Montego Bay, Jamaica dive report

[jasondbaker]

I just got back from a long weekend in Montego Bay, Jamaica.  I was part of a destination wedding and managed to get in one quick dive near the resort.  My wife also joined me for the dive for the first time in 3 years which was nice.

We dove with Dressler divers since we were staying at an Iberostar resort.  I've used this "house" dive shop a couple times in the past when I've stayed at other Iberostar's.  This particular dive outfit was much better than others in the chain. My dive actually lasted longer than 35 minutes. 

The conditions were a bit rough when we went out in the early afternoon.  We had 3-4ft waves and decent surge in the water -- not ideal conditions for the less experienced divers on board. The dive site was a typical shallow reef dive with a max depth around 30ft.  The surge reduced visibility during the dive to around 50ft.  Water temp was around 79F but for some reason felt cooler.  I didn't really see any new critters other than about a dozen lionfish.  These were the first lionfish that I've encountered in the Caribbean.  They were all over the place. 

The diving in this region is okay -- not great (like Bahamas), but not terrible (like Punta Cana).  The region is over fished and the coral is a bit beaten up.  But it's worth a dive or two if only to add it to your log book.