kcDiver
July 15th, 2001, 11:55 PM
Well, I'm back from Sandals Montego Bay. I won't waste time here on my overall impressions of the resort (let's just say our second room was MUCH better then our first) but will give a quick rundown of the diving for those interested.
We arrived on 7/4 and I ran down to the watersports desk to sign up for all the diving they'd allow me to do. Since I'd been diving in the past 30 days I didn't have to do a checkout (remove and replace equipment in the pool, I think). My first dive would be the afternoon dive on 7/5. I'm not sure why I couldn't dive the morning dive but that's another story...
That night we had a thunderstorm (only bad weather the whole week!). I was excited about blowing bubbles and enjoyed the sound of the rain pummeling the side of the building as I drifted off to sleep.
I walked over to the dive boat around 1:50pm. The instructors were setting up the tanks, BC's, and regs for the afternoon dive. I got on the boat and setup my gear. I only saw one other diver bring his own BC the whole week. Sandals uses Cressi-Sub regs and BC's and they looked to be mechanically sound. Some looked brand new while others were quite "broken in".
On the quick ride out to the dive site I got the whole scoop on diving at Sandals:
1. All dives are guided by instructors.
2. Everyone begins their ascent when the first one hits 1000psi.
3. Only two dives per day for certified divers (9am and 2pm).
4. Resort Course and OW students outnumber certified divers two or three to one.
5. Sign up for dives 24 hours in advance.
In total I only made 7 dives in 6 days (I was there for a wedding, not diving). The quality of the dives varied.
The first dive was a quick (25 min) one to 40'. Vis was pretty poor, maybe from the rain the night before. I was a little nervous (first saltwater dive) so I used my air as fast as the students and didn't mind only being down a short time. Nice dive through some large passageways between coral.
The second was the deepest I'd make all week. 90' for 25 minutes plus a 5 minute stop at 15'. This was my first wall dive. It was awesome. I could have stayed down there forever (well, not according to the dive tables but you know what I mean). Lots of small fish but nothing big.
The next four dives were very nice but nothing spectacular. Some coral, a few walls, the odd sea cucumber or two, and many schools of small fish. Only saw one stingray to this point. Oh yeah, and a remora followed me around for almost a half hour, trying to attach itself to my tank.
The last dive of the week would prove to be the most interesting. English (one of the instructors), myself, and two AOW students went out on 7/10 for a morning dive. The two students had not dived since they finished their OW class and were a little nervous. Upon reaching the dive site I swam to the front of the boat and did a free decent to 45' where I was going to wait for English and the two students to decend using the mooring line for control. I decended and found a little section of reef to explore. I could still see the line so it was the perfect place to wait. I knew this would be a great dive as soon as I reached the reef, the first thing I saw was a barracuda hovering motionless, staring at me. Then, I saw a beautiful stingray hiding in the sand. Fifteen minutes went by before I saw the three decending the line. We then began our planned dive. The plan was to make this one a drift dive. A large ship was within sight and we were going to drift under it and surface on the other side. The ship was being used by commercial divers to move some cable off the reef for Cable+Wireless. We drifted for 20 minutes or so, exploring the reef and finally reached the cables. Turning towards the ship, we saw a diver working. It was really interesting to see this guy, no fins and loaded with equipment working. He seemed to work so fast, moving between the cable and his basket of equipment. And I can't even estimate how large the lift bag he was using was. He saw us and motioned for us to "move along". We smiled and waved and then were on our way. By this point, 45 minutes had passed and I was at 800psi. A quick 5 minute stop and we surfaced on the other side of the ship. Finning our way towards the boat, I couldn't help be just a little bit jealous of that diver and the time he spends on the reef. I just hope he has time to appreciate his surroundings.
Overall, I have to say the diving was just what I heard it would be, more coral then fish and nice but not exceptional. Being my first saltwater dive experience I had a great time and can't wait to get back to the Caribbean.
The instructors were very friendly and knowledgeable. They gave good pre-dive briefings and always did a roll call whenever there were four or more divers on the boat.
If you find yourself at Sandals, tell Terminator, English, Slim, Fast Car, Robert, and the rest of the dive crew I said hi!
kcDiver
We arrived on 7/4 and I ran down to the watersports desk to sign up for all the diving they'd allow me to do. Since I'd been diving in the past 30 days I didn't have to do a checkout (remove and replace equipment in the pool, I think). My first dive would be the afternoon dive on 7/5. I'm not sure why I couldn't dive the morning dive but that's another story...
That night we had a thunderstorm (only bad weather the whole week!). I was excited about blowing bubbles and enjoyed the sound of the rain pummeling the side of the building as I drifted off to sleep.
I walked over to the dive boat around 1:50pm. The instructors were setting up the tanks, BC's, and regs for the afternoon dive. I got on the boat and setup my gear. I only saw one other diver bring his own BC the whole week. Sandals uses Cressi-Sub regs and BC's and they looked to be mechanically sound. Some looked brand new while others were quite "broken in".
On the quick ride out to the dive site I got the whole scoop on diving at Sandals:
1. All dives are guided by instructors.
2. Everyone begins their ascent when the first one hits 1000psi.
3. Only two dives per day for certified divers (9am and 2pm).
4. Resort Course and OW students outnumber certified divers two or three to one.
5. Sign up for dives 24 hours in advance.
In total I only made 7 dives in 6 days (I was there for a wedding, not diving). The quality of the dives varied.
The first dive was a quick (25 min) one to 40'. Vis was pretty poor, maybe from the rain the night before. I was a little nervous (first saltwater dive) so I used my air as fast as the students and didn't mind only being down a short time. Nice dive through some large passageways between coral.
The second was the deepest I'd make all week. 90' for 25 minutes plus a 5 minute stop at 15'. This was my first wall dive. It was awesome. I could have stayed down there forever (well, not according to the dive tables but you know what I mean). Lots of small fish but nothing big.
The next four dives were very nice but nothing spectacular. Some coral, a few walls, the odd sea cucumber or two, and many schools of small fish. Only saw one stingray to this point. Oh yeah, and a remora followed me around for almost a half hour, trying to attach itself to my tank.
The last dive of the week would prove to be the most interesting. English (one of the instructors), myself, and two AOW students went out on 7/10 for a morning dive. The two students had not dived since they finished their OW class and were a little nervous. Upon reaching the dive site I swam to the front of the boat and did a free decent to 45' where I was going to wait for English and the two students to decend using the mooring line for control. I decended and found a little section of reef to explore. I could still see the line so it was the perfect place to wait. I knew this would be a great dive as soon as I reached the reef, the first thing I saw was a barracuda hovering motionless, staring at me. Then, I saw a beautiful stingray hiding in the sand. Fifteen minutes went by before I saw the three decending the line. We then began our planned dive. The plan was to make this one a drift dive. A large ship was within sight and we were going to drift under it and surface on the other side. The ship was being used by commercial divers to move some cable off the reef for Cable+Wireless. We drifted for 20 minutes or so, exploring the reef and finally reached the cables. Turning towards the ship, we saw a diver working. It was really interesting to see this guy, no fins and loaded with equipment working. He seemed to work so fast, moving between the cable and his basket of equipment. And I can't even estimate how large the lift bag he was using was. He saw us and motioned for us to "move along". We smiled and waved and then were on our way. By this point, 45 minutes had passed and I was at 800psi. A quick 5 minute stop and we surfaced on the other side of the ship. Finning our way towards the boat, I couldn't help be just a little bit jealous of that diver and the time he spends on the reef. I just hope he has time to appreciate his surroundings.
Overall, I have to say the diving was just what I heard it would be, more coral then fish and nice but not exceptional. Being my first saltwater dive experience I had a great time and can't wait to get back to the Caribbean.
The instructors were very friendly and knowledgeable. They gave good pre-dive briefings and always did a roll call whenever there were four or more divers on the boat.
If you find yourself at Sandals, tell Terminator, English, Slim, Fast Car, Robert, and the rest of the dive crew I said hi!
kcDiver