Snorkel question

[dheff]

Hi all,
I had a quick quesiton regarding snorkel gear. My girl and I are headed to CTI on 12/5. It will be our first time to a Couples Resort and are so looking forward to not having shrieking children all over the place. Two vacations to Mexico last winter were pretty much ruined by the above mentioned problem. Anyway, back to my question. My girl is a beginner and we are bringing our own gear. I have been to other resorts that supply inflateable/deflateable dive vests. I know she would be much more comfortable with one. I have no prloblem bringing one, but if the resort has them, it would be great to know. Please advise. Thanks for your help.
Dave

[Bruce]

Not only does the resort provide them, I think you're required to wear them - not just for your own safety, but their fluorescent color allows the staff to make sure everyone is accounted for.

[Cleome]

We went to CN last year and they offer the regular life vests, we wore them around our waist and they were fine. there were people on a few of our trips that hadn't done it before and they seemed fine with the vests. We snorkeled every day it was nice. Just tell her to relax her body and breathing when she gets in and she'll be fine.

[jon1963]

Dave:

I did not see any dive vests that were inflatable/deflatable on the snorkel trips. All I saw was standard life jackets.

[dandj]

If you are bringing your own gear and will be going out on your own around the bay, I would bring one for her. I think they only provide life vests for the trips of of the boat. There is some good reef around the Island.

[Chris]

As in many (or all) States in the US, maritime law on Jamaica requires an up-to-date, certified lifejacket for every passenger on a commercial boat (which is what all the boats in the Couples fleet are). It is recommended for everyone on the snorkel outings, but not required. Lifejacket use IS required for anyone using the Hobie Cats and other recreational boats at Couples. None of these are of the inflatable variety.

It depends on your level of experience and swimming ability as to whether or not you choose to use the jacket (or personal floatation device) for the snorkel trip. Some folks are like the fish on the reef, and choose to dive for a closer look, which cannot be done with the jacket.

Safety of its guests is paramount at Couples.

[fw]

Do the included snorkelling excursions have a selection of locations or do they take you to the same spot each time? just curious

[Chris]

As I recall, there are three reefs that Negril's local resorts can take you to. This is done for two reasons... there aren't that many "shallow" reefs off the shore that provide you with the experience; and there is a concerted effort and movement to preserve the reef environment along the Negril coast; I'm not sure of the preservation efforts along the north coast.

If you're a scuba diver, there are also a larger number of reefs to which you have access. Because of the skill level associated with scuba, there is more and varied access to these.

The reefs that are visited by the snorkel boats are a good introduction to the environment. We try to go at least once or twice whenever we go to SweptAway.