jamaica

[gold4]

I have heard alot of people going to california, florida ,bonaire coz... but nobody seems to go to jamaica...st croix. st maarten...has anyone scuba at these places and what is the diving like?

 

[ScubaVP]

Jamaica is only ok. If you have only dove in fresh water, it is a great experience, but the reef system is pretty deteriorated where we dove in Montego Bay. I believe that Jamaica also still allows fish trapping (we saw several of these), so the fish are also limited. It was a good first time ocean experience, but don't expect awesome stuff like in Caymen or TCI.

Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Spent a week in Jamaica. The diving sucks. No fish to speak of and not much of anything else. Spent a week in St. Croix. Better but not great. I would rank St. Croix a 5 on a 1-10. I would rank Jamaica a 2. I've only snorkelled St. Martin. It was okay but nothing to write home about.

 

[matts1w]

I just came back from Montego Bay a week ago. I would hardly say the diving sucks. You are right. It is hardly anything like Grand Cayman or Cozumel. However, if one compares every place to Cayman then you are right, every other place does suck.

The water in Jamaica was 60-80 ft. of vis and very warm. The fish life was decent, about a level below a usual Key Largo dive. We saw Morays, turtles, nurse sharks, a few rays, and the usual reef fish. Nothing was huge, but the coral was in decent shape.

We dove with Cool Aqua Divers at the Rose Hall Beech Club about 20 minutes outside of town. They were, by the way, great.

Would I go to Jamaica just to dive? No, but it was a great trip for many other reasons.

Just my two sense.

 

[DocVikingo]

You're not paying attention/doing your homework:

Jamaica--> http://www.scubaboard.com/search.ph...d=279091&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending

St. Croix--> http://www.scubaboard.com/search.ph...d=279092&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending

St. Martin--> http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17953&highlight=martin

Best regards.

DocVikingo

 

[gem1]

I dove the North side of Jamaica for my first Caribbean experience.
Enjoyed 3 dives out of Grand Lido Braco. The dive master and aides were great. The reefs appeared to be mostly dead with just a sprinkling of larger fish. (Jamaica is very poor and they trap the fish for food). Did get to see a large ray and turtle, however and a number of large Morays. After I got to dive Cozumel for the first time, I was amazed at the difference there is in a healthy reef. Jamaica - OK Coz = Great!

 

[Scuba One]

While Jamaica does not have the best diving, they have come along way in the past few years. As an example in Negril they have installed pemanent moorings on most popular sites and created a marine park to get ride of the fish traps. Most major dive areas now have artificial reefs (plane and boat wrecks) to dive on.

Most major hotels now use quality dive boats and follow industry standards. Jamaican diving programs are continuing to improve and fill a niche in the sport of diving by providing a combination of world class resorts and effortless diving.

Thanks

Randy Kraft
http://www.divesuperclubs.com
http://www.divesandals.com