My husband and I took advantage of the cheap airfare and are making our first trip down in Feb. I have been trying to figure out how to organize our trip so that we can see and do everything with minimal time lost traveling between locations. We definetly want to stay on AC to dive for several days but also want to take inland tours (cave tubing, jungle tour, mayan ruins, jaguar reserve etc).
1. Should we stay for 4-5 days on AC then go back to the mainland for another 4-5 days? I just dont want to have a 1.5-2 hour boat ride everyday to get to mainland tours or to the reef!
2. to dive the blue hole, should be book that when staying on the mainland or on AC?
3. Would renting a car facilitate trips on the mainland or is public transportation adequate for touring?
4. It sounds like renting a villa north of the bridge on AC is a pain, are we better just staying in San Pedro? any good suggestions for a nice place convenient to dive shops and restaurants?

Thanks to anybody who had been before us and can help me figure this out!