Chico´s Dive Shop - 48300 Puerto Vallarta

Given that it was Waterfront in Puerto Vallarta, I was a bit suspicious that it would be a tourist trap. It turned out to be a sincere, genuine, friendly business. They ran a small, informal, but professional and safe operation. The staff and the diving guides were all very friendly, very approachable, and fun. They fostered a very enjoyable environment during our trip diving. They also did a good job of giving those of us who are experienced enough Independence and space room while also properly helping those with less experience scuba diving feel assured and safe.

These guys knew their stuff. I had never dove in my life and they made sure that we were comfortable and safe throughout the entire experience. We had looked at some other dive operations in town and they all seemed to be more about partying than the actual dive experience. I would highly recommend Chico's to beginner and advanced diver's. We are already planning our next trip to Puerto Vallarta, and we planning to get certified with Chico's, thank you Eric and team for the wonderful experience!

Had a great time. Lets start with expectations this is a tour organizing facility not just for diving but snorkeling, sky diving, atv rides etc. If you are thinking it is a shop that sells diving gear you will be disappointed. I stopped by to chat as this was my first time diving in the area and wanted to get an idea of conditions and set my expectations in a reasonable manner. It was midweek and tourism at this time is down so wasn't sure that a dive trip was going to be possible. I was informed that as long as there are 2 people the trip will go. Our Dive day we had 3 single individual divers. All were experienced divers. The Dive master Nacho was very experienced and enjoyed showing his knowledge of the area. If not for him I would have missed all of the octopus hiding. Diving is a natural activity and conditions can vary with seasons and weather and are not always predictable. Visibility may not always be excellent. Fish and wildlife move around and some migrate so depending on the time of year and even time of day you may not see the same things as another group. Nearly all of the poor reviews seem to be from people with poor or unrealistic expectations. Yes they do not keep the rental gear at the location you sign up for a tour. You do need to know your size and you can't try it on before the dive. However it is rental gear and is adjustable with the cummerbunds and straps and fits a wider range of sizes than street clothes. They had the relatively new Mares jacket style BCDs 80 cubic ft tanks filled to 3500 psi I did not look at the brand of Regulator but it was adequate. Fins and mask are rental quality but get the job done. I actually preferred the mask they provided compared to my own which I have some leakage issues with it was nice to not have to clear my mask frequently. As it is rental gear you may not be as comfortable as in your own personal gear. I know I would have been a little more comfortable in my regular setup I'm am accustomed to. But for the price of the trip and rental I couldn't even replace one piece of my equipment if something happened in transit and the airline lost it. All 3 of the divers on this trip used the rental equipment all had experience diving and none had any complaints or reservations about any equipment. I am a big guy and they had equipment that fit and another was a petite female and her equipment also fit well. It is a basic boat or as called there a Panga it is around 20ft so do not expect a head (restroom) on board. The snacks provided as mentioned in other reviews are bananas and some granola bars they do have some bottled water but I suggest you also bring a bottle or 2 of your own. If you want more than a couple bananas as a snack bring it also. Also as another reviewer mentioned she could not swim so did not enjoy the outing my advice is do not book a snorkeling tour which requires swimming if you are unable to swim. While I was on a dive tour they do also offer snorkeling tours. They beach the boat for load and offload so that may be a little different experience for many Americans and you do need to time your entry a little with any wave action. I tried to be thorough to help others with expectations. in short: Experienced dive master (over 20 years) Not a luxury yacht Affordable dive (2 tank dive with gear for $120 USD) about 4 hour trip I would recommend and use again when I go back

GO ELSEWHERE. Easily the worst dive shop I've ever dove with-- I'm a certified diver with dives all over the world. They knew the visibility was horrible before we left and they didn't tell us. They didn't bring extra wet suits for snorkeling even though they knew the water was freezing. The instructor had an "I don't care" attitude about everything. They could have changed the dive site to an area with better visibility but chose not to out of laziness and greediness. Instead, we dove in freezing water to see a bunch of sand and 2 fish. It was a complete waste of money and horrible customer service.

Caution: As an avid diver I look for qualified and certified dive shops, specifically PADI certified centers. The only real way to do this is to go to the PADI website under locator and view the results. Here in PV, I received Chico's advertising and even stopped by their kiosk to find out their tours. I was excited to join them on a dive. Despite getting referrals from other concierge people with further research we discovered Chicos is not on the list of approved dive centers and dive shops. Not sure why they say they are PADI approved and able to certify? There are others in Puerto Vallarta that are on the list. This is disappointing...but not uncommon. If Chico's changes and becomes certified and approved, I'll update the rating...and go on a dive to see how their guides and the overall experience is!

It was great experience ! This was my first time Scuba diving and the instructor helped me a lot. I had 4 more in my group who were experienced. He made sure I am always alright. When I made the first attempt to get inside the water I panicked and he immediately got me back up and gave me some time to get down my breadth. The water was murky that day. But we still saw lots of colourful fishes, sting rays, starfish, eels and octopus. He even let us touch the octopus.

Recently went on a dive trip with chicos and while everything went well there were definitely some downsides and red flags. Fist of all, before even booking anything with them they tried to get me to do an advanced dive even though I am only recently open water certified, stating it would be fine because 3 other advanced divers would be going. Luckily this dive ended up being cancelled and I was able to choose a more appropriate level dive. Next, the morning of the dive the shop was closed with the guy saying there had been an “incident” the previous night. No idea what that was about. Also, the transportation to the boat was a bit odd getting dropped off at the dock and told to meet someone there. We didn’t leave until more than an hour after we were told to meet for the trip. When under the water I was extremely disappointed because the dive master was frequently handling the marine life to show different creatures. While it can seem cool to see the animals move or get a better view it causes unnecessary stress to them and can be very damaging to the delicate corals. Overall, the dive master did a good job of checking on everyone while under and they handled all the gear well, however, did not seem to prioritize overall safety or marine conservation.

Great guide! But the snorkel tour was very crowded. We ended up buying some snorkel equipment after the tour and just snorkeling by ourselves along some rocky areas of the beach. It was just as interesting and we saw lots of cool fish! They stop off at a beach after the first snorkeling areas (for Los Arcos) in case anyone is sea sick and wants to wait it out. My wife was seasick so we stayed at the beach, but maybe the other spots on the tour were less crowded.