Jamaica (Negril) questions: diving, food, expense, etc.

[GO_MNWild@hotmail.com]

Staying in Negril soon and wanted some input from the always good and knowledgeable people here at Scubaboard. It's understood already that Jamaica is not well known for diving, but since I have to be there for a wedding I'm damn sure going to get some diving done.

1. Is it true you can't dive without a DM? even from shore?
2. Anyone know of any decent shore diving?
3. Recommendations for dive shops located by decent off-shore dive sites?
4. Good restaurants?
5. I know traveling the island is expensive; how expensive are food/drinks/entertainment/etc. comparatively? and anyone figured out the cheapest way to get around?
6. Any other nuggets of helpful info or money saving advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks ScubaBoard members, you're the best!

 

[GeneV]

Hi There
I was there last April for a wedding with a large group and stayed at an AI, forgot the name, so about the only thing I can comment on is the diving.
From what I understand a DM is required. We dove in and around Bloody Bay and there was no shore diving, but I'm not sure that is the case for rest of the island. The diving wasn't that bad, interesting reef formations, but not a lot on sea life. And they will only let you dive your level of cert, not a bad thing, but in my case I brought the wrong C-card, OW, and they wouldn't let me dive beyond 60fsw, even though my wife had her AOW card with her.

Hope this helps

GeneV

 

[Scuba One]

Which resort are you staying at? The resorts near Bloody Bay usually dive that area and the ones closer to town will dive the reefs in their area.

Sucba One Travel - Negril Jamaica Underwater photos

 

[GO_MNWild@hotmail.com]

We're staying at a resort on the Negril Cliffs (not sure exactly where that is relative to the city or anything else, the website doesn't say). Thanks for the reply!

 

[ibj40]

We've been to the Negril area twice, once in 2003 and again in 2008. We stayed both times at Couples Negril, diving the first time with the on-site, the second time with SUNDIVERS. We are planning to go back in 2013, and will be staying this time at the Rock House.

Couples is on Seven Mile Beach, while the Rock House is on the cliffs, closer to town. Are you staying, by any chance, at the Caves?

You might contact Sundivers, to see if they will pick you up where you are staying. We were very impressed with their professionalism, and even though it appears they have changed hands since we dove with them last, they continue to receive positive reviews.

 

[mike_s]

We've been to the Negril area twice, once in 2003 and again in 2008. We stayed both times at Couples Negril, diving the first time with the on-site, the second time with SUNDIVERS. We are planning to go back in 2013, and will be staying this time at the Rock House.

Couples is on Seven Mile Beach, while the Rock House is on the cliffs, closer to town. Are you staying, by any chance, at the Caves?

You might contact Sundivers, to see if they will pick you up where you are staying. We were very impressed with their professionalism, and even though it appears they have changed hands since we dove with them last, they continue to receive positive reviews.

Since couples has a nice onsite dive boat (newton 35 I think), and dives are included in your all inclusive package..... why'd you change to another offsite operator that you have to pay for? just curious.

I found the dive operation at Couples in Negril to be quite nice.... however it's very "vacation diver" structured. No dives below 65 feet and dives were single tankers. one in the afternoon, one in the morning. on saturday they did a two tanker in the morning with no afternoon dives.

while it was very "vacation diver" oriented... I still found it a good operation.

 

[ibj40]

Since couples has a nice onsite dive boat (newton 35 I think), and dives are included in your all inclusive package..... why'd you change to another offsite operator that you have to pay for? just curious.

I found the dive operation at Couples in Negril to be quite nice.... however it's very "vacation diver" structured. No dives below 65 feet and dives were single tankers. one in the afternoon, one in the morning. on saturday they did a two tanker in the morning with no afternoon dives.

while it was very "vacation diver" oriented... I still found it a good operation.

You are absolutely right about the on-site at Couples Negril. Good operation, nice boat, great folks, and we did all the dives the days we were there (except the two on our wedding day, first argument I lost, but I'm sure not the last); and the Saturday two-tanker. What we didn't like was the time interval between the two morning/afternoon dives. Walking back to our room after the morning dive, and passing by the pool bar, and wondering what we were going to do for the next two hours was too much. We'd rather get both tanks out of the way, in the morning, and save the rest of the day for R&R (that spells nap).

Plus, Sun Divers dove a little more aggressive profile, and went to dive sites that the on-site didn't (or wouldn't).

We're going back in 2013 (tenth anniversary), and will be staying at the Rock House (along the cliffs, closer to town), but will be diving, again, with Sun Divers.

 

[mike_s]

Thanks a lot for your answer.... we're going back next year and I'm glad not to hear anything negative about their operation. My wife doesn't dive.... and just hangs out reading a book on the beach. so the long surface/shore interval worked out fine for me.

Yeah... I won't mind a little more in dive sites..... but it was easy to live with.

The only thing we'll prob do next time is
1.) most likely not leave the resort
2.) won't get an oceanfront suite. just not worth it. even though it's the closest room to the beach, you really can't see much from the lower level room because of the divi type trees, etc.

 

[GO_MNWild@hotmail.com]

Thanks for the helpful info. Anyone have recomendations on what reef sites are the best?

 

[mike_s]

Thanks for the helpful info. Anyone have recomendations on what reef sites are the best?

on the sites we dove on... I'll have to say they "looked about the same" every day. maybe some of them had higher formations than others... and others were more drawn out.... but nothing that ranked one higher than the others.

we pretty much just went "were da boat took us" and it was fine. I don't think they ever really told us names of most of them. I'm not sure the boat even had GPS. I think it was just "look over the side of the boat and if you see a reef, hop in).