Ocho Rios

Every dive here starts with a boat. The reefs lie close to shore, so the ride out is short, and the boats work a pool of more than two dozen sites spread across a single fringing reef shelf. The dive centres pick divers up from hotels and villas around the town. Night dives run on several sites, Dickies Reef among them.

The shelf is large and intricate. Its inshore sites are shallow reef, and on the northern side it ends at a drop-off. Ochi Wall, Coral Garden Wall and The Mountains are among its named reef dives. The SS Kathryn sits beside the Kathryn Caverns, so a single dive mixes wreck and cavern, and experienced divers can go inside the wheelhouse. Hard and soft corals and sponges cover the reef, with rays, turtles, nurse sharks and reef fish over it.

The mix of shallow and deep sites makes Ocho Rios a fair choice for a group of beginners and experienced divers: beginners stay on the shallow inshore reefs while experienced divers take the drop-off, the Kathryn and its caverns. The area is one of Jamaica's oldest marine protected areas, and visibility is good year-round, though rain can cut it in the wet season. Devil's Reef and the Kathryn ask for advanced or deep certification and experience rather than a first course.