White house Jamaica

[Bonesdoc]

I know there is an Old post about White House, But we are planning on going there in March of 2016. I am wanting to get some recent information about the White House Sandals diving. I understand its not a hot dive spot but we still are looking forward to it.
I plan on bringing My fins, Mask and reg, only. Is that a good idea here?
Thanks
bonesdoc

 

[PADI Travel]

Hi Bonesdoc,

The Sandals Whitehouse Resort offers something for everyone. The dive masters are great at making sure everyone enjoys the dive, whether you are a beginner or an experienced diver. Your fins, mask and regulator should be the perfect amount of gear. Their rental equipment for the rest of your kit will suffice for your needs. If you’d like to take a look at some other diver reviews of Sandals Whitehouse, you can check out our page on this resort: https://diviac.travel/dive-resort/negril/sandals-whitehouse/#overwiev

Have a great trip!

 

[Bonesdoc]

Thank you for your reply. Do you also know the water temp the first week of March.

 

[Tony66]

My wife and I went to Sandals WH about a year and a half ago. Great place, nothing we didn't like. The trip from the airport to WH is a pretty long drive but great to see the small towns and countryside. The dive shop is very well run and staffed with folks that really understand about taking care of their guests. The rental gear is a well used but worked fine. They don't offer computers. My wife took her OW certification there and really enjoyed her instructor. I've heard about questionable instructors at resorts but I feel my wife was well taught with focus on diving safely. Diving is included in the AI package. When we were there (MAY) they went out twice a day. I think the times were 9AM and 11AM. You do need to make reservations the day before. The first was a 5 minute boat ride to a shallow reef (maybe 30') Not a whole lot of wildlife and the reefs are in pretty bad shape but you can actually see them "coming back" The late morning dives were a little more advanced, deeper and/or drift dives, one was a mini wall dive with max depth of just over 60' We dove in swim suits and I found that I got a little chilly toward the end of my dives. Water temps were probably in the high 70's, low 80's in late May. It was the rainy season so viz wasn't the greatest due to the run-off. Maybe 40-50'

I would go back to Sandals WH but not for the diving. However I if were there I would certainly get in few dives in.

Hope this helps, have a great time!

 

[rhwestfall]

while you don't go to Jamaica to dive, you can dive while in Jamaica.......

 

[ibj40]

while you don't go to Jamaica to dive, you can dive while in Jamaica.......

I'll respectfully disagree.

My wife and I just got back from a week in Negril (our fourth trip since 2003), with three days dedicated to diving. I have to say that the diving has improved every time we've been back, and, in my humble opinion, I now would consider Negril as a dive destination.

All we need to do is reflect back on the healthy reefs with an abundance of huge barrel sponges and a wide variety of other colorful soft corals, combined with a school of close to 100 juvenile Grey Angels, and the free-swimming Spotted Eagle Ray during the safety stop of our last dive to make us want to go back, just for the diving.

 

[rhwestfall]

Less than a month and a half ago I too was in Negril...

Will I enjoyed it immensely (though weather limited us to a single shore dive on the Samsara house reef), it is far from a destination. Yes, we too had the encounter with a spotted eagle ray, saw dolphins, and enjoyed the time, but it is a far step from vibrant. The sight of fishermen providing for their families (easily 15 - 20 boats daily) right offshore results in no large fish. It may be better than you saw before, but is hardly a diver's paradise....

 

[PADI Travel]

Thank you for your reply. Do you also know the water temp the first week of March.

Hi again Bonesdoc!

You can expect the water to be approximately 27.1C during the first week of March. You might find the weather graphs on our page about Jamaica to be useful for planning your trip. You can find those graphs here: diviac.travel/d/jamaica Happy diving!

 

[Bonesdoc]

Thank you all for the information, I look forward to diving while at WH. I know there is limited sights to see but truly sometimes just a easy dive is just what is ordered. I have heard the Sandals WH is an awesome place to go. We plan on doing two sessions of diving during our week there. I also formulated a wet suit is in order. This site is great and the divers really help by answering.
Thank you all again.

 

[ibj40]

Less than a month and a half ago I too was in Negril...

Will I enjoyed it immensely (though weather limited us to a single shore dive on the Samsara house reef), it is far from a destination. Yes, we too had the encounter with a spotted eagle ray, saw dolphins, and enjoyed the time, but it is a far step from vibrant. The sight of fishermen providing for their families (easily 15 - 20 boats daily) right offshore results in no large fish. It may be better than you saw before, but is hardly a diver's paradise....

We've snorkeled around the Cliffs area, on two of our trips, during catamaran cruises, and saw very little fish life. I can assure you that if your point of reference for diving in Negril is one shore dive in that area, then you have not experienced the very healthy reefs that you can be exposed to via boat dives.

And I'm not a very good photographer, and don't have a real expensive camera, and these are unedited.