Ixtapa?

[Al]

Any one dive in Ixtapa Mexico? Next week will be my first time diving the Pacific and I was wondering how cold is it this time of year? I have seen posted "upper 70's to low 80's."

I don't really want to bring my dry suit but I don't have a 3mm.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks,

[DanL]

Upper 70's to low 80's is the common range for Cozumel. If you are going to be doing 2 or more dives a day over 3 to 5 days, you will probably want at least 3 mil. In Coz last month, water temps were 77 -79 and I was comfortable in a 3 mil with a 5 mil hood. (Don't undereatimate the hood - prevents a lot of heat loss) Others wore 3 mil, some with added vest/hood, and the divemasters were actually wearing 5 mil suits! If its sunny, you really can warm up between dives. If its cloudy and your interval is on the boat in a breeze, you can get pretty chilly.
Repeated deep dives over many days, exposure to the breeze after dives, etc. all result in chilling you down.
Try a 3 mil and have a hat and light fleece jacket between dives if its cool and you'll be plenty warm.

[Al]

I ended up wearing a 3 mil farmer john, a shorty skin, hood and gloves and was fine. The divemasters however had layer after layer after layer and would only make one dive because of the cold! They were skeptical about my setup until I told them I was icediving a few weeks ago! ;D

The Pacific outside of Zihuatanejo is nothing like the Gulf however, not much color or great vis but lots of life. The plankton was pretty thick so the vis was about 30-50' . Saw some fish bigger than me and dozens of rays, lots of red starfish, eel’s, urchins, never ending schools of fish etc. I did a night dive with my new DiveRite HID and it was awesome. The light lit up the whole ocean! I saw my first cute little octopus, hermit crab and spider crab(?) too.

My favorite part of the vacation was freediving with a big school of fish just off of the beach. I could swim around them and get them to ball up in a swirl as if I was going to eat them!

(I'm vegetarian however!)

Dizzy but a blast.

[DiveCaptDean]

hey Al,
Do you have any photos of the diving in Zihu? i have a friend that is getting married down there soon. He was wondering what to expect. I will pass on the news.
thanks
Dean

[Freedive WI]

Al,

I had similar expericnces on my trips to Cabo and La Paz. I awlays wore a 6mm suit, and even thought about a dry suit for scuba diving a couple of times! There really is no coral to speak of, although Cabo Pulmo had a small reef, but the fish life was outstanding! There were schools of fish on top of schools of fish that would actually block out the sun when we were diving the underwater sandfalls off of the arch.

The vis was always in the 20-40' range, not cozumel but then we had whales and their calves jumping around all the time which we didn't get in cozumel.

La Paz might have been a little warmer, since it's further up the Sea of Cortez and gets more protection, but not much. It was dirt cheap to eat and drink there from what I remember.

When I was in La PAz I stayed at the Cortez club, which had just opened at the time. Now it's grown into a full blown Inspiration rebreather center and also a freediving center, during certain months of the year.

Jon

[Al]

Sorry I can't post any photos because I just got film back and it was blank!
:'(
I'm not sure what went wrong (underexposed) but maybe it is time to start saving for a digital...

[Rock]

I'm going to Ixtapa April 17-24. Any suggestions on if the diving is worth while and reputiple operators?

Thanks for you help and advice.

[Al]

I had a great time and would go diving again bit it was just as fun to snorkel on Ixtapa Island (36 island north of town) however. My family of 4 went here with a tour about $100 us and it was the highpoint. I guess there are a couple dive shops in Zihuatanejo but I dove with the one in Ixtapa.

Ixtapa is a beach with hotels a road and then the long strip mall across the road. On the south point of the stripmall on the 2nd floor was a big dive flag. I think I paid $80 us for a day and night dive.

Small boat, same as all the other water taxies and I was the only diver. I dove the lighthouse 28 "Solitaria" and at night 27 "Caleta de chon". You can take a water taxi cheap at the dock in Zin. to go to 23 Las Gatas beach to swim and get cheap drinks actually served to you. The water is not great for diving though. Here is a map I found at

[Rock]

Well we are back from Ixtapa. The diving was mediocure (sp?) at best. Dirty water, visiblity about 40-60 feet at best, not much color at all. We did see some sea horses. We dove one of the islands(#10) infront of the Ixtapa hotel district and a small cove just south of Zihu (#28). No more than 40 feet deep at either dive. Some current, but not bad.

The Zihu Scuba Center is no longer in business at this time. We use a Ixtapa Diving or something like that who have a shop in the Barcelo Hotel. The dive center staff was great to work with. We paid about $72.00 each for the two tank dive. I had my snorkle stuff with me and they supplied the BCD and wet suit.

Guess I can say I dove in the Pacific now, but I think my next dive will be back on the east coast. ???