Diving wth Beaches in Negril

[oceancat]

Hi. I just got back from a week at Beaches Sandy Bay in Negril. I wound up doing all of my diving with the dive operator at BSB. I think because my expectations were so low, I was pleasantly surprised with the diving in Negril. If you want to do serious diving, don't bother with Beaches, use SunDivers. However, I was juggling a family vacation and wanting to do some diving, so we just used the resort ops. They do limit you to the 30 min. of bottom time and because of the resort divers and classes, the second dive of the day is shallow (30' usually). I was able to get out of the pool test prior to diving since my last dive was a week beforethe trip in Maine. My husband hadn't been in the water in over a year and they did make him do the pool test--just a skills demo. Honestly, observing some of my fellow divers, I am glad they checked out people! I was often back on the boat with more than 2000psi. However, I was happy to just get wet. The fish life was surprisingly lacking critters over 8". They really have been horribly fished out--however, there are lots of smaller fish and critters to see. I saw several eels and octopi. There are not walls there, but I found the topography to be interesting to look at and swim though--lots of overhangs and arches, etc. Once the DMs are comfortable and friendly with you, they are accomodating-we went to the 3 places I wanted to go-Arches, Throne Room and Deep Plane. For deep plane, they dropped off the OW divers to do Surprise Reef and then took the remaining 4 of us (they only took those with AOW or higher certs) to the Deep Plane. Because one of the divers didn't follow directions (hold the mooring line to get down to the wreck, as the current was strong), he ran out of air 10 min into the dive. The DM was kind enough to let the rest of us finish the dive as he floated on the surface with the other diver. I think Beaches is a little too strict with some of their rules, but looking at the skill level of the divers there, I can understand their rationale.

 

[ReefHugger]

Hi Oceancat,

Really surprised that you didn't see any turtles. Also, it appears that you were not fortunate enough to have had any dolphins encounter. For about a year reports of these encounters have been quite frequent.

Oh well, you'll just have to go back and correct the situation!

 

[oceancat]

The day I arrived in Jamaica (but it was too late to dive), they saw dolphins. Bad timing on my part. Never saw a hint of them, same thing with the turtles. We did actually book again for next year, so we will be back!

 

[ReefHugger]

Glad to hear that you so enjoyed your visit, that you are returning. I've been spending the last week of July at that property, now BSB, for the last 15 years. If you should ever plan to be there at that time, feel free to PM me before and we'll link up.

Even though I have been an instructor for some 30 yrs., I really enjoy that week in July - the ambience of Negril and the diving is so laid back and so easy - chilling out with my family (all divers). A large part of my enjoyment is, however, somewhat perverse. Usually, I show a very old diving qualification, equivalent to about AOW. I then I sit back and be catered to for a change. I really enjoy watching the instructors and DMs working - lifting tanks, setting up wgt. belts and dealing with problem divers. Delicious! Love it! I even use their equipment, so nothing to wash.