Jamaica, Jamaica > Reviews (3)

The highlight by far of my recent trip to Jamaica was the diving.

We were staying in just outside Ocho Rios, and prior to arrival, I had contacted Resort Divers by email to arrange some dives.

The shop is based in the Island Plaza in Ocho Rios, and the dive centre itself is based in the Shaw Park Hotel.

We booked a package of 10 dives for a reasonable $25 a dive.

All the diving was from a boat, and not a crowded cattle truck of a boat either. Small groups, and plenty of room to kit up.

The sites themselves were really nice, very scenic with lots of shoals of small fish all over the reefs.
Among the fish I recognised, were puffer fish, barracuda, large lobsters, really large crabs, spider crabs and the biggest sea cucumbers I have ever seen!!!

There is a small wreck in the Ocho Rios area which we also dived. The Kathryne is the wreck of a 150 foot long Canadian minesweeper. It is easily penetrated, and there are lots of large holes, so you are never totaly enclosed and can always easily get to the surface.

The diving is not challenging, so any techies might find it bland or boring, but for nice relaxing scenic diving, it is almost perfect.

The DM leading the dives Asha deserves a mention as he was great at pointing out plenty of things in the reef that we wouldn't have noticed without him.

The dive center is PADI 5 Star, and everything from try-dives to full courses can be done. Equipment is available to hire. (I only used a BCD from them as my luggage allowance was so tight I couldn't get my own in the case)

The courses they provide are all PADI, but when talking to the DM he was seemed to know about BSAC and was able to talk about the differences between the two. (We are both PADI and BSAC, being PADI DM's and BSAC AI's - currently doing DL)

The Resort Divers website gives a breakdown of all their prices, and the more dives you do, the cheaper it works out per dive.