Grand Lido Negril, Jamaica in May

[SpiderSense]

I just booked a trip for 4 to Jamaica. We'll be staying at Grand Lido in Negril for a week in May. I know Jamaica isn't highly regarded for its diving, but its somewhat of a compromise since one of us wants a relaxing vacation, not necessarily a dive vacation. my wife and i just want to dive dive dive, but a nice resort vacation isn't bad i guess.

anywho, i was wondering if you folks can shed some experiences on the daily dive life there. i've searched and read, but still would like more info.

we wake up. drag our gear to the dive shop. get on the boat which is parked on the beach. we do a 2 tank morning dive and then maybe charter a night dive every other day. this is what i'm guessing. but what about the details. are there dive lockers? how far do we carry gear?

is there a place to rinse gear by the dive shop?
is there a place to hang wet wetsuits in the room?
is there film developing? print and slide?
any way we can get more dives in?
is there a risk the dive trips get fully booked?

i'm trying to make this vacation as much of a dive vacation as possible.. we'll be packing all our gear, and learning to use our nikonos cameras (me with 15mm, wife with macro tubes).

as usual, i'm just trying to prepare as much as possible.. any tips appreciated!

 

[PUGMASTER]

Hey there, I'll be going to the Couples resort in Negril. 3 days and counting. If you're interested, I can send some info back of the sites and some pictures.

 

[SpiderSense]

sure. i'd like to know what you think of it. any tips would be great. i hope the diving is decent there. and i hope there's a place to develop film!

have a great trip!!

 

[Willar]

No developing at Grand Lido but in Negril is Color Negril that can handle your film.

Diving at Grand Lido is just another activity and is not a focus of the resort. The dives are strictly group dives with limited (very conservative) dive times - maybe 20@90 and 40@60. I'm pretty sure you can only sign up for one dive, one day ahead. The second dive is a crap shoot.

Next door is Point Village Resort. On their property is SunDivers, a good dive operation run by some people I dove with in previous years, Myron and Emilee. Great people. If you want extra dives beyond what GL will do, give them a call. Tell 'em Dean from Hedo II sent you.

Best Negril dives: The Arches, Throne Room, Deep Plane, Green Island Wall.

Be aware that GL lost a diver 1 year ago. My understanding is he was overweighted and/or BC failed, and he jumped into rough water. By the time others realized he didn't stay on the surface, he was long gone with the current. I think they never recovered him. Because of this incident Grand Lido is very, very conservative and overprotective of divers. Expect the water about 84F and vis of 100+.

 

[del_mo]

My wife and I were there this past November.

No dive lockers. Your walk will depend on where your room is. By the nudie beach and you'll have a healthy walk. On the other side, it will either be very close or up to, say, 200 yards away. There are no rinse buckets, but there are some outside showers on the dive building that we (and others) used to rinse gear. We hung our wetsuits up on chairs on our porch. I don't recall thinking about hanging our suits up in the shower stall. Maybe you can, maybe not.

More dives with GL are done at night. Since most of the divers were also there to have other forms of fun (remember, the booze is included), no one took them up on night dives the week we were there.

We missed the morning dive the day after we got there. They said the boat was full. Perhaps after reading what Willar said about a drowning, they had an artificial "full". They took us out on the second dive. The rest of the week we were signed up for the morning dive so it wasn't an issue.

Not to burst your bubble, but this is not a "diving vacation". All dives are guided AND escorted. You will have little time to stop and watch/photograph little stuff. As Willar said, the first tank will be at 90' for about 25 minutes. The second tank is usually 60' for 30 minutes. These are not two-tank dives. They are two one-tank dives. You dive, come back to the resort, exchange tanks, and go out again. Have a chance to grab some H20, or a snack.

Also understand they do a lot of resort-classes and a fair amount of OW classes here. And since you all dive together, that puts additional limits on what you do and for how long you do it. Actually about the only time we really had to just stop and look was while the OW students were doing some of their skills. Otherwise, you were constantly kicking.

What we saw was pretty cool. Tons of spotted stingrays, sea cucumbers, and spotted drums in all stages of development. We also had a southern stingray and spotted eagle ray cruise by. We were treated to a show put on by the male of a bottlenose dolphin pod...tail stands, twists and other cool moves.

Go with an open mind and you'll enjoy the diving. If you get to you your camera the way you hope to, consider that a bonus.

 

[SpiderSense]

thanks for the responses!

the water gets rough there? they lost a diver? wow.. i guess being cautious is a good thing, since we're still new divers.

i was kinda hoping there wasnt too much to see, so i can focus on one spot with my camera and not feel like i'm missing out. but it looks like i may have to talk to the dive shop and maybe take the camera down for one of the two dives.

i've requested to be near the dive shop and not on the nude beach side. i requested the lower level so it easier to carry my gear around. but maybe i need the upper level so i can hang my gear on the patio safer.. ?

no dunk tanks? what about on the boat for the camera? i'm very anal with my equipment. maybe they'll let me have a tank for my room--i like to blow out my reg after dunking.

and yes, its not a 'dive vacation', but i'll be ok with mediocre 2 dives / day with one night dive every other day. i hope enough people sign up. i've already set low expectations on the whole vacation. my wife and i do not drink. and with 3 bags of gear, and one bag for clothes, i dont think i'll bring jacket/slacks for the nicer restaurants. but i'm determined to make this as much of a dive vacation as possible.

man, i'd love to see bigger stuff (i've only been to bonaire). i think i'll have to take one camera with the 15mm on both dives, just in case a dolphin gets close.

i cannot wait to dive.. i almost do not care where..

thanks again for the tips. my biggest concern now are the dunk tanks for my gear. i don't want to have to bring my own!

 

[Willar]

The water around Negril is usually very calm, so don't expect rough water problems. The dive sites are very close so boat rides are short - 5-10 minutes typical, 20 minutes max.

I have always loved diving around Negril. There aren't many big fish due to over fishing, but I do see many skates, rays, turtles, cucumbers, crabs, eels, and smaller reef fish. The reefs have good soft corals and the macro life, so you should have fun with the camera. Be sure to tell the Divemasters that you want to take your time and get good pics and they'll wait on you.

I would suggest taking slacks and consider a dinner jacket. The gourmet restaurant is excellent (so I've been told by several friends, I haven't stayed there). I thought I'd heard you can borrow a dinner jacket if needed. Food is always an important part of vacationing!! LOL!

 

[FireDispatcher]

My Wife and I just returned last week from a week at the RIU Negril.....(just down from the GL)
We did know its not a specific dive destination...but have been before and really enjoyed the Resort.
We decided to take our dive gear with us....
Dove just about every day (2 per) and was verry happy with the guides/instructors from Scuba Caribe..found them very friendly and accomodating and ALL had GREAT personalities which defenitely added to the experience.
The RIU had a place to get changed...rinse and dunk gear as well as a place to hang it to dry.
Was our first OCEAN dives and we did see quite a bit, although...as mentioned by another...the reefs ARE over-fished.
Visability was great...swam with some sea turtles..saw a few rays, morays and smaller sea life...no nurse sharks this time tho.
Deep Plane was great..also enjoyed the reefs and overhangs around the "shallow plane"

All in all, for a non dive destination...we both truly enjoyed diving in Negril.
Met quite a few VERY nice dive companions from other Countries (Italy, Wales, Germany and Austria)...which defenitely made the trip worth while.

 

[DiverDebbie]

Ok, this is weird. I sign on to SB and here's a post about Grand Lido Negril. I did a post awhile ago about or trip and diving in Montego Bay, and now we are planning to go back to Jamaica for our wedding/honeymoon. We were seriously considering the Grand Lido, but now we aren't sure that's a good idea. Shallow is fine, but 20 minutes dives isn't quite what we were hoping for. We'll hopefully have several divers as guests too. Our main priority is our wedding, but hey we are divers so all of you here know that diving is always important too!
Willar and Del_mo, thanks for the posts. I will reply to the other post about Montego Bay and the Decameron. I've just been really busy with the IDC lately. Tomorrow's the last day then the IE is next weekend :11: (so I should go to bed... have to be at the dive site at 7:30)... When I return to Jamaica I'll be an instructor! (I hope!)

Spidersense, since you've been to Bonaire, don't expect too much from Jamaica. My future husband went to Bonaire and thought it was about the best ever. That said, we still had fun diving in Montego Bay (because any diving in warm, clear water is a good thing) ...and Jamaica is a fabulous place for a beach vacation. You'll love it. :14:
Pugmaster, you're already on your way, but when you return would love to hear about Couples. It's also on our list.

So does anyone know about the diving at Couples Negril or Sandals Negril? We want an adults only all-inclusive with wedding packages, so the RIU is out... and Hedonism isn't quite what we had in mind!
Thanks!

 

[del_mo]

After thinking about it more, yes, they do have dunk tanks there. But, because most of the equipment used is rental, you better be quick to get to the tanks before they are full of the rental stuff.

We just found it a lot easier to use the showers.

They have buckets for masks and cameras. The problem is the newbies don't know the difference and will use what ever is closest.

You can borrow a dinner jacket if you want to go fancy. We didn't, so I can't comment on their fancier restaurants.