Last week I had the opportunity to make a quick trip down to Zihuatanejo Mexico. I had never been diving in that part of Mexico and didn't know anyone who had, but never one to back away from a new dive location I jumped at the opportunity. Overall the diving was pretty miserable. There was a serious red tide which caused a brown foam on the surface and vis of only a few feet. We have better visibility in California right now! I was also surprised at the temperature. I had expected temps in the upper 70s and was surprised to find them to be 68-72, which would have been a bit chilly for the 3mm wetsuit I brought. I layered a rental 3mm over mine and was fine. The sea life was pretty abundant, but seeing them through the muck was a trick. We ended up doing only 4 dives, and only one was even remotely conducive for photography.
Overall, if I dive again in this area, I would avoid all of the inshore sites and go immediately to the offshore islands. We visited Los Morros de Potosi for 3 dives where we found visibility up to about 10ft.
That being said we saw lots of bullseye electric rays, shovelnose guitarfish, porcupinefish, and guineafowl puffers. I also saw a lot of juvenile rock croakers, which took quite a long time with the fish books to identify. Just remember what they say: a bad day diving is better than a good day in the office. Here are a couple of decent images to result from the trip. As usual, click on the images for more details.
