Back from Jamaica slightly disappointed

[Jamdiver]

Just got back from 8 days on Jamaica for my sister-in-law's wedding. The wedding went great but the diving didn't.

1st issue: A cold front moved in on day two and lasted until day six. The dive shop wouldn't consider going out due to conditions. It didn't clear until Wednesday morning, our last day to dive due to flights.

2nd issue. The dive shop wouldn't allow me to put weights in my integrated BC and required me to wear a weight-belt. I DON'T like belts as I am still pear shaped and its always a battle keeping them up. (They were jerks in other ways as well)

3rd issue: I'm not feeling too hot for some reason. Nauseated, light-headed and oveall achy. Sucked down air and for the first time ever was the first to need to surface due to air consumption. (Total time down was only 22 minutes and never went below 65 feet)

End result is I bailed on the second dive not feeling right. Eight days on Jamaica and I only got one dive that was less than perfect.

What are your thoughts about requiring a diver to use equipment other than what they want?

PS... All the other aspects of the trip were wonderful so still able to have a good time.

That cold front that came in last week also forced me to cancel my dive, another one is threatening to do the same for tomorrow.

Sorry to hear about your experience with the dive op, did you try going out with another one instead??
Where did you stay btw?
They're a couple of pretty reputable dive ops on the north coast.

However with the cold front most would have opted to cancel dives during the period of poor weather.
15-20 knot winds and >2.0 meter waves are generally not condusive to diving.

By the way when I saw the title and in this forum, I thought you had gotten bent or something!
Glad you're ok.

DSAO.

 

[carldarl]

Question about the boat set-up.

Did this boat require you to remove your gear in the water (And hand it up) or could you just step up the ladder with your gear (Minus fins) on?

I'm not sure why it would make a difference but they required we hand up weightbelts first then BC/Tank then fins. I could have just as easily (easier in fact) handed up weight pouches.

I did forget to mention one comment. They said that allowing integrated BC's was how they lost weights. To this I replied, "that's easy, I lose your weight I pay for them" but no go.

Not getting to dive was a bummer but I convinced my wife we just have to make another trip later this year now. I'm thinking Roatan or Belize again. Maybe Cayman???

 

[stevenq99]

same thing happened to me the last time I was in Jamaica storm blue through. only got in 2 dives in a week. Better luck next time.

 

[carldarl]

Sorry to hear about your experience with the dive op, did you try going out with another one instead??
Where did you stay btw?
They're a couple of pretty reputable dive ops on the north coast.

However with the cold front most would have opted to cancel dives during the period of poor weather.
15-20 knot winds and >2.0 meter waves are generally not condusive to diving.

DSAO.

Jamdiver... You have a truly beautiful island. We spent a few minutes thinking "can we retire yet?" but quickly came to the conclusion, not yet.

We stayed at Breezes Runaway Bay as the wedding we attended was there. Trying to coordinate dives for four with each having their own ideas of the ideal vacation didn't allow me to scramble off-site.

The resort dive-op personnel were less than helpful. Each day we had to check in at 8:45 to see if we were diving. Even the last day when we did go out, at 8:30 they told me "come back at 8:45 and we'll tell you then." So, planning each day was difficult since we had no way of knowing what we'd be doing.

I learned a valuable lesson and won't plan to dive working through a resort dive-op in the future.