Ocho Rios in the north of Jamaica is one of the main tourist areas on the island. DIving is pretty good with a nice Katherine wreck that was sunk on purpose for helping to create a reef for divers, and very impressive reef formations. Video has the highlights.

We dove it in May of 2023 and then in May of 2024. Major bleaching took place all around the Caribbean starting in August 2023. And then in winter of 2024 major storms hit the area. We could clearly see the impact of all of these events. The wreck was pushed around, some of the structures damaged and many sponges and other growth broke off. On the bright side, it was good to see that some of the coral recovered by May, though many did not make it.

Logistics

Ocho Rios can be reached in a little more than an hour from Kingston on the toll road. There are many large and small resorts along the coast around the town of Ocho Rios. It does not have a long beach like Negril and you cannot really move easily from one place to the next unless you are driving along the main road.

We dove with Garfield. It is a small basic dive shop in Ocho Rios marina. A couple of big all inclusive resorts in the area also have dive shops. One can also stay in Ocho Rios and explore some of the other dive areas in Oracabessa and Runaway Bay.

Back to Jamaica

Runaway bay is a small town on the bay of the same name on the northern shore of Jamaica between Montego Bay and Ocho Rios. There is a reef all along the northern shore of Jamaica and sections around Runaway bay have a very impressive canyon, nice scattered reefs and a couple of wrecks. Video has highlights from the dives we had.

We read about strong currents (reportedly one of the reasons the bay is called a Runaway Bay). But on our dives we did not encounter currents, though to be fair dive shops avoid diving in currents. The canyon is really impressive. As in other places in Jamaica, we did not see much fish. Reef is algae dominated looking like a weedy jungle with huge sponges. In early 2024 it was slowly recovering from the bleaching in 2023, similar conditions to what we saw in Negril.

There are a couple of very basic dive shops in the area, outside of the all inclusive resorts. One is in the FDR resort and another one is next to Sharlkies restaurant. Both are basic operations. They have dive gear for rent and basic boats set up for diving. For places to stay, there are quite a few resorts along the shore, mostly all inclusive. Runaway bay diving is also doable as a day trip from Kingston.

Back to Jamaica

Oracabessa is a small town on the northern coast of Jamaica, about 20km east of Ocho Rios. This is where Ian Fleming spent his winters and wrote James Bond books. His house still exists, now part of the Golden Eye resort. There is a small marine sanctuary and a very basic diving operation. One can dive right in front of Ian Fleming’s old house. He reportedly snorkeled in the morning to catch a lobster for lunch before getting on with his writing. Reefs come right to the shore and have phenomenal swim throughs. Here is a brief video.

As elsewhere in the Caribbean, the reef is degraded and fish life is limited. But one can imagine what a spectacular site these reefs were back in the day. In 2023 reef experienced severe bleaching all around Jamaica and we have written more about this in Negril write up. It was heartbreaking to see staghorn coral nursery with little pieces of corals all pure white unlikely to make it.

Logistics

The diving is from the marine sanctuary little office located at James Bond beach. This James bond beach is not to be confused with the one featured in Dr.No famous scene when Honey Ryder comes from the sea. That beach, called Laughing Waters, is not too far away but seems to be on a private property and not obvious how to visit.

The beach is not very well developed for visiting. There is a building that used to be a restaurant or a bar also hosting events but it did not seem to be operational. The gate is locked and only because we had a dive arranged were we allowed in.

The road is a narrow gravel track off the main road. First time we were following the directions to James Bond beach down this road we were certain we were in the wrong place. But no, this was it.

The area all around is mostly resorts, including luxurious and pricey Golden Eye. There is also a growing number of condos/units being built in this very pretty bay. One can stay in one of the resorts in Oracabessa, or in Ocho Rios to dive in the area. It is also possible to dive it on a day trip from Kingston.

Back to Jamaica

Port Antonio in the north-eastern parish of Portland in Jamaica has a very beautiful coast line with pretty bays and coves. Many exotic beach movie scenes were shot here over the years. There is a coral reef stretching along the coast and a marine sanctuary to protect it. Coral formations are impressive and fish life shows more hope than in other dive spots around the island. Some highlights from diving around Port Antonio in Jamaica are in the video.

Reef

The reef around Port Antonio has many impressive formations. There is coral restoration work in the area. We saw some elk horn corals. These beautiful corals used to be the dominant species around the coast but have practically disappeared in the past 30 years.

Like other parts of Jamaican reef, bleaching in 2023 affected corals badly. By march 2024 some species recovered quite well, but others did not do too well like these blade fire corals in pictures below.

We dove in Port Antonio with Lady G’Diver from the jetty in Turtle harbor. It’s a small and well-run operation. The boat takes maximum of 6 divers which allows one to enjoy diving in small groups. One can stay on the coast or it also works as a day trip from Kingston for 2 dives.

Logistics and top side

Port Antonio town, the capital or Portland parish, is a regular scruffy small Jamaican town. It was a major port for banana export back in the day and the birthplace of tourism as empty returning banana boats brought tourists from US to Jamaica. Most hotels and holiday rentals now are spread along the coast east of Port Antonio town around pretty little bays and coves. Drive from Kingston to Port Antonio is about 2 hours on a winding road through the mountains and via Annotto Bay. The route is about an hour longer by the toll road and via Ocho Rios. The road around Eastern coast of Jamaica is still a work in progress. It is passable but takes longer as of the time of writing in 2024.

From a base in a resort or rental in Port Antonio one can explore many picturesque beaches and coves and pretty Reach waterfalls. From Port Antonio going east along the coast, there is the Blue Lagoon with recently updated facilities, Frenchman Cove with refreshingly cold fresh water stream coming in, San San beach, Winnifred beach, Boston beach, Long bay beach – all of them allow public access. The coast is where many scenes from Bond film No Time to Die were filmed – including that perfect beach bungalow at the start where Bond has retired to. The house was built just for the filming and then disassembled. One can see the bay from the boat while doing a surface interval. This specific beach is a private property though and one can’t get onto it from land side.

Further along the coast past the Long Bay there is a turnoff to a paved but winding narrow road to Reach falls. There is a parking lot and a short walk away are very beautiful waterfalls.

Plenty to do in Portland on the top side and there is some really nice diving.

Back to Jamaica

Negril on the west side of Jamaica island has the best long sandy beach on the island and some very good diving. The reef goes along the entire famous 7 mile beach and beyond. As most reefs around Jamaica and the Caribbean, it is degraded and algae dominated with limited fish population. But Negril reef has very impressive formations with swim throughs and some fish life. Topside on 7 miles beach is excellent. We dove in Negril many times over a couple of years and video has some highlights.

And here are some stills of sea life.

Most of the reef looks like a wild jungle of macroalgae or seaweed, as it is commonly known. Corals suffered badly from decease, storms, overfishing, runoff and earlier bleaching events. Jamaican reefs are well studied. Findings show that coral cover declined from more than 50 percent in the late 1970s to less than 5 percent by 1990s.

Because of all the weedy jungle, we did not realize there was quite some hard coral still around as reef was slowly recovering despite obstruction by macroalgae. In the fall of 2023, because of high water temperatures, reef bleached and suddenly we saw white spots everywhere. All the little patches of hard coral trying to grow were now overheated and bleached. The extent of bleaching was similar to what we saw in Belize.

Bleaching was very extensive and lasted more than two months. Amazingly some corals were able to withstand it like on this photo below, though majority did not do too well.

In February of 2024 Negril got hit by a storm with very strong waves and big swell that damaged reefs. We were diving soon after and there was sponge rubble all around and seaweed on the reef looked battered.

By March of 2024 waters cooled a little, and some corals recovered, but many did not make it through. Sadly with all the warming keeping pace, risks of another bleaching event are high. Negril is still a worthy diving location with all its formations. Besides, with corals’ future not looking the best, one might as well catch a look of what is still there. Beach on the topside in Negril is definitely the best in Jamaica.

Even flounder pretends to be a white bleached coral on a reef rather than normal blending in color.

Logistics

Negril is about 4 hour drive from Kingston. From Montigo bay where most international flights go, it is about 1.5 hours. The main action is along the 7 mile beach – actually more a 7km stretch of nice white sand beach. The main advantage of Negril is that one can walk along the beach, unlike on the north coast of Jamaica where every resort is more or less an enclosed enclave. In Negril, large all inclusive resorts are on the northern side of the beach. The southern side of the beach and the cliffs side has smaller resorts catering to more independent travellers.

Some of the big resorts have dive shops on site and include diving in their packages. These dive shops allow outside divers (those not staying in the resort) but usually charge a day pass fee to a resort. With diving not being cheap in the Caribbean to start with, this makes it very expensive. We dive with an independent dive shop One Love Scuba. They have a very good boat and a great crew. It is the best independent diveshop (not inside of an all inclusive hotel) on the island that we found.

Beyond the beach, there is cliff side with a few resorts and restaurants. Rick’s cafe is famous for cliff jumping. At sunset there are a few catamarans doing sunset cruise. Or one can go on a more authentic looking vessel – like the one below. Definitely much going for Negril – great vibe, perfect Caribbean beach, phenomenal sunset views, and diving.

Back to Jamaica

We did a 7 day liveaboard around Glover Atoll with a few dives around Turneffe in October of 2023. Here is a video from 26 dives on that trip

Our trip was on Aggressor III. Departing from Belize City we did 4 days at Glover Atoll primarily south east side, and then headed over to Turneffe for a day and a half of diving there. Aggressor as usual was a great diving boat, wonderful crew, great food, 4 dives a day plus night dive, and they let you have long dives.

We saw some cool rare fishes

Due to exceptionally high water temperatures, Caribbean sea corals suffered extensive bleaching in the fall of 2023. Sadly, Belize was also very much affected during our visit. Hopefully some of the reef recovers.

Logistics

We arrived a day before the departure of the liveaboard and stayed in Belize city next to the pier.

On the morning before boarding the ship we visited Mayan ruins of Lamanai. And after we returned, we took a few days to explore more Mayan Ruins and beautiful Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve using San Ignacio as a base.

Back to Belize