Dive Review of Dressel Divers/Hilton Rose Hall in
Jamaica/Montego Bay

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Dressel Divers/Hilton Rose Hall: "Sponsored trip to Jamacia", Feb, 2017, by Mr. Rodney Bade, SD, US ( 2 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 9507 has 1 Helpful vote.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	First I would say the value for new diver would be a 4 or 5 as it sounded that one could get certified there pretty reasonably. But for experienced diver this would be a 1 if entire trip cost is considered. My wife and I went to Jamaica on a sponsored trip (free to us). We did not pick the location or resort. We did select the dive shop based on location, reviews and we have heard of them. There was a also dive shop (shack) at the Hilton. If one would use a taxi from the resort to the dive shop it would cost $15 for one way. We walked out to the street and negotiated with a man on the corner who got us a taxi driver to take us both ways the days we dove. We paid $10/roundtrip total for both of us (this could probably be lower, but seemed fair to us). The driver would pick us up at both ends at times we asked for and we would pay for roundtrip at completion of our return to our resort. The boat trip times to the dive sites were generally under 15 minutes. Usually 2 dive masters (guides) with 6-8 in each group. They would keep the students separate from the certified divers. There was no rinse bucket on board for cameras and no safety briefing on the boat. Dive briefing was given before walking down to the boat hauling your own gear and setting up your own gear. All dives are single tank boat dives and were limited to 45 minutes before starting ascent to safety stop. In my past experience, in the absence of a current, one could stay below and be on the boat with like 500psi and not 1100psi. They really wanted to stay on the time schedule. The website shows the dive times of 8:30 and 1:30, but while we were there the boat came back in and would go out at like 10:30 and 3:30 also. The dive masters were all nice, and would point out some but not a lot of stuff along the way. There are very few big fish larger than you hand here. See the video I made here: [youtube.com link] (there is 27 seconds of video before diving begins) Enjoy The Hilton was nice. About a 15 minute shuttle ride from MBJ airport. There was a very large selection of food for all meals. They would have a different theme of food every night. There are restaurants that you can dress up for and required reservations (usually full in advance), but we just enjoyed the buffets. They have a nice beach, lazy river and two pools. Also free limited time use of hobie sailboats, wind surfers and peddle boat. This is not a place I would select for my self as a dive destination. But since we are divers and the trip was sponsored to us, we went diving.
Websites	Dressel Divers Hilton Rose Hall
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Bonaire, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Cayman Brac, Andros Bahamas, Utila, Playa del Carmin, Seattle, Florida, Minnesota and yes South Dakota
Closest Airport	MBJ - Montego Bay	Getting There	We flew through ATL, some in our group did direct from MSP. Then shared shuttle bus from airport to resort (about 20 minutes). We negotiated taxi to $10 roundtrip from outside resort to dive center at Iberostar.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	78-80°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	2
Water Visibility	80-150 Ft/ 24-46 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	The entire guided group had to start ascent to safety stop at 45 minutes. Usually the sand limited your depth (mostly less then 60 feet).
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	no
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	There was not a camera bucket on board. Just a mask bucket.

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Dressel Divers/Hilton Rose Hall in Jamaica/Montego Bay

Dressel Divers/Hilton Rose Hall: "Sponsored trip to Jamacia", Feb, 2017,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Dressel Divers/Hilton Rose Hall in
Jamaica/Montego Bay