Jamaica - Montego Bay dive / stay review

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dentnshell

Registered
Messages
14
Reaction score
8
Location
Tulsa, OK
# of dives
25 - 49
FWIW, I was certified back in 1995 while in Aruba. My wife and I decided to book a trip to Sandals - Royal Caribbean for our 25th. She wanted to get certified for the trip. Her certification required some 58 degree lake diving ( I went along for a refresher and moral support.)

First of all we stayed at Sandals Royal Caribbean which has a VERY small beach but is also very close to the airport and convenient. We went on our first check out dive through the resort which had all ScubaPro gear
Scuba Pro classic BCD's all in good shape as well as fins.
We both brought our own masks, and regulators. She brought along her own Zena BCD.

The dive shop was great! Dwayne took us on a dive to Traders Reef in the Montego bay area. It had a maximum depth of about 42'. We saw mostly redish corlals - Montipora and such. We did spot a crab and puffer. Upon retuning to the shop we both decided we would go ahead and get our advanced openwater allowing us some more interesting dives. Our second day was a small DC3 wreck that was at about 40 feet or so. Caught a glimpse of a good sized green Morey Eel. The afternoon dive was drift dive, we dove at cheab wall. We went down to 72' visibility was awesome at well over 40 feet. It was during this dive that during our safety stop we were surrounded by a small pod of about 6 dolphins! We did our deep dive at Widow Makers reef at about 112 feet.

We ended up diving 7 different times during our week long stay. Dewayne was awesome, visibility was great. The reef has many fish but the coral life was pretty bleak. Lots of reds and browns with some green sponges. Don't get me wrong it was great and enough to have my wife hooked! Jamaica is working on cleaning things up to help the reefs, but we look forward to diving elsewhere.

The resort - Not a fan. It was small and crowded feeling. I feel like the resort and the sister resort of Montego Bay had staffing issues, every where we turned it seems as if there were a ton of employees on the island but no body to staff the restaurant's. During our week long stay only one time while at the pool were we asked for a drink order. Don't get me wrong we spend a fair amount of time diving and not at the pool. We already planned a trip back to Sandals, but not to Jamaica. All in all it was a good trip. With "good" diving. We got what we expected out of the diving, less than expected out of the resort.
 

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