hi to all.. just a word of caution, and i should know better. there is a "guide" who hangs out at Banana Beach, by the name of Earnesto. we contracted with him to take us to Bacalar Chico for snorkelling and the trip was a fiasco...he took us to the ranger station, but no further do to the fact that he had insufficient gas available. so we never made it to the snorkel sites of barracuda, mexico rocks or bacalar chico. he almost ran out of gas on the way back and had to stop at a hotel to ask for a tank full in order to get us 'home'. then when we got to the lagoon he said he couldn't take us to banana beach but would arrange for a taxi to take us there. when we got home, we found that he hadn't paid for the taxi!! to make matters worse Mr Lopez who is the security guard at banana beach said he was reliable and so we felt he was ok. moral of the story---go with guides either recommended off this board or bookem thru the hotel. we thought we would be nice and use a small 'local guy' who needed a break---never again john in denver