Jamaica

[rkij]

Anyone been to Jamaica? How is the OW diving? Any caves?

[Scubastud16]

Been there twice. Almost died there once.....like literally....true story. I've been told that they have killed most of the reefs off by pollution, but I've never been diving there. Sorry I can't be more of a help!

[Garyd]

Some friends were there like 2 weeks ago. Said the diving pretty much sucked. Actually their experience was that the color, life etc. was better on the near-shore snorkeling reefs than it was on the ow boat dives.
Gary

[jmaddox]

I almost got killed in Jamaica too. be carefull.

[Chunky]

I was there in October for my honeymoon.I did a few OW dives while there. The OW diving is not very good, at least on the Negril side. I personally have no intentions of going back to Jamaica.

We passed a couple fatality car accidents heading into the mountains for tours. There is also a cave in the river at the Chukka Tour facility in the mountains south of Montego Bay. They said some divers were there once a while ago to dive it but had no other info for me. It was the rainy season and the river was swollen and muddy so I could not see the actually entrance. The current was also too strong to notice any boil at the surface. Apparently there are quite a few diveable caves there with no real exploration going on.

Martin.

[rkij]

My mom won this trip through her work so I think we are going to go in Feb. and just dive on what we can for a few days.

[FW]

My mom won this trip through her work so I think we are going to go in Feb. and just dive on what we can for a few days.
Hey, if it is a free trip, go for it!

[JDostal]

My wife and her dad have been OW diving there...said it sucked. Reefs are killed off, very few fish, etc.

[rkij]

I almost got killed in Jamaica too. be carefull.

I gotta hear this story.

[Oister]

OW was bad no fish brown reefs my wife said it looked like the quarry we train in.

[rkij]

I've been doing a little bit of reading about the country and am gonna try me a little drink they call "Jamaican Rum." Anyone have any feedback on it. :yawinkle:

[Scubastud16]

I almost got killed in Jamaica too. be carefull.

Well, the Jamaican doctor actually saved my life. I got sick after a botched appendectomy, had massive internal bleeding, and was taken off the cruise ship on a stretcher to have surgery at MoBay Hope hospital. Nice way to spend a vacation, right?

[sskasser]

Well, the Jamaican doctor actually saved my life. I got sick after a botched appendectomy, had massive internal bleeding, and was taken off the cruise ship on a stretcher to have surgery at MoBay Hope hospital. Nice way to spend a vacation, right?

Who did the appendectomy? Prior to the cruise or during your trip?

[Chunky]

I've been doing a little bit of reading about the country and am gonna try me a little drink they call "Jamaican Rum." Anyone have any feedback on it. :yawinkle:

Jamaican rum is usually some random drink that the bartender decided would be nice to try. The only consistent thing with Jamaican rum is that there is rum in it. I had at least 5 or 6 different versions of it during the week I was there.

The reefs are dead and brown. I saw almost no life on the reefs. I saw more critters walking along the beach than I did on the dives.

Martin.

[Scubastud16]

Who did the appendectomy? Prior to the cruise or during your trip?

Prior to the cruise in my hometown. Doctor gave the O.K. to go on the cruise with my family, and promptly skipped town.

[Marc Bryan]

:eek:

[Scubastud16]

Chicks dig 12'' scars on your stomach though, right? :D

[Chunky]

Correction: Jamaican Rum Punch was what I was referring to in an earlier post. Not the rum. I'm not much of a rum drinker but the rum there is OK if you get the good stuff. I hear the Appletons Tour is really good.

Martin.

[jmaddox]

OK so I was in college at ~20 years old and went to Jamaica on vacation over the New Year with my parents. After a few days I had befriended one of the hotel security guards who actually offered me drugs and women the first time we met. Requiring neither I just started asking about cave locations. He was actually a good guy with a wife and kids looking to make some extra $$$. On new years he invited me to his house, which was a two-room shack, for dinned cooked outside on a tire rim fire but was quite tasty. After that, we went to downtown MoBay for the festivities. I didn’t think I have ever seen more speakers in one place in my life. We partied at various establishments welcoming in the new year. Everything went great until I tried to get a cab back to the resort. For some reason none of the cab drivers wanted to take the white kid back to a resort? Who knew? After trying what seemed like a hundred different cabs, and much yelling and screaming in what did not sound to me like any English I have ever heard, my buddy walked up an this cab parked in a parking lot, opened the door and said “Get in mon”. I did, he got in next to me and then about three other people jumped in. The car is packed. The cabbie is yelling and screaming at me along with everyone else in the car calling me things I had never even heard of save my buddy who was yelling right back at them. The cabbie was demanding money, somewhere around $100 US, to take me home. I didnt have that much cash and he said he wanted me to call my parent to bring him $100 bucks before he would let me out. We were driving up and down all of the dark back roads dropping a couple of the others off still yelling and screaming. Finally my buddy said that we were going back toward the hotel and for me to give him the money I had (~$20) and to jump out at the next stop sign and run the ½ mile back to the resort. Which I did, with quickness. My Birkenstocks hit the ground before the car even stopped moving. All I heard was a barrage of expletives radiating from the cab as I was steppin away. Had my buddy not been there to negotiate for me I have a feeling that the outcome could have been far worse. Like I said, just be careful.

Just as a side note, I have a good friend and cave diver that went the Jamaica with her boyfriend around the same time. They ended up at this party with a dance hall band and after a second noticed that next to the stage there was a naked obese lady that was being spanked by a midget with the stump of one of his legs. Other things were being done with that stump that are unsuitable for this forum or for any forum for that matter. Have fun in Jamaica.

--jm

[FW]

This may not seem related, but read the whole post.

On my first trip to Grand Cayman (1974), all the locals were very friendly, and very honest. You could leave your gear bag, with spare gear on the beach while you were diving, and nobody would bother it. There were even some divers that left cameras, and wallets in their bags. I rented a Mini Moke, and when I went to return it, the rental shop was closed. I left it, and left the key with cash for the rental in an envelope stock in the door. I called the next morning to be sure they got it ok. It was fine, cash and all.

I made several trips to Grand Cayman over the years, and each trip we were given warnings about what not to leave on the beach. At first there was only a problem with things like sunglasses, or sandals. Then dive gear, and even gear bags would be missing. By my last trip, around 10 years later, I asked a policeman what had happened to all the wonderfully honest people that had been there previously. he said that there had been an influx of Jamaicans, and they had taught the Caymanians to steal.

[rkij]

From reading all of these posts it sounds like I'm in for a very interesting time :smt081

[Jen]

I went to Negril with work last fall, and I brought my gear. The dives were included with the resort and they did two dives in the morning, so why not. Up here I was looking at a lot of brown gobies....brownish bass, and brown and black perch, with the most colourful fish being the sunfish with a little splash of red and blue so anything was good....and warm water was even better. There was a plane that I was hoping to go see, but we didn't get there. I got to see my first sea turtle at depth on one of those dives and the first dive of the week we were buzzed by 3 dolphins so I can't complain. I have seen better reefs, and I although I have seen more fish in other places, I was happy with what I saw. We did a night time snorkle and watched as the lobsters came out, and even the nurseshark was starting to stir.

There are only certain "cab companies" that are allowed to go into the resorts, and we had to barter with a few of them on price. For drinks...try the coconut rum and pineapple juice.

Have a good trip...

[scububa]

When you travel out of the country...keep an open mind, learn something new, and really expand your horizons...just like what you are doing here, ask questions, get a lay of the land and keep your head in the game...you have to be smart careful, but you don't have to stay inside the resort fence.

If nothing else, you will get an opportunity to see what the consequences of environmental negliegence to compared to areas that enforce marine park requlations and those dang fees we generally hate to pay ;-)

[Squirrel Girl]

Not to bash Jamaica, but the only story I know about it is that a guy I went to grad school with, took a job with the USGS. He was stationed in Jamaica and was murdered. I was never able to hear much of a story, but it sounded like a robbery that went very, very badly.

[mfascuba]

I went to Negril with work last fall, and I brought my gear. The dives were included with the resort and they did two dives in the morning, so why not. Up here I was looking at a lot of brown gobies....brownish bass, and brown and black perch, with the most colourful fish being the sunfish with a little splash of red and blue so anything was good....and warm water was even better. There was a plane that I was hoping to go see, but we didn't get there. I got to see my first sea turtle at depth on one of those dives and the first dive of the week we were buzzed by 3 dolphins so I can't complain. I have seen better reefs, and I although I have seen more fish in other places, I was happy with what I saw. We did a night time snorkle and watched as the lobsters came out, and even the nurseshark was starting to stir.

There are only certain "cab companies" that are allowed to go into the resorts, and we had to barter with a few of them on price. For drinks...try the coconut rum and pineapple juice.

Have a good trip...

You didn't miss anything as far as the plane goes. It's a cessna in 50 ft of water, on the bottom that looks like the desert. I spent a year there for work, dove just about every weekend, don't need to go back. The diving in Negril and the west coast is like the desert under 50 ft of water, the north coast is all dead. The reefs have taken a pounding and will take a long time (if ever) to come back.

I had some friends on the construction site I was on that were good folks, but there were also a lot of thieves. Don't leave out anything you want to keep - it will be gone in a flash.

I was there most of 2003, can't be much better. And the rum to get is Appleton Estate, get the better stuff.

Brings back memories.

Bless and maximum respect,

Mark