We just got back from a week in Negril where we stayed at the Riu Negril (on Bloody Bay, a bit north of the 7 Mile Beach area). We knew before going that it was not a premiere dive destination, but we had a good time and enjoyed 5 days of diving while we were there. There are interesting things to see and learn anywhere you go.
We dove with the on-site dive op, Scuba Caribe. It's a fairly small outfit which also deals with other waters sports, since most of the guests at this big all-inclusive resort are not divers. The DM's (we dove with Seymour, Mark, Tristan, and Myron) were all great and we felt safe diving with them.
We have all our own gear, but the dive shop (located right on the beach) does not have any gear lockers. The guys said we could leave our stuff and it should be safe, but we were leery, so we hauled it back to our room every day. Most divers rented gear, and on our second day of diving, my husband's computer died (not unexpected, it was old and didn't owe him anything), so he had to rent a reg and BC for the last 3 days. He said the rental gear was OK.
There is no shore diving and no dock for the boat. It is just moored on the beach in front of the dive shop, and you wade out with your gear (not far, probably 15-20 feet from shore). Being a small op with mainly beginner/vacation divers, there are no twilight or night dives, and no nitrox.
In our 10 dives (2 tanks a day) we went to 9 different sites, so we had an interesting time. The water was warm (81-82 F on my computer) and visibility was good. The reefs are much smaller than what we saw when we were in Cozumel, but there was an abundance of smaller fish, including lots of wrasses, hamlets, chromis, damselfish, goat fish, grunts, hinds, tons of squirrelfish, and what seemed like thousands of spiny urchins. During the week we also managed to find 3 flamingo tongues and a fire worm, and quite a few huge sea cucumbers. We saw the odd 4 eye butterfly fish and a couple of trumpet fish, a couple of crabs and lobsters, several yellow rays, a couple of rock beauties, a few parrotfish, and a small black eel. Of course there were the inevitable lionfish - 3 on our very first dive, and several more after that. Sitting inside the Shallow Plane was a starfish. What we did NOT see all week were angel fish of any type, no large grouper, no triggerfish or filefish, not a single sergeant major, no moray eels, no sharks. One of the dive sites was called Shark Reef, and we were told to watch for nurse sharks, but no luck.
The weather was warm but there was a stiff breeze the whole week we were there, and the DM's said the sea was choppier than usual (just our luck) but it wasn't bad really. Most of the dives were very relaxing with little current, but a couple had enough current to be considered a drift dive.
There are only a few dive ops in the Negril area (I think I heard someone say around 7, but don't quote me) and on many dives we did not encounter other dive boats. On a number of dives, the DM's towed dive flags on a reel for safety so the boat could follow us. It's the first time I've seen that done, but I can see the reason when you are the only divers in the area and the sea is a bit choppy.
Most of the other divers on our boats were beginners; people who are doing Discover Scuba out of curiosity or just taking their Open Water. We found it interesting to be considered experienced, since we are just "vacation divers". But we met some interesting people throughout the week.
Deep dives are scheduled only 3 days a week (Sat, Mon, Wed), since so many divers there are beginners. Because we flew in on Wed and left the following Wed, we were only able to do the deep dives on Sat and Mon. On Sat we went to Kingfish Point (96 feet). This site had the largest coral formations we saw all week, and it was just us and the DM. Then on Mon we went to Deep Plane (98 feet), and we had an AOW student along with us. This was fun - I descended right overtop a huge southern ray, I could have sat right on it! The plane wasn't much to see, but there was a huge trumpetfish hanging out there, and then on the way back to shore on the boat, we had a pair of dolphins swimming alongside us.
We saw some unsafe things that DM's in resort locations have to deal with
Overall it was a great week!
We dove with the on-site dive op, Scuba Caribe. It's a fairly small outfit which also deals with other waters sports, since most of the guests at this big all-inclusive resort are not divers. The DM's (we dove with Seymour, Mark, Tristan, and Myron) were all great and we felt safe diving with them.
We have all our own gear, but the dive shop (located right on the beach) does not have any gear lockers. The guys said we could leave our stuff and it should be safe, but we were leery, so we hauled it back to our room every day. Most divers rented gear, and on our second day of diving, my husband's computer died (not unexpected, it was old and didn't owe him anything), so he had to rent a reg and BC for the last 3 days. He said the rental gear was OK.
There is no shore diving and no dock for the boat. It is just moored on the beach in front of the dive shop, and you wade out with your gear (not far, probably 15-20 feet from shore). Being a small op with mainly beginner/vacation divers, there are no twilight or night dives, and no nitrox.
In our 10 dives (2 tanks a day) we went to 9 different sites, so we had an interesting time. The water was warm (81-82 F on my computer) and visibility was good. The reefs are much smaller than what we saw when we were in Cozumel, but there was an abundance of smaller fish, including lots of wrasses, hamlets, chromis, damselfish, goat fish, grunts, hinds, tons of squirrelfish, and what seemed like thousands of spiny urchins. During the week we also managed to find 3 flamingo tongues and a fire worm, and quite a few huge sea cucumbers. We saw the odd 4 eye butterfly fish and a couple of trumpet fish, a couple of crabs and lobsters, several yellow rays, a couple of rock beauties, a few parrotfish, and a small black eel. Of course there were the inevitable lionfish - 3 on our very first dive, and several more after that. Sitting inside the Shallow Plane was a starfish. What we did NOT see all week were angel fish of any type, no large grouper, no triggerfish or filefish, not a single sergeant major, no moray eels, no sharks. One of the dive sites was called Shark Reef, and we were told to watch for nurse sharks, but no luck.
The weather was warm but there was a stiff breeze the whole week we were there, and the DM's said the sea was choppier than usual (just our luck) but it wasn't bad really. Most of the dives were very relaxing with little current, but a couple had enough current to be considered a drift dive.
There are only a few dive ops in the Negril area (I think I heard someone say around 7, but don't quote me) and on many dives we did not encounter other dive boats. On a number of dives, the DM's towed dive flags on a reel for safety so the boat could follow us. It's the first time I've seen that done, but I can see the reason when you are the only divers in the area and the sea is a bit choppy.
Most of the other divers on our boats were beginners; people who are doing Discover Scuba out of curiosity or just taking their Open Water. We found it interesting to be considered experienced, since we are just "vacation divers". But we met some interesting people throughout the week.
Deep dives are scheduled only 3 days a week (Sat, Mon, Wed), since so many divers there are beginners. Because we flew in on Wed and left the following Wed, we were only able to do the deep dives on Sat and Mon. On Sat we went to Kingfish Point (96 feet). This site had the largest coral formations we saw all week, and it was just us and the DM. Then on Mon we went to Deep Plane (98 feet), and we had an AOW student along with us. This was fun - I descended right overtop a huge southern ray, I could have sat right on it! The plane wasn't much to see, but there was a huge trumpetfish hanging out there, and then on the way back to shore on the boat, we had a pair of dolphins swimming alongside us.
We saw some unsafe things that DM's in resort locations have to deal with
- people who had not been diving for a long time (2-3 years) who didn't see the need for a refresher before heading out into the sea
- a couple who swam off on their own and pretty near turned the dive into a "search and rescue" mission
- a certified diver who did not know how to set up her equipment or how much weight she needed
Overall it was a great week!
