We had no idea what to expect when we decided to go to Huatulco, which is on the Pacific southwest coast of Mexico . I hadn’t heard anything much about the diving there. My husband was more interested in the fact that they had a golf course by the hotel. We stayed at the Barcelo Resort Huatulco, and we were very pleased with the amenities. This was our first time staying at an all-inclusive and it was terrific. You could eat and drink your way through the week. The golf course was a bit funky, since they refused to cut trees down, and it appears that they built the course around the trees. However, we did enjoy our rounds there.
I had communicated with the dive shop before I went to Huatulco and was happy that it was right on the hotel property. Due to the latest airline baggage restrictions, and the amount of luggage we were bringing with us, I hadn’t brought any equipment with me, except for my mask, and was not going to dive if their equipment didn’t appear to be in good shape. Upon investigation, I found the equipment to be in fine condition. Carlos(Charlie)Ramos, the dive master and manager of the shop is a charming, experienced diver. He has good knowledge of the area and the conditions.
My first day of diving was terrific. I had the boat and the dive master all to myself. All the diving is of the drift type, with the boat following your bubbles. The boats are called Pangas, and the entry is a back roll into the water. The first dive of the day was at a site called El Violin.
It is called that because the surge swings you back and forth like the bow on a violin. I thought a better name would be the Washing Machine. It was an exercize in boyancy control. Between the surge and the current, I spent most of my time trying to go in a straight line. The viz was, as you can imagine in these conditions, only about 20 feet. However, there were lots of interesting critters to see, if you could hold still long enough to view them.
There were jeweled eels and stone scorpionfish galore in the rocks. There were no soft corals, and this site was rocky, as is most of the Eastern Pacific Coast. The rock formations are interesting to look at, and you can find plenty of life in the crevasses. I saw my first zebra moray. After our surface interval, we moved to the other side of the El Violin inlet. Here the surge was not bad, and visability improved greatly. Carlos took me to a small cave, which was fun. On this dive besides the usual marine life, I saw a Guineafowl puffer, a Mazatlan sole, and Giant Hawkfish, and many different starfish. It was a very nice dive.
My second day of diving was equally great, but I no longer had the boat to myself. Two other couples came with us. We did two dives at the Bahia Maguey. I saw barberfish(a relative of the butterfly fish), Cortez angelfish, a Cortez soapfish, a Bumphead parrotfish, and more. The site was a rocky reef
formation, covered in hard corals, with seafans, and some soft corals. The sandy bottom held a surprise. As you drifted over the sand, rays flew out from
their hiding places. There were many different varities of rays, that I have never seen before. I saw guitar rays, yellow stingrays, torpedo rays and a large butterfly ray. It was a wonderful day of diving.
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