Mr. Sam Assil, an experienced diver, was our guest in March and has sent this report on his diving experience while he was here.

"Scuba dive in the morning and bask on the beach in the afternoon.  What more can I ask for?

I have been a scuba diver for the past sixteen years with a PADI Dive Master certification for the past twelve.  I have had the opportunity to dive at many exceptional locations throughout the world. Marine Life Divers, located at Negril's West End is definitely worth going back to.  Franz and Ahmen, the owners/instructors are two of the most hospitable, sincere, ;professional and most excellent people that I have met.   They are definitely in their element here.  During all dives that I made with them, it was apparent that they definitely were one with the sea and have a tremendous respect for this beautiful ecosystem.

Each morning I was picked up by vehicle from my cottage and in the afternoon I was dropped of by boat on the beach at Firefly where I stayed.  How nice!  I was pleased that their dive operation was not a "cattle boat" type.  They will customize their dives to the ability level of all divers.  All of the dives I did were with only one or two dive buddies.  One one dive I dove with Franz alone/  He took me on one of the most adventurous shore dives that I have done.   I was so glad that all I had to do was follow and not navigate.  We easily covered between 150 and 200 meters under the water.  We glided past many beautiful coral formations of walls and small canyons with flat, patch, white, sandy bottoms in between. 

Scattered throughout this enchanted world I saw many beautiful fish and sea creatures, many of which seemed to stare at us with an intelligent curiosity.  At 500 psi on my gauge, we ended up right back at the exit ladder where we started.  Franz still had almost half a tank of air.  I thought this man must have developed gills!   Ahmen, myself and dive buddy Klaus did a beautiful and peaceful night dive one evening.  Once again I had nop concerns other than to enjoy the beauty and tranquility of the sea as it revealed its other face which can only be witnesses at night.   Ahmen lead us out into the strong current and then we returned with the current, the reward as it should be.  all the while, we witnesses the sea in its slumbering beauty at night.

All totaled, I spent the good part of a week diving with Marine Life Divers.  The boat dives out on the Caribbean reef were excellent!   A backward seated roll was all that was  required to enter this magical place.  The water temperature was 80 degrees, the visibility was 75 to 100 feet or better.  The average depths that we dove were between 40 and 60 feet.  One one dive we explored a small sunken tug boat at 90 feet.  

I witnesses a variety of sea life from barracuda, sea turtles, sting rays, electric rays, cuttle fish, lobsters, octopus and a wide variety of tropical fish, too many to mention here.  I saw many types of coral and beautiful sponges, many of them glowing colorfully and appearing like delicate crystal vases of all sizes.  I saw for my first time, giant barrel sponges that looked liked smoking chimneys, giving off dark plumes of smoke.  They were actually spawning during the daylight.

The waters that we dove in have a Marine Park designation.  Hopefully this beautiful yet fragile ecosystem shall continue to flourish so that many more people can continue to enjoy it as I did, while I effortlessly glided with the fish on my dives with Marine Life Divers.

I highly recommend Franz and Ahmen of Marine Life Divers.  I had an excellent, most rewarding experience.  Their dive packages are also an excellent value.  I am quite sure that I shall dive with them again.  I shall definitely stay at Firefly Cottages again, they were great!   I could go on to say a lot of good things about them, but I will describe them in six words, Charming simplicity, sincere hospitality and beautiful friendliness.

This sums it up for now, until next time ...

Sincerely, Sam Assil

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