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Jamaica dive pics. Coral Garden/Throne room

This is the spot to post your trail and trip reports. Please notify [email protected] when you do so that we can feature the better ones on the front of the website.
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Dracan6
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Me and my g/f took a dive trip to Jamaica about a month ago. We stayed at the Samsara resort 'with a dive center on site.' In Negril, on the west end of the Island. http://www.negrilhotels.com/ The waters are supposed to be a protected marine sanctuary. Yet, all day long I could see dudes in hardly sea worthy skiffs, patrolling their nets/lines tied off to soda bottles, from my pillar house balcony. lol

The trip it self was great. The resort was nice. Especially the dive shop right on site. (The reason we stayed there.) Plus the place wasn't that pricey. I would recommend anyone that likes to dive to check it out. Just make sure, if you go anytime between May- Oct. (which is off peak season) Get a room with AC. We had a pillar house. It was awesome being right on the cliffs and all. But dude.... Coming from out cushy AC environment, to 100 degrees in the day and 86 for the low at night, with almost 100% humidity. And no escape from the heat! It was almost unbearable for me. The only relief I got from the heat at all, was a small thermalcline in the ocean, at about 50 ft. Where the temp dropped from 87 to 70 something.



Anyhow, the diving was great. We saw an insane amount of wildlife. Big coral plumes, nice size fans, lion fish by the hoards, moray eel, octopus, a 8 ft southern sting ray ( guy bout ran me over lol), squid, even a sea turtle. Almost every thing I could think of other than a single shark. The thing that realy sucks is. We bought a cheap *** 35mm film camera in a sealed compartment. This guy. http://www.scuba.com/scuba-gear-420/068 ... Sport.html

It was only 30$ So I figured, so what if it dont work, its better than nothing. After getting this trip together, we sure didnt have the cash for a 400$ housing for my digi cam. Long story short. I worked like 2 times out of 10. It seemed once I got below 10m it just wouldn't work at all. When it did the pics weren't that great anyhow. But At least I can prove I was there, haha. Ironicly, I'm in most of the pics. (yellow fins) Most the time I'm the one holding the cam. Guess it just didn't like me. :D Anyhow heres some of the descent pics that came out.



Oh yeah and dive stats in case anyone cares ;)



there were 4 dives 2 consecutive w/ 1hr interval. The conditions were just about the same for all the dives.

Air temp 96 F

Water temp 86 F

Visibility 100+ ft

Max Depth Aprox 20m

2800 psi compressed air

Dive time about 55 mins / dive



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Needless to say I got alot more pics about the water with my digi cam.
17-18 Just a wk at Breck. "Got Oxegen?" Is real!
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KneeDeep
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Did you go to Rick's and go cliff-diving? I was in Negril back in April of 2000.... what a trip.
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Dracan6
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@KneeDeep 217135 wrote:Did you go to Rick's and go cliff-diving? I was in Negril back in April of 2000.... what a trip.



Sure did. was Kick ***!
17-18 Just a wk at Breck. "Got Oxegen?" Is real!
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Ski Bunny
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Nice TR. Sounds like a lot of fun!
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downhillNC
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Please tell me you smoked ganja from the motherland. And drank overproof rum. And ate jerk chicken at some sketchy looking road-side stand. You gotta live like the natives in the Caribbean.
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Dracan6
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@downhillNC 217153 wrote:Please tell me you smoked ganja from the motherland. And drank overproof rum. And ate jerk chicken at some sketchy looking road-side stand. You gotta live like the natives in the Caribbean.



lol of course. I just slept in a resort. The ppl in the resort couldn't believe that I would leave its walls to even to walk to a small store down the road. Let alone eat the food that didnt even have electricity in its preparation. The ppl outside the resort couldnt believe that I was staying in a resort. At the bar a redstripe was like 4$ US shots of rum was like 4-5$. I packed a collapsible soft cooler after doing my research on tripadviser.com. The store 1/4 ml down had ice for like 50 cent and a case of red stripe was around 18$. Appletons rum was 8$ a liter and JB's overproof was 8.50$. Saved close to 500$ easy on drinks alone. Although, to get there I had to listen to dudes proposition me anything imaginable every few ft. ;) After a few days though, they would just walk out with a hand shake,and say somethin like. "Yeah Mon!" or "Ire Breda." BTW you cant convince anyone there, that we actually have to take drug tests to keep a job. Holy **** do I have some stories though.... and pics :D



I also perfected my jerk chicken recipe while down there this time. It was good to start with, but I did alot of questioning and watching. When I got back home I tweaked it up. Time was one of the things that I never took into account. To get it perfect you even need to let the preped marinade sit for a while to blend. Long before you even thing about a chicken. It takes about 2 weeks lol. There is one thing that just cant be supplemented here, to my knowledge. One of the key ingredients, is that they smoke it. (the chicken :P) They use the wood/chips of a pimento tree. I just have to settle for hickory
17-18 Just a wk at Breck. "Got Oxegen?" Is real!
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downhillNC
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Dude, I like your style. Sounds like you did it right and had a great time way beyond the walls of the resort, thank god. Gotta branch out and see how it is in the real world. Paradise ain't perfect, but it's fun to experience everything. In Jamaica, you have to stay at a resort for safety. I like the BVI so much because you can stay anywhere and it's all good. Don't have to imprison yourself at night, etc.



We do the same thing in the islands. Get beer/liquor, mixers, snacks, etc. at the local store. Saves so much $$$ from getting drinks at the bar all day, every day.



And you're exactly right on the pimento wood when smoking the jerk chicken. It makes all the difference. You should try a Mesquite/Hickory blend when you smoke. Very nice. Or a fruit wood like apple. mmmmmmgood.
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KneeDeep
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The jerk chicken from one of the roadside stands in Negril is quite possibly the best food I've ever eaten... especially at 3:00am.
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dreamnofpow
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Has anyone jumped at Rick's? Getting married on 7 mile beach in the Fall.
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KneeDeep
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^^^ Yep, I did it a long time ago (spring break in '00). It's a blast... just make sure to close your legs. ;)
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