzanillo but would love to go.
As far as dive ops go, I dove with Pacific Scuba in PV. I have dove many times with Amigos Del Mar in Cabo. ADM has well kept rental gear (Scubapro regs, Aqualung BCs) and a nice wide boat to dive from but sometimes the DMs can be difficult. Both Amigos Del Mar and Manta Dive are right by the cruise ship dock in Cabo. Have fun! :bounce1:

[daplatapus]

Cool, thanks for the info. I'll definitly check out those dive ops. I plan on bringing my own regs and BC. I tend not to trust anything but my own ;)
When you say the DM's can be difficult, can you elaborate? Are they unreasonable or just Sticklers that you follow their particular rules?
I know sometimes in these places they get divers who may only be logging 1 or 2 dives a year so they put depth limits that I've seen people get kind of offended with.
I also typically prefer to dive Nitrox if it's available. Do you remember if they have it?
Any other thoughts from others or comments is greatly appreciated!

[WarmWaterWuss]

What I meant was that the DMs used to take your weights, take your fins, pull your BCD up over the side of the boat and hand you water when you got on the boat. You know, concierge diving :) . But of late the DM was kinda crass and said to make sure you climb the ladder with your full gear on and put your weights here and was a bit of a stickler as far as staying with the group and not dodling around. I am used to diving with my buddy and just sorta being around the DM. There isn't much current and the dive sites aren't far apart so you can't really get lost, but anyways. I guess I just got used to being spoiled and not herded around. I guess depends on the DM, the mood and how new the divers are you are diving with.

I don't remember if they had Nitrox but you could easily email Kevin the manager, he is really good about answering emails. His email is on the Amigos Del Mar website. Enjoy your trip.

[daplatapus]

Hey, thanks again for the info. I've been in contact with them and they do have Nitrox for an extra $10. Our boat doesn't get into Cabo the first day until 9:00 but their check in for across the bay is at 8:30 so we may not be able to make it. I'm trying to see if we can do it the second day though. The cruise leaves again at 3:00 so trying to make sure we can get back by then.
My wife and I are actually traveling with my regular dive buddy and his family anyway, so that should be good. They have 3 boats, a 4 person, 6 and 8 person boat. I'm going to try and see if we can book the 6 person cause it has 2 DM's on it supposedly and maybe we can have our own DM and can separate a bit from the main group.
I know what you mean about concierge diving. There is definitely differences in operators and the service you get. My buddy and I are fairly avid divers, it helps that there are a ton of dive spots within 30 min drive from my home. We've logged in over 100 dives this year, most of which around 110-120' where we see octopus and wolf eels in our area. We've both been diving for over 20 years, so I hope we don't get put with new open water divers, but we all have to start somewhere, we were open water divers once too. :)
Thanks again for the info, hopefully post pics when we get back.