We did the Marietas Islands snorkeling + Hidden Beach tour and it was a highlight of our trip…read more Booking was easy and Roberta provided lots of great info ahead. (One tip: if you're staying in Sayulita... listen when Roberta recommend getting cash ahead on the way to Sayulita! ATMs in town are often out of cash.) And while I can't remember his name, the guy who got us set up for our trip was also super helpful as was Oscar our driver. The trip itself was awesome! Palma & Edgar were a top-notch team. Palma, our guide, had so much knowledge and a real joy in sharing it. He also really knows how to connect with people, their individual needs, and help make the experience special. And because of this we saw so many different kinds of fish, birds, crabs, whales... and learned about the National Park, the area, etc. I'll have his joy-filled "Look, look... Mira, mira..." in my head for awhile as I explore the world, and that's a good thing. He guided us through Hidden Beach and it's caves and took pictures for us so we could just enjoy. On the ride back Edgar, our awesome captain, and Palma were set on finding whales, and we did! And Palma went around and filmed with everyone's cameras so that we could be in the moment and enjoy all the while keeping his energy and attention on the group experience. We saw the bigger boats out there, with water slides and such, and we were so glad to have this more intimate tour. And we met some great people on our small tour, so having beers and tacos afterward together (set up by the tour) was a great touch.

So fun! The team is great and Stephane showed us amazing wildlife and rock formations! Thanks guys!!read more

Did 4 dives over two days with PV Ocean Tours. Crew was laid back, yet super professional and safe…read more All 4 dives were fun. Saw a shark, octopus, turtles, sea horse, manta and more! Highly recommend Marc and his team.

Marc and his crew (Chuie, Herman, Bill and Captain Emiliano) were excellent communicators and…read moreexperts in Los Arcos scuba diving. Marc is a lanky Brit who has lived in PV for 17 years and has learned fluent Spanish. He has put together a wonderful business and has a great respect for all people and nature. I was part of an inaugural diving trip for Queer and Trans divers hosted by Narwhal Divers (https://www.narwhaldivers.com/). The founder of Narwhal, Niko, has been diving with Marc for many years. (Marc had a number of repeat customers on every dive/snorkel excursion.) Marc and the crew were respectful to us all. They were precise with correct pronoun usage and helped everyone feel welcome. While Marc comes across as a jokester on land, as a dive master he was calm, patient, organized, and safety-focused. He made efficient decisions and clear instructions. The visibility in the water varied dive to dive and a few of us got separated from the group at various times. As Marc had done a safety briefing on the boat, each of us knew what to do and all remained well. When I got separated, I didn't panic, started my ascent, and Mark located me during my safety stop. (Other dive boats in the area had helped him locate me by my air bubble stream. Clearly a community that all looks out for others!) Marc and I returned to the group and the dive continued without issue. We even saw a massive turtle on our final dive!!! [Even with marginal visibility, other sightings included many octopuses, a baby jellyfish, sea urchins, sea snakes, sting rays, sea cucumber, eel, nudibranchs, lobster, starfish, fresh coral and soooooooo many fish. Marc clearly knew the seascape well and was able to guide us to incredible underwater moments!] I look forward to diving with Marc and his team in the future!

cesar is an amazing business owner. i had complications with my uber en route to the dive shop and…read morecesar helped me even before i had met him! great professional, clean and organized dive shop. adam was my dive instructor and i felt very safe and respected as a client. i am new to diving. i did my 6th and 7th dive at los arcos. so i was nervous getting in the water but i was confident being led by adam.

Caesar and Eric were really great to book with and very knowledgeable. The equipment was well…read moremaintained and Eric was very patient with our very IMpatient 13yo who thinks he is a fish. We did 2 dives in Mismaloya and even though the visibility was not great - I still feel the guidance from Eric and the experience of not having ideal conditions really helped to prepare our son for the realities of diving and importance of the buddy system. Eric was also very understanding of the other guest in group who had first dive jitters and had trouble equalizing. Overall we had a great time and our son is excited to get his Open Water this year.

We saw the sign and pulled in for an afternoon of riding along the beach. Our guide, Guzman was…read morewelcoming, knowledgeable and had a true love of horses. We felt prepared and safe. It was a special treat to our vacation.

We went out on an excursion to the Marietta islands with Alexi and captan Poncho. The captan's boat…read moreskills are awesome, he managed to get us to some spectacular places. Alexi along wit the captan made this a super memorable trip. It was an all around awesome experience with a newer boost and excellent equipment. The only thing I would change is to have more snorkeling time. Thank you captain Poncho and Alexi for awesome time ... The pictures came out very nice.

This was such a fun activity during our cruise port call in Puerto Vallarta. In December we took a…read moreMexican cruise to celebrate my 70th birthday and this was our favorite activity off the ship. I'm a little late posting this review!! I appreciated having the crew explain how to operate the ATV, safety advice, and how they followed along with the riders making sure we were all OK and taking photos & videos. The ATVs were well-maintained and in good working order. We had no breakdowns or operational issues among our tour group. We enjoyed the views and the stops along the way where we got to try making tortillas, and having a snack by the cool creek. We also stopped for a tequila tasting, which was informative and fun. The tour started at the Estigo facility in town and we were escorted out of town by the Estigo guides. It's a bit bumpy riding in town on cobblestone roads, but as soon as we were out of town it was smooth riding. We did a morning tour, so I struggled with sunlight in my eyes, which proved to be a bit concerning when rounding corners as we headed up the hills leaving town. I admit to white-knuckling the early part of the ride. Once we were in the foothills, I was able to relax and enjoy the surroundings. I booked this tour on my own through the Estigo website, which made it a much better value than one of the cruise ship excursions. We also had a smaller group and just took a cab from the cruise port to Estigo's faculty. I definitely recommend Estigo if you are looking for a fun activity when visiting Puerto Vallarta!

Great communication through email and phone for reservations. They accommodated our big group of 21…read morepeople. They took many pictures and videos for us for free and we had a great time!

If I could give negative stars, I seriously would. This is one of the worst experiences that I…read morehave ever had with both diving and customer service. We were in Puerto Vallarta over Christmas where my 17-year-old son was going to do his open water certification. He did his first 2 dives with Silent World Divers (who, by the way, are AMAZING: professional, gracious, honest: everything Chico's is not) but was not feeling well on the scheduled second day. We scrambled to find another SSI dive shop, and Chicos said that they could take him for his third and fourth certification dives. We clarified that with them both on the phone and it was clearly written on the receipt when we gave them our money. Then ensued a comedy (or, rather, tragedy) of errors. We were told to go down to the peer and look for Eric on the Chicos boat. We could not find the boat, but overheard some other people talking about Chico's and they turned out to be other divers on her trip also looking for the boat. We finally found the boat, and after we had left the pier the sole dive instructor on the boat introduced himself as Raul. I quickly piped up and said, "I thought we were diving with Eric." "Eric's not coming," Raul replied. I explained that my son needed to get his SSI certification, and Raul said that that would not be possible because he himself was not an SSI instructor. Eric was the only SSI instructor at the shop. Raul then said that my son was welcome to dive, even though he wasn't yet certified, wouldn't get certified, and there were four other divers (in addition to us, at various levels of training/certification) also on the boat. I protested, as we were leaving in a couple of days to fly back to the Pacific Northwest and this was my son's one shot to get certified. Then Raul offered to have Eric sign my son's checkout form, even though Eric was not on the boat and would not have witnessed any of my son's skills. I I observed that that was terribly unprofessional, and after some further back-and-forth we requested to go back to the dock without diving. I would have been willing to chalk that up to an unfortunate misunderstanding, except that when we went back to the dive shop to get our money back they refused to refund it. We spoke to Eric on the phone, who said that we had been given an option of diving, but that it had been our decision not to proceed. I reviewed multiple times that we had specifically signed up for SSI certification and that they were unable to provide that, but he steadfastly refused to refund the money for the dive we never did. I am a very kind person, and it takes a lot for me to lose my temper. I probably raise my voice once every 2 or 3 years, and this was the once every 2 or 3 years. I was very forceful and saying that if he did not refund my money, that I would write negative reviews on every review site that I could find documenting what happened that day. He finally relented, and told me that I would need to come back to the dive shop (which was very distant from where we are staying) in a few hours when he was able to get there. I pushed back again saying that that was not the way we wanted to spend our vacation, and this led to an approximately 1 month ordeal of back-and-forth and supposed transfers of money that finally came through a couple of days ago. So I would say that if you do not value safety, honesty, or integrity, you might want to dive with Chicos. Otherwise, go with Silent World.

We booked this with our hotel, Villa Del Palmar. Was a bit apprehensive after reading reviews but…read morefelt we would give it a try. Arrived early at the pier and spoke with two of the boat taxi guys who said they would let the dive shop know when they arrived. Right on time Eric and one other gentleman showed up to offload gear and park their truck. Walked us down to the boat and off we went. We had an excellent time and Eric did a great job with us. Give them a try.

Wow!!! Amazing dive trip with captain Martin, dive master, Carlos, and dive master trainee, Tom…read more We chartered the boat for our group as we had 2 certified divers, 1 beginner, and 2 snorkelers. First, as the beginner I went through extensive pool training (more than 2 hours) 2 days before the dive. On the morning of our trip, the crew handled everything and we all had an experienced person making sure we were safe and had a blast. We all did! We went on 2 dives; the very experienced divers loved their dive as much as I did as a beginner. I saw an octopus! Martin and Tom did a phenomenal job pointing out different sea life while always putting safety first. If you are near Puerto Vallarta and you want to dive (even for the first time) call or go online and book at Vallarta Undersea!

Dove with our amazing instructor Carlos and one other couple while visiting Puerto Vallarta! The…read moreboat ride out to the dive spot was about an hour but very relaxing. Both dives were amazing but the second was very different and unlike any spot we have dove before. We dove through caves and saw wonderful sea life although the conditions were murky! Great company and a wonderful day!! We will rock return in the fall!!!!

This is a great place to do beginner scuba and/or get PADI certified, but they also do snorkeling…read more(which kids or significant others can do at the same time as you scuba, which is convenient) and more advanced scuba dives. Hector and Antonio took us to Los Arcos and taught us the ropes in a very supportive way and just took care of everything. We also saw dolphins on the way back. They are conveniently located in the marina. Highly recommend!

From the owner: Nos especializamos en Buceo, Certificaciones PADI, Tours por toda la bahía de Puerto Vallarta,…read moreSayulita, avistamiento de ballenas, sunset tours y renta de Yates.

Probably one of the best if not the actual best cruise excursion my wife and I have taken since we…read morestarted being "cruise people". First, value. We took a beautiful boat ride to a secluded location, had wonderful food, and absolutely all the drinks you could possibly want. All for a very reasonable price, better than anything our cruise line offered. The people were all awesome. They all wore shirts that said "I my job!" And it felt like they actually did. It was like a bunch of friends invited you to a really awesome party. The place we stopped at had it all. Beautiful pool. Large hot tub. Great snorkeling. Paddle boards if you wanted. A great hike to a lovely waterfall. And if you just wanted to soak up the sun, they had really comfy loungers. On the way back, we were all feeling great and most of us started dancing. We all probably looked silly but were having way too much fun too care. Next time in Puerto Vallarta we are absolutely booking these folks again. Thank you for an amazing time for both my wife and me. Chico Locca is the best.

We had a great time on the Yelapa Falls tour with Chica Locca Tours -- overall a really fun,…read morewell-run excursion with an awesome crew. The staff is incredibly attentive and welcoming from the start. Fair warning: the drinks start flowing around 9am, so pace yourself and bring lots of sunscreen -- the sun + cocktails add up quickly. The booze selection is pretty generic, but plentiful, and the snacks along the way are appreciated. The fajita lunch was solid and hit the spot after a morning on the water. Shoutout to Ricky Ricardo, truly the hostess with the mostest -- high energy, fun, and kept the vibe going all day. Luis was also fantastic, constantly checking in and somehow remembering everyone's names, which made the experience feel very personal and welcoming. They even slowed the boat down so we could watch whales, which was a highlight, and having a photographer on board was a nice touch to capture the day. The music on the ride home was a little outdated, but honestly... it just turned into a dance party anyway -- especially once the tequila shots started making the rounds. All in all, a great excursion with a fun crowd, attentive staff, and memorable moments. Easy 4 stars and a solid choice if you're looking for a lively day trip while in Puerto Vallarta.