Diving in Negril Jamaica

[JCDdiver]

Well the wife and I went to Couples Swept Away in Negril for our honeymoon and had the time of our lives. Everything was great! The best thing about CSA is that diving was also included. We dove everyday we were there except one, got in 11 dives, one of those being a night dive which was awesome. The dive gear the resort provided wasn't bad at all. It had definately been used alot but was in relatively good condition. We did mostly reef dives and 1 wreck dive (small plane). The reefs were in good condition, had lots of fish and other marine life. Got some great pics, I will try to post them later. I have to run.

 

[mike_s]

I agree. I've been to Couples in Negril and really liked it.

While the diving isn't as great as some places like Bonaire, it wasn't bad at all either.

Most people I've talked to say only bad things about diving in Jamacia, but I was suprised that it was pretty decent. I'd definately go back again.

As for Couples, this isn't a dive resort, but if you wanted to dive, it was included for free. At most we had 6 to 8 people on the dive boat (a 36' Newton Dive Special)..... So never crowded. Gear was included if you wanted to use theirs. (Gear was all Sherwood stuff). They did a one tank dive at 9am and another at 1pm. Which gave you plenty of time to relax on the beach.

They did have some "resort course divers" a couple of days, but not many. On Saturday they do a two tank dive with a 90' dive that morning followed by a shallower dive and no afternoon dive. (they do boat maintenance saturday afternoon). They don't dive on Sunday. (off days for the boat staff). The rest of the dives were reefs or small wrecks in 40-60' of water.

Anyway, anyone wanting to go here for a relaxing vacation, it's a great trip.

 

[divekraz]

Something to think about regarding diving in Jamaca. I went to Sandals, all inclusive in Negrill and Ochos Rios during the same trip in Jamaca. We dove 6 days in a row. Negrill had very nice diving, Lots of wild life, nice formations. Sandals backed the dive boat onto the beach, you were diving in 10 minutes, back to the beach/resort for surface interval then another dive. Ochos Rios on the other hand was so poor in wild life and had so much damaged coral we stopped diving after 2 days. I had a hard time believing that just a 5 hour drive away (in Negrill) was great diving. People speaking poorly of Jamaca diving may have been in Ochos Rios and don't realize how nice it is in Negrill.

 

[JCDdiver]

I really enjoyed the diving, I'm no dive god but I thought it was great! Here is a few pics that I snapped. First time with an UW camera so may not be the best.

Turtle

Not sure?

Reef

Lobsters

 

[mike_s]

you can reference the image here by putting the URL in the [img ] http://url.com/name.jpg [ / img] (just remove the spaces


I tried it with your pics, but the long URL name must have whacked it up.



As for Negril verses Ocho Rios... we went to Ocho Rios also. The couples resort had some stupid rule that I couldn't dive that afternoon unless I signed up the day before, so I didn't dive there and we were only there for 3 days. the water in Ocho Rios was much murkier though..

The water clearness in Negril is a huge difference.

 

[chrisc]

We loved diving there. We've dove with Rui, Hedo & Couples. Couples has the better boat for sure. In March this year the Hedo boat ran on 1 motor for 10 days until the part for the other came in. I know at Hedo the 9am dive is the deep dive for AOW divers. For 14 days there was only 1-2 other people on the boat besides us. The 11:30 dive was a cattle car.

 

[vladimir]

I went to Negril one spring break in the '80s. We smoked a lot of ganja (when in Rome!), saw King Yellowman in concert, hooked up with some girls from Maryland, and did some diving. Granted, my memory of the trip is a bit fuzzy, but I remember the music being excellent, the girls beautiful, and the diving...sorry, the diving pretty much sucked.

I hope you guys got to see better sites than I did. If I were in Negril again I would go diving, but I'd never take a dive trip to Negril.

 

[Willar]

If the one and only reason for your trip is to dive, then Jamaica is not the best choice. The reefs have been over fished and damaged but are making a nice comeback.

If you are vacationing in the carib and want to do a little diving at an all-inclusive resort then Couples, Sandals, Hedonism, or Grand Lido around Negril, Jamaica are great choices. Diving around Negril is warm (85F all year) with great viz and nice fish life, good corals, and many turtles. It's fun diving along with a fun surface interval.

BTW, Hedonism II in Negril has the wildest surface interval in the caribbean! It's great!

 

[JCDdiver]

BTW, Hedonism II in Negril has the wildest surface interval in the caribbean! It's great!

I bet. When we were diving by their boat I thought I saw naked women on the bow.

 

[Dave in PA]

I was at Grand Lido Braco this past weekend, mainly to relax, but got a couple of dives in, too. Nice and relaxing, the 9am dive on saturday was a wall/drift dive and the 9am dive on sunday was a reef dive. My buddy and I were pretty much first in and last out both dives. Saw squid, a couple of rays, lobsters, jelly fish, flounder, and what I think was a japanese trigger fish, in addition to the 'standard' colorful reef fish. Very laid back and relaxing.