Jamaica vacation

Hello,

I'm planning a 2 weeks vacation in Jamaica for next may in "Beaches Sandy
Bay Negril". I'm wondering if someone could tell me more about the
destination and the resort.
What about the diving equipment lent by the scuba diving club? Is it well
maintained or should I bring my own equipment?
I've read on the hotel's web site (http://www.beaches.com/general/scuba.cfm)
that I can rent an underwater camera. Is it a film or digital camera?

Any feedback would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
--
Daniel

I'll bet you that it's not a digital. Chances are it's something like

a Sea&Sea Reefmaster 35mm point and shoot, most likely w/o
a strobe. Doesn 't take bad pics though. May or may not come
with the "first" roll of film. Film is expensive in "da islands mon"
so take your own. For example, a USA Today newspaper that's
a day old I saw was $3 in the stores there.

I haven't been to Beaches, but have other resorts in Negril and
never had any problems with their equipment. It's typically a
regular BC and standar regulator/octopus/gauges set. Weights
aren't integrated in the BC but using weight belts.

You'll most likely want to take your own mask and fins as they
are the cheap "snorkel" variety. Snorkle fins will wear you out
while diving. Some for taking your own wetsuit or shortie, unless
you want to wear one of theirs that 500 people have already
pee'd in .

Expect no other "thrills" in their equipment also. So if you want
gloves, mask defog, etc, you need to bring it.


One other thing... Beaches and Sandals aren't "geared" towards
hard core divers and have "resort course" and beginner divers on
all the trips. This means you'll be visiting a lot of shallow dive
sites with people who will suck their tanks empty quickly.
They also typically do lots of "1 tank dive trips" instead of
two tank or 3 tank dives. This is what you get with "resort trip
diving" The good thing about these on tak dive trips is that for
the most part the dive boat doesn't leave until 9am, so you can
sleep in a little. Most/all of the trips will be DiveMaster "lead".
Also don't expect Nitrox or any thing else "fancy".

Hope this helps some. Email me directly if you have questions.
(remove the _nospam from email address).

-mike

"Daniel Millour" <daniel.millour[Remove_This]@free.fr> writes:
> Hello,
>
> I'm planning a 2 weeks vacation in Jamaica for next may in "Beaches Sandy
> Bay Negril". I'm wondering if someone could tell me more about the
> destination and the resort.
> What about the diving equipment lent by the scuba diving club? Is it well
> maintained or should I bring my own equipment?
> I've read on the hotel's web site (http://www.beaches.com/general/scuba.cfm)
> that I can rent an underwater camera. Is it a film or digital camera?
>
> Any feedback would be most appreciated.

The one dive I had in Jamaica featured the most brilliant coral I'd
ever seen--because there was a living thing in the water to eat on it.
The locals have fished the hell out of the surrounding waters, and if
your experience mirrors mine, you won't see hardly any non-coral
sealife.

Also wear your thickest of skins should you venture into the towns in
Jamaica. A prerecorded loop of "no thank you" to constant harranguing
for a braid for your hair, or a ice cold coke, or a taxi, or jerk
chicken is also helpful.

Myself, I won't be back to Jamaica. With all the invasive sales
pressure you encounter everywhere, I left feeling it was the most
beautiful used car lot I'd ever visited. If you stay on an all
inclusive resort though, insulated from the towns, your experience is
likely to be much better.

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

> Also wear your thickest of skins should you venture into the towns in
> Jamaica. A prerecorded loop of "no thank you" to constant harranguing
> for a braid for your hair, or a ice cold coke, or a taxi, or jerk
> chicken is also helpful.
>
>
> Myself, I won't be back to Jamaica. With all the invasive sales
> pressure you encounter everywhere, I left feeling it was the most
> beautiful used car lot I'd ever visited. If you stay on an all
> inclusive resort though, insulated from the towns, your experience is
> likely to be much better.

I gotta agree with the above. The people in Jamacia that
are trying to sell something are a pain in the ass. Best thing
is to avoid those areas. If you go, just ignore them and
don't even bother to make eye contact. If they think they've
got your attention, that's when they pressure you more. If
you ignore you, they'll move on to the next "sucker".
If/when I go back to Jamacia, I wouldn't even bother leaving
the resort for the most part.

Going on the "resort" operated excursions off the property
will sheild you from some of that (but not all of it), if you want
to leave the property. Otherwise, hire a driver for the day
to take you places. You can arrange this through your
resort. It's money well spent.

But in all reaility, Cozumel is getting almost that bad. You
can't walk down the main street in San Miguel w/o somebody
in front of some store trying to pressure you to buy something.

mike_sutton_nospam@yahoo.com wrote:

> But in all reaility, Cozumel is getting almost that bad. You
> can't walk down the main street in San Miguel w/o somebody
> in front of some store trying to pressure you to buy something.
>

They call me Sr. Whiskers :)

--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'

> They call me Sr. Whiskers :)


I gotta ask... why?

Hopefully they don't think you look like a Cat fish or nurse shark?

mike_sutton_nospam@yahoo.com wrote:

>
>> They call me Sr. Whiskers :)
>
>
>
> I gotta ask... why?
>
> Hopefully they don't think you look like a Cat fish or nurse shark?
>

Salt n' pepper goatee. To be honest, I've been called worse, a lot
worse, so it's considered it a term of endearment because they're just
trying to stroke me like a harp, which works about as well as me
morphing into a catfish or a nurse shark. Not that that wouldn't be an
improvement! :)

--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'