midwayman
Contributor
Hey Guys,
Just got back from my trip to Jamaica over Christmas and wanted to share my experience with all of you.
My GF, my folks and I all went to Sandal's Dunn's River in Ocho Rios, Jamaica from Dec 26, 2005 - Jan 02, 2006. Im the only diver in the group, and I only got certified in October down in Australia. Flight down wasn't bad, about a 6 hr trip. It took another 2 hours to get to the resort from the airport with the dismal road conditions there.
Sandal's grounds were absolutely beautiful. Probably the nicest hotel Ive ever stayed in, and the people there were all very nice. The room was huge, had an ocean view, and amazing well stocked free minibar. As all sandals, all food and drink are free on the property. Enough about the resort, I want to talk about the scuba related stuff.
First day I got in, the water sports desk was already closed so I had to wait until the next day to go talk to them. Find out that a certified diver is required to do a shallow dive before they can go on the deeper stuff. Cert'd divers get to do 2 dives a day, resort trained (DSD?) get only one dive a day. If you havent been diving in the last six months they'll make you do a pool test as well. Dive schedule ran like so.
9am Deep Dive -cert'd only
9am Classes
11am Training Dive- Classes only
11am Pool Tests
1pm Shallow Dive- Cert'd and people doing their OW cert (though they were in separate groups.)
5pm night dive- They ran one night dive the week I was there. It was $50 extra, but I was unable to go.
Dive trips were all 1 tank dives and fairly close to the resort. IE you dont get to sit on the boat for a SI and then dive another tank without driving back. The way the dives were spread out for the cert'd divers meant you basically spent all day to get those two tanks in. I felt that the 1pm dive time was a poor choice.
Equipment
Sandals has everything you need available for rent. Fins are all closed heel paddle style and the rental wetsuits (extra cost) were scubapro 3m. Masks were real cheapie looking black skirted affairs. I had my own and suggest you bring at least your own mask. The tanks were all al80's no surprise there and most were filled to 2900-3000psi (most of the time) only one had a bad ring for any of the divers in the time I was there. BCD's were basic jacket style and were all in pretty good condition. Trouble was making sure the size you wanted got on the boat as they took the stuff on for you. Regs were a little beaten up, but all worked just fine and had basic SPG/Depth consoles. The Dive boat itself was a very nice newish looking boat with spots for 20 divers with 2 tanks each. For some reason they were'nt taking more than 10 people out, but this was never a problem for me as the boat was never very crowded. I brought my own 3/2 full suit, mask, and fins.
Dives
All dives were group dives. usually 4-5 people per DM. We stayed down for 30min on the deep dives or untill someone got to 1000psi and 35min or 1000psi on the shallow dives. DM's gave a brief run down of depth, time, and signals before every dive.
Day 1- 1pm First Shallow dive. Catherine wreck about 55fsw. My first wreck dive ever. Its a mid sized freight ship from what I could tell. Not a whole lot of fish as its sitting in the middle of sand. DM wanted us to swim through the cabins, but I declined as this was my first port OW dive. My computer stoped working 7minutes and 48fsw into the dive. 35min
Day 2- 9am Conch Reef. Very short hop from the resort. Small wall with lots on sea fans, sponges and the like. Small fish all over the place. about 80 fsw 20min
Day 2- 1pm Catherine Wreck again. 55fsw 35min. Got my reg kicked out of my mouth on this dive, but no big deal.
Day 3- 9am Another reef I cant remember the name of. This was about 60fsw for 35min. Again, lots of sponges, fans and small fish.
Day 4- 9am Ocho Rios Wall. Best dive yet. Saw a sea turtle. This was a big wall. it was wierd being at 80fsw and looking down at the abyss below you and then looking up and seeing how far down you already were. Lots more live coral and fish down here. Schools of fish swimming around. Very cool.
Day 5- 9am New Years eve. Ocho Rios Wall. Sam wall as before, but saw a ray this time. At the end of the dive we found a blow fish trapped in a cage. We rescued the fish from the cage before ascending.
Day 6- Came down with a nasty cold and had to stop diving unfortunately.
Sorry for the Sketchy details, but Im tying this up without my log with me.
Overall I really liked Jamaica. The diving was okay. Its nothing I would travel there to specifically see, but if you're there you might as well get underwater. The Solitary Islands in Australia where I was trained had must denser life. Its true what they say about Jamaica being overfished. All the larger fish at shallower depths are gone. Still plenty small stuff though.
-B
Just got back from my trip to Jamaica over Christmas and wanted to share my experience with all of you.
My GF, my folks and I all went to Sandal's Dunn's River in Ocho Rios, Jamaica from Dec 26, 2005 - Jan 02, 2006. Im the only diver in the group, and I only got certified in October down in Australia. Flight down wasn't bad, about a 6 hr trip. It took another 2 hours to get to the resort from the airport with the dismal road conditions there.
Sandal's grounds were absolutely beautiful. Probably the nicest hotel Ive ever stayed in, and the people there were all very nice. The room was huge, had an ocean view, and amazing well stocked free minibar. As all sandals, all food and drink are free on the property. Enough about the resort, I want to talk about the scuba related stuff.
First day I got in, the water sports desk was already closed so I had to wait until the next day to go talk to them. Find out that a certified diver is required to do a shallow dive before they can go on the deeper stuff. Cert'd divers get to do 2 dives a day, resort trained (DSD?) get only one dive a day. If you havent been diving in the last six months they'll make you do a pool test as well. Dive schedule ran like so.
9am Deep Dive -cert'd only
9am Classes
11am Training Dive- Classes only
11am Pool Tests
1pm Shallow Dive- Cert'd and people doing their OW cert (though they were in separate groups.)
5pm night dive- They ran one night dive the week I was there. It was $50 extra, but I was unable to go.
Dive trips were all 1 tank dives and fairly close to the resort. IE you dont get to sit on the boat for a SI and then dive another tank without driving back. The way the dives were spread out for the cert'd divers meant you basically spent all day to get those two tanks in. I felt that the 1pm dive time was a poor choice.
Equipment
Sandals has everything you need available for rent. Fins are all closed heel paddle style and the rental wetsuits (extra cost) were scubapro 3m. Masks were real cheapie looking black skirted affairs. I had my own and suggest you bring at least your own mask. The tanks were all al80's no surprise there and most were filled to 2900-3000psi (most of the time) only one had a bad ring for any of the divers in the time I was there. BCD's were basic jacket style and were all in pretty good condition. Trouble was making sure the size you wanted got on the boat as they took the stuff on for you. Regs were a little beaten up, but all worked just fine and had basic SPG/Depth consoles. The Dive boat itself was a very nice newish looking boat with spots for 20 divers with 2 tanks each. For some reason they were'nt taking more than 10 people out, but this was never a problem for me as the boat was never very crowded. I brought my own 3/2 full suit, mask, and fins.
Dives
All dives were group dives. usually 4-5 people per DM. We stayed down for 30min on the deep dives or untill someone got to 1000psi and 35min or 1000psi on the shallow dives. DM's gave a brief run down of depth, time, and signals before every dive.
Day 1- 1pm First Shallow dive. Catherine wreck about 55fsw. My first wreck dive ever. Its a mid sized freight ship from what I could tell. Not a whole lot of fish as its sitting in the middle of sand. DM wanted us to swim through the cabins, but I declined as this was my first port OW dive. My computer stoped working 7minutes and 48fsw into the dive. 35min
Day 2- 9am Conch Reef. Very short hop from the resort. Small wall with lots on sea fans, sponges and the like. Small fish all over the place. about 80 fsw 20min
Day 2- 1pm Catherine Wreck again. 55fsw 35min. Got my reg kicked out of my mouth on this dive, but no big deal.
Day 3- 9am Another reef I cant remember the name of. This was about 60fsw for 35min. Again, lots of sponges, fans and small fish.
Day 4- 9am Ocho Rios Wall. Best dive yet. Saw a sea turtle. This was a big wall. it was wierd being at 80fsw and looking down at the abyss below you and then looking up and seeing how far down you already were. Lots more live coral and fish down here. Schools of fish swimming around. Very cool.
Day 5- 9am New Years eve. Ocho Rios Wall. Sam wall as before, but saw a ray this time. At the end of the dive we found a blow fish trapped in a cage. We rescued the fish from the cage before ascending.
Day 6- Came down with a nasty cold and had to stop diving unfortunately.
Sorry for the Sketchy details, but Im tying this up without my log with me.
Overall I really liked Jamaica. The diving was okay. Its nothing I would travel there to specifically see, but if you're there you might as well get underwater. The Solitary Islands in Australia where I was trained had must denser life. Its true what they say about Jamaica being overfished. All the larger fish at shallower depths are gone. Still plenty small stuff though.
-B
