Montego Bay area snorkel advise needed

[LakeTravisJK]

Can anybody recommend good places to go snorkeling within a reasonable distance from the cruise dock? We have our own equipment and are willing to venture away from the crowds to make the most of a short time. Our favorite snorkel is over coral with lot of fish variety, shallow water 5-20 feet. Any recommendations, or local tours that are good?

[mpalmer]

I too wanted to snorkel at Mo Bay, but after researching decided not to. I read over and over that there wasn't much to see. I had planned on going to Doctor's Cave Beach, but changed it to Dunn's Falls. Supposedly Doctor's Cave Beach has the best snorkeling, but it's poor at best...

Sorry...

Mona

[Capt_BJ]

Concur Ocho has never been known for snorkel or diving.

 

My work put me there many times for R&R and I went diving a few times to kill part of a day. Altho the water is warm and reasonably clear the fish were always small and not all that many.....

 

This is one of the reasons Dunns Falls is so popular .... the general water sports are of poor quality....

[sunseeker09]

We stayed at the Royal Decameron in MoBay, which is just past Doctor's Cave. We did snorkel right off the beach there, as a small reef was just a few feet out. We didn't see too much though. The problem is that it's very over fished there. We'd often see Jamaicans with their masks and spears catching what they could. We also dove there from the small boat the resort had. It was marginally better. The diving and snorkeling was much better in Negril, but by boat, not off the beach.

If you do a beach day you could take your mask and snorkel, but don't expect too much.

[kestrel]

Has anybody tried snorkeling at Montego Bay Marine Park? If yes, how's it?

[James in SA]

Has anybody tried snorkeling at Montego Bay Marine Park? If yes, how's it?

We were there on Conquest in September and snorkeled there off the Freestyle Trimaran boat... http://jamaicawatersports.com/

 

The water was clearer than I expected and there were lots of fish. It was not as good as Grand Cayman, but a lot better than I had expected. The $35 pp excursion supposedly only had 1/2 hour allotted for snorkeling, but they pretty much let us snorkel until we were pretty well waterlogged. After that the rum punch began flowing and there was a trip to Margaritaville before being taken back to the pier on the boat.

 

I would do that again to get in some snorkeling in Mo Bay without having to take off on our own on a taxi and deal with push street vendors. We got on and off the boat right behind our cruise ship on the same dock.

 

The snorkeling over the reef at the marine park was definitely worth getting in the water for. I wouldn't try swimming out to it from shore though. It is too far and you can get caught in the current and drift out into the bay. Do it from a boat. The one we used was a great value and we had lots of fun.

[kestrel]

James, thank you very much for the information. We will plan to book an excursion.

[kestrel]

We just returned home from our cruise. We had a great time snorkeling at Montego Bay Marine Park. The water was warm, and we saw lots of coral and fish. It's one of my best snorkeling trips.

[Sargent_Schultz]

I was pleased with snorkeling at Sunset Beach

 

[lady in tx]

I was pleased with snorkeling at Sunset Beach

 

 

Nice picture!!! I tried snorkeling there but the water wasn't calm. It was really windy and there were a ton of waves. Maybe I will have better luck this April! :)