Puerat Vallarta... wow
 

Just got back from a spontaneous 5 day trip to an all inclusive in Puerta Vallarta. It was my first time in Mexico, and since it's on the Pacific side, I wasn't expecting an awful lot from it to satisfy the reefer in me, but let me tell you, I was blown right out of the water.

We went on a day trip to an eco-themed park thing called Las Calletas, which is at the far tip of the bay and only accessible by boat, and you need to book a tour with Vallarta Adventures to get there. There is a couple hundred meter stretch of beach and rocks you can snorkel along and while the water was really unpleasantly cold and there was no coral of any kind, I have never seen so many fish in my entire life. I've been snorkelling on the great barrier reef and all over the Caribbean, and I've never seen so many fish, or so many kinds of fish, in one place at one time.

I wish I knew more about Pacific fish, but there was a healthy school of what I think were very large King angels, at least 3 other species of angels I recognized but couldn't name, tons of Moorish idols, the most incredible damsels (of all kinds) I've ever seen, two kinds of huge puffers, gobies and blennies galore, small rays, a spectacular trumpet fish, what I think were either schools of small tuna or some sort of jack, and many other, even more incredible fish (big ones too) that I couldn't even place with a common name. If anyone is ever in that area, I can't recommend it highly enough.

Never been to the Pacific side myself (for that matter have only been once in Mexico ever and that was like a billion years ago .. ok it was 2001, maybe not a BILLION but darn close). Anyhow I always heard that the Pacific side was more ho-hum but on the other hand Snappy, who is an avid diver, has posted some neat pictures of his dives there and they look pretty nice to me. He told me that it's way nicer than people give it credit for, and given that he dives a lot and I ... don't at all, pretty much (only been a couple times on "Discover Dives") .. I would tend to believe it I guess. Will have to check it out some day.

Hope you can post some pictures when you get a chance!

Definately post some pics!

Coincidently I am leaving for PV on Saturday. Yes there are several areas in Vallarta with great diving & lots of corals. :biggrin:

I picked Cuba for my trip as I didn't have the balls to go to Mexico these days!

Where in Cuba?

Diddo. Just don't like the longer travel time to cuba

You guys worry too much... that's like deciding to drive because you heard a plane crashed last week. :lol:

famous last words :lol:

I recall Dez just getting back from the Pacific side and his vacation pictures were awesome. Would love to go one day as well (if I didn't fear being beaten in an elevator :lol:).

I suppose for the unfortunate few....21.5 million tourists to Mexico in 2009
that's like the whole province of Alberta going 5-6 times year. I like the odds, just need to keep the Spider senses on high, but that goes for any holiday location.

I blame the media, they have a way of sucking the life out of everything...

and the internets :biggrin:

i wish i saw all the fish your describing of lol i was just there about a week ago, but couldn't see any fish since i can't swim lol

For all those scared to travel to Mexico... Don't believe the media and the hype. Traveling anywhere can be dangerous, really doesn't matter where you go. Just travel smart!

Mexico is safe, the people are great and as a whole the country has alot to offer families who wish to have a tropical vacation and don't want to be stuck on the resort the whole time. I have been to the Mayan twice in the past year with my family, and will definately be back again soon.

Cuba is also great, same with Domincan Republic... The only problem as stated with others is the travel time. In the old days, you could go to both direct/non-stop... But now in Calgary, you have to go to Toronto... Sorry, with 2 kids and between 4-9 hours in layovers, just not going to do it. If someone knows a charter that still goes direct, let me know, as I would love to go back to these countries in the near future.

http://www.voyage.gc.ca/countries_pa....asp?id=184000

In other words, so long as you're not near the US-mexico border you should be OK, but, you "should exercise a high degree of caution due to a deteriorating security situation in many parts of the country" anyway.

I like Hawaii. Nice, clean and safe.

The same way i would avoid the east L.A. or Harlem in New York. etc. etc. etc. I wouldn't go to North Central here in Regina but I wouldn't tell people to stay clear of Canada. :lol:. I think the biggest problem is the nature of the violence, very violent but mostly against their own. Ya the army needs to "stomp" out the drug lords. The police are toothless and victims themselves alot of the time.

PV is very safe and a much different atmosphere than Mazatlan. PV is way nicer; better scenery(from beaches to mountain jungles), nice people, good hospitals, good restaurants, good diving, etc, etc. It's a sweet place to go to any time of year, in fact I like to go in the summer as well. The diving is also the best in the summer with the water being around 86 degrees F.

I agree when we were there we used the "local" transit bus to and from the resort to downtown, that was an experience... all good. walked the streets nights and days. Even got on the wrong bus at night that took us through the local residential areas, was a bit un-nerving but never felt threatened.

We are going to Varedero next month as the beaches look beautiful with crystal clear water with lots of snorkelling and dive excursions to go on. Food is not so great in Cuba I hear but I would rather eat lousy food and feel safer. My wife actually wanted to go to PV or Cozumel but I said "no way I'm going there" so she gave in to Cuba!

The food in Cuba is fine, as long as you eat Cuban food :) If you're looking for a good steak, forget it. Lots of good restaurants, and if you can, try to arrange a home cooked meal at one of the casa particulars in town. Any of the staff at the resorts should be able to hook you up.

I have two clients who had horrible experiences in Mexico.

One couple was picked up by the Federalis and basically mugged. They let the husband walk back to the resort but 3 officers raped his wife before they let her go.

Another couple's daughter was kidnapped out of her hotel room and never seen again.

I wish I had pics of the underwater stuff, but my under water camera was stolen when i was in Honduras a couple of years ago and I haven't been near an ocean you can swim in until now.

As for the safety situation... the mental image I had of Mexico was formed and nurtured by too many hours watching American news so I was really nervous about it. However, I've travelled all over the planet and not once has the common media characterization of a place I've been to ever been accurate, so I really should have known better.

I was twisting myself in knots, hoping we'd make it to the hotel before some bandit kidnapped us and mailed our body parts back to our families, then I looked out the plane window as we were landing and the first thing I saw was a bright, shiny, orange Home Depot. Nuevo Vallarta where we stayed looked more like Miami or the nice parts of LA than the desperate favelas the news wants you to believe everyone lives in, complete with wrinkly old white people jogging with their small dogs everywhere. The old part of Puerta Vallarta was beautiful, vibrant, charming, full of laughing people eating in restaurants and cafes, and waaaaaaaay too many gay people for me to believe that anything bad ever really happens there. I'm sure there are parts of town you wouldn't want to walk through at night, as there are in any city in the world, but I sure didn't see one. I think it was when we were driving past the Vallarta Galleria mall (that could put any affluent American shopping mall to shame) when I realized I'd been an idiot for putting off going there fore so long.

Even the beach vendors that hawk trinkety crap to tourists on the beach are regulated there.

As far as the rest of Mexico is concerned... The murder per capita rate in Yucatan makes most of Canada look like a war zone. The dangerous parts are pretty specific, so you can reduce your chances of bodily harm or death by 99% by going to Mexico and NOT being involved in the illegal drug trade.

PV blew me away as well for diving. I went snorkeling around Los Arcos and came across a manta the was 16ft across. The manta actually swam with me for about 15-20 minutes, just playing in the water and even let me touch. Definitely one of THE coolest diving experiences I've had. There are some reefs just south of Playa de Los Animas that were completely untouched. Los Animas is a beach that is a 20-30 min boat ride from Boca de Tomatlan (just ask a fisherman to take you there... I think I paid him 30 pesos). I even camped out on the beach! Bloody awesome!

Now, as for the safety of Mexico, some areas are sketchy but Mexicans for the most part are some of the nicest people I've met. If you go in there with a warm attitude and make attempts to respect the language and customs, they'll treat you like one of their own. When I backpacked through Mexico, more often than not I stayed with random people I met than at hotels because everyone was so nice and wanted to learn as much about me as I did about them. But if you are the typical tourist who goes in there waving cash, disrespecting the culture, expecting them to speak YOUR language and generally looking down on people you're are asking for trouble.

That being said, bad things can and do happen when traveling. Having traveled worldwide, I've come across some crazy stuff. I've had friends kidnapped; I've been shot at, almost blown up, woken up in the middle of a border skirmish, held up and scammed (but that's half the fun). Oddly enough, most of the horror stories I've heard from other travelers (when I was abroad) about being mugged, robbed or otherwise abused happened right here in Vancouver and Whistler (Vietnam was a close second). As soon as you are out of your element, you're at risk.

What???
I've never been to the pacific yet & don't have the desire to go there, as I grew up on the west coast. That being said, I've been to the Mayan several times stayed on 8 ave in playa, That's 3 blocks north of the strip in a house. One night we heard the federally s beating up some crook outside. I stayed all over playa for a month & drank my face off walked every where without issue.
I've stayed in the middle of havana in casa particulars & walked allover downtown drinking every night. Same in Dominican, same in jamaica, even went to beach reggae party way far from the resort, lots of "stuff" goes on every where, & the best jerk chicken ever, "Street meat is king" but like other said if your smart you should be alright. We're going to the Dominican again in march or april for 2-3 weeks & just staying @ a buddy's in sosua.

I just got back from Cuba last week, went to cayo santa maria. We flew direct from Winnipeg to santa clara and then 90 minutes by bus to the resort. www.Selloffvacations.com lists a handful of flights from calgary to cuba, both varadeo and the same area I was in.

You don't go to cuba for the food, but you won't go hungry. Most resorts have a grill station where they'll make you fresh food, omelets and waffles for breakfast, grilled seafood and meats for lunch and dinner.

We did some diving there and it was spectacular. Lots of fish, some coral and amazing water.