snorkeling in puerto vallarta

[Snappy]

I been to a lot of awesome dive sites including Belize, Kona, Carribean, Cozumel, etc to name just a few and I still go to Vallarta about twice a year and have for the past 13 years. Although very different from the Cancoon side there's actually still some great diving in the area but much depends on the time of year for where the best sites are. Los Arcos is one of the better snorkel sites but it is the rainy season right now so the red mud is washing down from the mountains so the visability will likely be quite poor in the bay close to shore. If you dive I would recommend going to Marriettas Island, El Morro & Chimo depending on your diving ability & experience. Give Geovanni at Twin Dolphins dive shop a call and tell him Greg from Calgary referred you. He will set you up for whatever kind of dive/snorkel action you want and is a straight shooter. Vallarta Adventure is a huge company with big boats and big crowds so if you use them expect just that. I prefer the smaller tour companys but to each is own.
For restaurants be sure to try Pipi's for the fajaitas, good drinks & fun atmosphere, Vista Grill for an awesome view, La Palapa's for awesome food and eating on the beach to name just a few. Eh Carrumba's is pretty good too and has a super view. Brasil's is a fun spot as well with their all you can eat meat scewers. If you are at the Marina give Tikul's a try. the food is excellent and they even have a jazz saxaphonist working the room. If you are shopping down at the "flea market" Oscars is a good restaurant as well. One of the many things I like about Puerto Vallarta is the plethera of good restaurants.
Are you staying in town or in Nuevo or elsewhere?
For beaches the white sand ones are generally north of Nuevo around Bucarias up to Punta Mita and Mismaloya in the south has gold sand that is super fine and almost feels like flour. Have a great trip. If you want more info shoot me a PM.

[karazy]

no diving for me...yet

im staying in the southern part of town. my parents have told me about pipis so we are deff's going there,

PM sent

[karazy]

well people, i had an amazing trip, and some pretty awesome snorkeling. turned out that the beach at my resort had a sweet snorkeling cove,
followed by a bunch of large frock formations in a big ocean flat that no one seemed to know about.
i didnt get any underwater pics, but i did see amazing things
i saw manta rays, big puffers, wrasses, damsels, snappers, butterfly fish, and alot more.

here's a pic of the beach and the snorkeling cove:

[Leah]

Beautiful, glad you found a great spot. Sad you didn't get pictures though!

[karazy]

haha, so was i. what happened was i was gonna get one, but the store at the hotel wanted almost 30 bucks for an underwater disposable. and then i forgot