Going to Jamaica/Carribean - need some help!

[happyfish]

Hey everyone,

I'm new to the board + new to diving, and heading over to Jamaica for part of my medical school elective. Want to try and get in some diving if I can. Also will have 3 - 5 weeks after that to travel a little so...

If I'm going to dive in Jamaica - where should I dive, what dives, and which operators. I am prepared to pay to go with reputable safe operators. (Will probably need to hire gear - aargh!!)

Also in those spare weeks where and with who would people reccomend.

Cheers

Shaneel

 

[Drew Sailbum]

but it is hardly the best the Caribbean has to offer.

Fortunately, Jamaica is a hub for :fly: air travel throughout the Caribbean. For those added weeks I suggest hopping off to other islands. Grand Cayman is a short flight away, and offers some superb wall diving.

You may hop over to St Maarten and take a short ferry ride to Saba. Saba offers excellent diving in a less-travelled environment.

 

[Warhammer]

Jamaica isn't pristine, but the water is clear, warm, and provides for some relaxing diving. I just got back from there a few weeks ago. We stayed in Negril, again, this time at Couples for 9 days/8 nights. I got in 15 dives while we were there, including 2 night dives, with the on-resort dive shop. I enjoyed every dive, even though the sea life isn't great nor is the reef spectacular. The dive staff was very friendly, curteous, and willing to go out of their way to take us to some less traveled spots. Even went with staff on a few of their dive spot hunts, which was rather interesting. They don't carry resort divers/students on any of the certified diver dives (2 dives per day/1-2 tank on Saturday) which makes it nice to say the least. I wasn't on a single dive where we had more than 8 divers on the spacious 20 diver boat. But I don't suspect you'll be staying at an All-inclusive resort while you're there, so that probably doesn't help you much. I did get in 1 dive while we overnighted in Montego Bay and can tell you that the diving in Negril was better. We had common sitings of Eagle Rays (1 with about a 6' wing span), dolphins, nurse sharks, eels, a few turtles and lots of lobsters and crabs. It's the everyday reef fish that are lacking badly, not much to look for there. But we did see the occasional Raccon Butterfly and such. Whatever you do, don't miss the cliff jumping!

 

[Bigberg50]

I'd head to Grand Cayman- It should be a short flight. There's lots of places to stay. For diving, I'd recommend Dive Tech, north of Turtle Reef on the west end and Ocean Frontiers on the east end.

 

[Bubblez]

I agree. I'd just jump a plane, you can fly either Cayman Airways or Air Jamaica to Cayman, its only like a 30-40 min flight. Cayman offers amazing diving and you know the equipment and operators are very safe.

Do some diving with some of the local companies and definitely check out some of the shore diving if you have a buddy, you can always find one at PD's Pub or Lone Star. You can see some great maps, pics and info on some of the best locations at http://www.caymanislandsdiscounts.com ( go to the shore diving section) Don't miss French Quarter!!! Fabulous wall dive

 

[noshow]

I was in Jamaica twice this year and have dived with pretty good outfit: Jamaica Scuba Divers The locale was the FDR Pebbles Resort, in runaway Bay: halfway between Montego Bay and Ocho Rios.The resort itself looked cool but there were tonnes of kids/families. Great service and decent price. We chose them because they were safe and professional compared to the one on our resort. They are PADI Gold Palm certified. No worries with these guys. They picked us up from our resort in Montego Bay where we were staying and drove us to and from their shop/resort (30mins each way). The equipment was new and the dives themselves were decent. We only did four dives but apparantly there are a couple small ships, a small airplane, and a decent wall dive to 90 feet or so. Talk to either Craig Twell or the other owner (can't remember his name). They do a cool dive at a huge brain coral, "Bighead"; you swim right through it.

I agree that it is probably not comparable to the caymans but there is no need to jump on a plane when you have all that nice warm, clear blue water all around. Do the dives in Jamaica (your new backdoor) and then if it doesn't satisfy you and you have time and $, try somewhere else.

 

[CTurtle]

Went to Montego Bay in November right after getting certified. Stayed at the Holiday Inn Resort. They have a dive shop there & I highly recommend this place...Going out in the ocean for my first "real" dive was a little scarey, but the Divemaster that we had (Dwight) was really great!!! He could tell that I was a little nervous & graceously held my hand on all 4 dives we did that weekend (much to the dismay of my husband). He had a lot of patience with me that weekend, gave me some advice on improving my bouyancy, & showed us a lot of cool things "down under". Anyway, hope you have a great time!


Cindy

 

[clive francis]

hi i went to Negril last year, check my site for photo's.

we dived with marine life divers, at far end (opposite end to sandals) they were excellent.

here is there email address mld@cwjamaica.com

 

[tracydr]

Can you email me and tell me how you set up your rotation? I'm looking for an international rotation for next year. I'm a family practice resident in Oklahoma. (not much diving here) Thanks!

 

[herman]

Hi Shaneel,

If you really want to get in some good diving, hop an Air Jamaica jet over to Bonaire. Best shore diving this side of the planet and great people.