Carib Sands Villa, Montego Bay

Jamaica's north coast has a very diverse coral reef structure. Located on the edge of the Cayman Trench, incredible reef walls begin at 60 ft. and drop down to over 150ft. These walls are completely covered in a large variety of hard and soft corals. Beautiful elephant-ear, basket, tube, and rope sponge are found in beautiful colours of red, pink, yellow, and orange as well as enormous trees of black coral and gorgonia. The walls have many overhangs and ledges for you to explore and see lobster, king crab, green and spotted moray eels, and a host of other marine creatures.

Furthest west, Negril offers some of the calmest diving anywhere, with many caverns and caves. The Throne Room should be on every diver's wish list, with a 40-foot-wide cavern at 65 feet, filled with giant yellow sponges reaching all the way to the floor of the cavern.

Other popular dives include Rock Cliff Reef with Millie the moray; Sharks Reef (nurses); and The Arch, with lots of well-photographed red sponges. Like much of the north coast, the dozens of excellent resorts with dive facilities make the underwater part of Jamaican exploration easy.

The Montego Bay area (just call it MoBay) is probably the busiest part of the island for divers. MoBay's diving attraction includes a pilot program of the newly-formed Protected Areas Resource Conservation Project (PARC).

The Montego Bay Marine Park was established in May 1990 to preserve and manage Montego Bay's marine resources for the benefit and enjoyment of all its visitors. The park encompasses an area stretching from the Donald Sangster International Airport to the Great River, including all of the major reef tracts in Montego Bay. 

The most famous of MoBay's dive outings is Widowmaker's Cave. Divers enter the cave at about 80 feet and enjoy a pretty rise through the cave to a chimney 10 feet wide and an exit about 35 feet below the surface. It's worth several return trips, if possible.

Further east is the Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory of the West Indies, the largest reef ecology lab in the world. It's run by Peter Gayle, the lab's diving officer and JADO safety officer, and is a great north coast outing for any interested diver.

Just west of Ocho Rios (just call it Ochi), Runaway Bay offers some of the island's best diving. Most of it is wonderfully close to shore. Try Shipwreck Reef (the sponges are great for photographers); Spanish Anchor; Canyon (a pair of parallel walls of large tube sponges, sea whips, and plate coral); and Ricky's Reef (at 90 feet, with lots of gorgonians and large lettuce coral). Silver Spray is one of the most popular shallow night dives.

The island's newest dive site was created last year by the sinking of a ship in Ocho Rios. The operators of Fantasy Divers created an artificial reef by sinking the Canadian mine sweeper "Kathryn" off the coast of St. Mary, about a mile east of the mouth of the White River.

Ultimately, the artificial reef project is to be developed into a marine garden. The dive site was also created to preserve and build coral reefs, build a habitat for fish breeding, help the fishing industry, as well as protecting the beach.

The ship was acquired by Jamaica many years ago and used as a cargo vessel and "mother" fishing boat. It was acquired by Fantasy Divers and Water Sports when it fell into disrepair. The project was undertaken with the cooperation of the Natural Resources Conservation Division, the Fisheries Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Port Authority.

Along the history-steeped south coast, there is a possibility of eventually gaining permission to dive on Port Royal's sunken city, devastated after the earthquake of 1692 (just outside Jamaica's capital, Kingston). It's just a part of the cultural background that continues to draw tourists (and divers) to Jamaica.