Ocho Rios

Any good diving there, or should I leave my gear at home? For that matter
is there any good diving in Jamaica at all these days?

in article yNVVa.126072$Io.10720695@newsread2.prod.itd.earthl ink.net, Da
Parrot-chick at just@sk.me wrote on 7/30/03 1:21 PM:

> Any good diving there, or should I leave my gear at home? For that matter
> is there any good diving in Jamaica at all these days?
Dead reefs below water.......lots of reefer above..... Not the best Island
to pick for diving, that is for sure. Your attitude and general
open-mindedness will predicate the level of fun above the water line.

I enjoyed the 3 X there......

Mtbchip

"Da Parrot-chick" <just@sk.me> wrote in message
news:yNVVa.126072$Io.10720695@newsread2.prod.itd.e arthlink.net...
> Any good diving there, or should I leave my gear at home? For that matter
> is there any good diving in Jamaica at all these days?
>

Been to Ocho 3 times, dove once. Dove Coral Garden and Carib Trench.
Although I had read about the quality of diving there, I just wanted to say
I dove Jamaica. It was everything I expected......lifeless.

Jeff

"Da Parrot-chick" <just@sk.me> wrote in message news:<yNVVa.126072$Io.10720695@newsread2.prod.itd. earthlink.net>...
> Any good diving there, or should I leave my gear at home? For that matter
> is there any good diving in Jamaica at all these days?


I've been to Ocho Rios, Montego bay, and Negril.
And also have heard negative things about diving in Jamacia

We didn't dive in Ocho Rios, because of scheduling problems....
But the water there wasn't "clear" at the beach. If you were
chest deep, you could barely see your feet. So I wasn't
that worried about the diving, or lack of. I had not heard
good things about it anyway.

In Negril, or actually north of Negril, the diving was surprisingly
very good. Great visisbility. Very good reef life, lots of
fish and creatures in the reefs. I was very happy with the diving there
and would do it again. So if you go for diving, I would
say this is much better. It was as good in places as some
of the sites I'd been to in other spots of the Caribbean.


The beaches were also much prettier in Negril. white powder sand and
crystal clear water.

There's not much to do in tourist activies to do in either location.
The big item in Ocho Rios is Dunn's River Falls. It's well worth
doing. Take and old pair of tennis shoes to get wet. There is
also Plantation tour. It was 'neat' but not exciting. Kinda like
a school fieldtrip. You can also go horseback riding, other type
tours. Negril's big attraction are it's beaches. It's also popular
with the Spring Break college crowd that time of year, and the bars
are packed with spring breakers. They seem to set up makeshift bars
just for that event for a few weeks a year. There is a duty free shopping
complex in Negril near the resort area also. The other 'big attraction'
is Rick's Cafe. It's a cafe/bar on the cliffs where local kids jump
or dive in the waters for tips. It's a great place to view the
sunset. It's neat to visit once maybe, but not worth a 2nd trip.
Drinks are high priced, it's very overcrowded with standing room only,
and due to the crowdedness, the service lacks.

Most of the activities at both these resort areas simply are to
remain in the resort and enjoy it's amenities. :)

hope that helps some.

I've done about 20 dives in the Ocho Rios area - out on the walls the vis
was excellent (80-100') and the coral was ok deep. Now the fish were another
matter - very scared little fish - why? Get up at sunrise and see how the
locals (it is their island) figure what's for dinner!
Mike

"Mike A" <mikeleesa@comcast.net> wrote in message news:<tqlWa.36060$Ho3.6600@sccrnsc03>...
> I've done about 20 dives in the Ocho Rios area - out on the walls the vis
> was excellent (80-100') and the coral was ok deep. Now the fish were another
> matter - very scared little fish - why? Get up at sunrise and see how the
> locals (it is their island) figure what's for dinner!


I hear that's why some of their reefs are so damaged.
from the explosion of "dynamite fishing"

Hi!

We dived in Runaway Bay with Jamaqua and while it was nice and warm with
good vis the life was good but not spectacular. Runaway bay is about a 15
min drive from Ocho Rios.. jamaqua were very good and reasonable (2yrs ago)
might be worth a look - nice boats for diving from.

Ka
www.diveology.com - Learn & Explore

"Da Parrot-chick" <just@sk.me> wrote in message
news:yNVVa.126072$Io.10720695@newsread2.prod.itd.e arthlink.net...
> Any good diving there, or should I leave my gear at home? For that matter
> is there any good diving in Jamaica at all these days?
>
>


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One more thought - be careful who you dive with. One dive we had a local
"divemaster" who told everyone in the group to stay on the bottom while he
surfaced from 40'. Then I saw the boat come and pick him up. After a few
minutes I surfaced to see what was up - he said he was too tired to dive (he
looked fine) and we could do what we wanted to! We did.

Mike

mike_sutton@yahoo.com (Michael Sutton) wrote:
>
> We didn't dive in Ocho Rios, because of scheduling problems....
> But the water there wasn't "clear" at the beach. If you were
> chest deep, you could barely see your feet.


Hmmm...maybe its a bit turbid from all the rivers that enter into the
sea there? IIRC, there's seven of them (despite the city's name).


-hh

There were new divers who thought they had hired a safe divemaster to watch
out for them. I was not paid to do that.

Mike