Jamaica - worthwhile?

[KeithG]

Looking for some feedback on Jamaica diving. I get to tag along on a business trip to Montego Bay area and may be able to sneak out for a dive or two.

But I want to make sure I have reasonable expectations.

What I want is
- dive our our profiles
- 60+ minute dives
- no cattle boat
- shore diving is fine

I have searched here and googled a bit and have an uneasy feeling. Kind of like being used to golfing at Pebble beach and then showing up at Uncle Bubba's Eat & Putt mini golf. The majority of the website seem to be focused on real cheap beginner training for everyone and not on unlimited shore diving nitrox. They are also lacking any detail about diving itineraries. Maybe I have the wrong impression?

I would be interested in feedback on the following specific questions:
- are all dives guided?
- can you name an operator that allows "longer" dives (50 minutes would be a minimum for me)
- what type of boats does your favourite operator use.
- do they offer 1 or 2 tanks dives?
- if 2, what is the typical dive and surface interval times?

Thanks for all info and opinions!

P.S. not really concerned about depth or wild life expectations, those I can adapt to.

 

[ibj40]

Wish I could help you, but our only two trips to Jamaica have been to Couples Negril. Our experiences there have been with the on-site for our first trip in 2003, and with a dive op which has changed hands a couple of times since we dove with them in 2008. Realizing that Mo Bay is on the other side of the island from Negril, I wish I could give you advice. We have appreciated the fact that diving in the Negril area improved from 2003 to 2008, and are hoping to see a similar improvement for 2013.

 

[KeithG]

Just got back from Jamaica and I still can not answer my own question since we did not (choose not to) dive.

But I do have a little more info. If anyone cares...

I was on a corporate trip that stayed at the Iberostar east of mo bay. I snorkeled off the resort and in the mo bay marine park. I also observed the on premise Dressel Divers op. We had the option to dive but declined.

The mo bay marine park was more like a petting zoo. Viz was around 30 feet and we had clouds of Sargent Majors rushing us. Yes, they wanted fed. Like pigeons in a park. Or goats in a petting zoo. This was thrilling for the rest of my group (non divers) but a big disappointment for me. Very artificial.

The snorkeling at iberostar was very similar. They had created a "man made reef" (otherwise known as a pile of rocks) that did in fact attract a large number of fish species. Nothing tiny. I assume due to the lion fish. I saw: permits, 1 barracuda, grunts (all kinds), Juvies queen & French angel, parrot fish, wrasse, razor fish, trumpet fish, school masters, squirrel fish, small stingrays, spiny urchins, east Indian sea eggs, ....and lion fish...

The onsite Dressel dive op appeared to be very good. There were 2 boats on site. The reg and Bcds were new scubapro in good condition. The tanks were new and in good condition. The boats and boat captains all in good shape. The shop manager handled all my stupid questions professionally although it was apparent that she was not used to dealing with experienced divers.

Their problem was the raw material (see below).

They mandated that all divers must first do the shallow afternoon dive (12 m? max). Good idea, similar to the Bonaire checkout dive rule. After that you could do the deeper morning dive - I forget the depth, but it was limited to 45 minutes and they were very worried about people running out of air. All dives were guided. So in hind site, I assume the morning deep dive ended when the first person ran out... Regardless, the rules made sense. They had the opportunity to observe divers to determine their capabilities.

They also divided the certified and "newbie" divers into separate groups, but they were on the same boat. I do not know how much instruction the newbies got. There were at least 3 dive guides for the 10 divers I witnessed.

All of their rules made sense and appeared to be be safety oriented. +1 for them.

Why we did not dive? Setup time and impression of trust me dives.

The morning dive met at the dive shop at 8:30 to give out gear, go over dive basics and teach the newbies. The boat generally left around 9:20. The certified and newbies were segregated into 2 groups but used the same boat. Certified were left to set their own gear up on boat (several could not), newbies were spoon fed and did not do any set up themselves. Yikes!

That said, the dive guides and boat captain appeared to be very attentive and safety conscious. They checked and double checked everything before they left dock.

The afternoon shift was similar.

The largest group I saw was 4 certified divers and 6 trust me divers. The boat often only had 3 or 4 divers on it.

No idea of the actual dive conditions but my impression was that 30 minutes would be a long dive.

 

[ScubaSteve1962]

I stayed at Iberostar in Punta Cana, and I think what you are calling the newbies were actually Discover Scuba students. so they would set up the gear for them. I have dove in Jamaica also, not Mobay, but Negril and Ocho's Rios. Both were very relaxing dives. Also I think unless you know someone with a boat, all dives are guided by law.



Sorry I didn't see this thread until today.

 

[drrich2]

Were it me, I would've likely dove (if I didn't have something better at hand to do) just to add it to my 'done it' list, but to each their own.

Out of curiosity, and to be sure I understand, what did you mean by 'trust me' dives and why would that discourage you from diving? Regardless of what the rest are doing, you're free to monitor your own navigation, if it's the dependent-on-a-guide tourist diving that you mean (and what I associate with trust me dives - the guide won't take me too deep or too long and will take me back to the boat).

Richard.

 

[ibj40]

I find the OP's story very intriguing. Curious about a number of things (mind you, I have been to Jamaica twice, and have only dove Negril - which I understand is the "better" diving for the island, in general).

You say there was "nothing tiny" on the manmade reef, but then observe a wide variety of juvenile and adult fish species. Can't say, in my over 30 years of diving, that I have ever really sought out fry of any species, but it appears from your description that the artificial reef is supporting a good, and healthy fish population.

I, too, am curious about the definition of "trust me" dives. As a PADI Divemaster who has previously been involved in diver training (however not any more), I guess I had my share of setting up gear for new divers, walking them through the basics, and getting them into the water. How do you distinguish what you saw to the expectations of a Resort Course or Discover Scuba?

I found it encouraging that the boat took out a mixed group of divers, with separate dive guides, as to avoid the conflict of a very new diver in a group of similarly "trained" divers not compromising the diving of the group of more experienced divers.

Plus, having dove in a wide variety of locations, and being a "new" diver to numerous dive ops, I find that many of them go out of their way to set up my gear for the first dive, where I would prefer to do that myself. Once I establish an understanding with the dive op, I usually find that they welcome me (and my dive buddy) setting up our own gear, so that they can concentrate on those who may not have the same confidence we have.

Finally, while I have never experienced the requirement of a shallow check-out dive before I was allowed to board a boat, I see this as a positive indication that the dive op is very concerned about diver safety, and I applaud them. There is nothing worse than getting on a boat, and getting to the dive site, and having to wait on the boat (or even worse at the bottom) while an unqualified diver sorts through their issues while I am burning air. Somewhere there is a saying "Better to be safe than sorry". I agree with that philosophy.

We head to Negril in a week, hoping to experience an ever improving diving environment from what we first experienced in 2003, and then reviewed in 2008. We'll let the Board know our impression.

:blinking:

 

[KeithG]

The trust me divers I witnessed were likely discover scuba people's. I am not sure since I have never been involved in or observed this type of diving before. The part that left the biggest (negative) impression on me was the total lack of participation of the divers in their gear setup - other than carrying it to the boat. It was obvious that none of them had any idea of how the gear worked, and none displayed any interest. It was more of a "strap me in, let's go" type of activity. It was a little unsettling. Kind of like sticking a non driver behind the wheel of a car after just a 30 minute pep talk.

I do believe the dive op was fully competent and very safety conscious. Hopefully my response post did convey this. If not, then I hope this post will serve to clarify.

 

[ScubaSteve1962]

The trust me divers I witnessed were likely discover scuba people's. I am not sure since I have never been involved in or observed this type of diving before. The part that left the biggest (negative) impression on me was the total lack of participation of the divers in their gear setup - other than carrying it to the boat. It was obvious that none of them had any idea of how the gear worked, and none displayed any interest. It was more of a "strap me in, let's go" type of activity. It was a little unsettling. Kind of like sticking a non driver behind the wheel of a car after just a 30 minute pep talk.

I do believe the dive op was fully competent and very safety conscious. Hopefully my response post did convey this. If not, then I hope this post will serve to clarify.

Your original post didn't convey that. Here in most of the states discover scuba is did in a pool. but on most of the islands it done in a short pool session, and then taking out on a shallow dive. How to properly set up gear isn't taught. I think that's common practice no matter how are where they teach it. Most dive shops, dive clubs, and dive ops are doing it now.

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[pink_fins]

After just coming back from Jamaica for a destination wedding. I have to say I liked the diving.
We stayed at the Jewel Runaway bay resort and used their dive shop. It ended up I was the only one diving that day. So talk about great service, I sure got it.
I had taken my reg, fins wetsuit,mask and rented a bc. I haven't used a weight belt in years (I dive backplate/wings) so had to contend with that but all was fine.

As I was gearing up on the boat, I asked the dive master how long to dive site. He said 3 minutes. YES ! Did the ole back flip (hate those entries LOL)
Dropped down to a nice clear ocean. Followed the line down to 47 feet and approached the canyons.

When reading this you have to understand I am from northern WI and if we see any fish we are happy

Dive master started feeding fish. (I sorta hate that). so I just turned towards the coral. The reefs had color here and there. I remember seeing a few anemones, but no Nemos.
Feather dusters, Christmas tree worms, staghorn coral, sea fans and tube, vase sponges.

Fish ranged from those seargent majors, some angels, parrot fish, flounder etc. Also saw a starfish, half hidden in some coral.

I am glad I did the one dive. Maybe I didn't see a lot but the water was clear and warm. And I checked off one more spot in my log book.

 

[BettyfromToronto]

We visit Couples Negril every September. We love that it is an AI and we get totally pampered. Nice too that Couples is just that. Couples only so no kids or partying singles.

It is a very nice plus that the diving is included. 2 dives a day. Deep at 9am and shallow at 1pm. Love that they take out the people doing the resort course AND the full PADI OW at 11am so they are not on the same boat with us. They do the intro course every Mon-Fri morning and it gets booked up fast as it is free.

The diving is not comparable to Cozumel (our usual dive trip) but it is nice enough and there are no real currents so we can play with the camera to get better pictures. Looking forward to this September's trip as hubby bought a LED video light (on our recent trip to Grand Cayman) to add to his strobe set-up.

Also...because we usually do 4 dive trips a year; we are thinking of maybe not doing every afternoon dive this time around so we can enjoy some of the other things that are included free at Couples. Like sailing, water skiing, paddle boarding, play bocce ball, etc. etc)

I wouldn't go to Jamaica for a dive only trip; but if you are there and can dive - do it.

Betty