Hector - where you are staying might have a bearing on the operator you use. Some Noerthern operators won't go all the way into town to pick up divers and vice versa.

Phil, good point Its nice to know where they are staying, in the emails I get it seems they forget to mention where.
However we pick up from all the way south as far as the Hol Chan House and North of course is where we are.

Peter: We have a friend that visited your area 10 years ago who gave us the name of Ruby's Hotel which we are told is on the beach. If it is clean, has a beach and is within 20 minutes or so walking to town to restaurants and shopping,that would give my wife, who does not dive, the things she would like to have accessible and me, my diving. Is Ruby's a place you would recommend.

IF there was an apartment style place with kitchen facilities and air conditioning, we would also be interested in this type of place. Again, near the beach, or on it and close enought to town that it is not much more than a couple of kilometers to town, for walking.

I don't like to think about myself as a gobler of air....I am 6;3" and 250lbs and have about 130 dives under my belt so not a novice but yes I still tend to use my air quicker than my partners I sometimes go to Cozumel to dive with. The 100's just gurantee I won't be out early....The 130 I bought because, if I was going to take a tank with me I figured it might as well be the one with the best capacity for air.

I believe I move as little as possible while diving so don't use it up because I am racing about but I just use it faster than my smaller friends seem to....anyway, if I can get 100's that works for me....I appreciate the advice and have booked my dates now just need a place to stay and a dive shop to contact re the diving times, costs, and tanks. I will try to contact the one shop several of you mentioned ....if I can find an email address or if you have it, please send it.

By the way, what is the water temp this year. Last summer in Cozumel it was 84 degrees....highest ever for me when usually it has been about 81 or 82....? Thanks all for your help. Maybe I will see some of you on the reef in late march early April....

I stayed @ Ruby's in Nov 09 & it was perfect for me. I actually spent very little time there (other than sleeping). I paid $25 USD/night (no A/C, tho'). It was clean, right on the beach & had a great 3 floor/roof-top deck. Like I said, it was perfect for me, but it is VERY basic.

Most of the people staying there, that I talked with, were there to fish, dive, snorkel and are only needed a place to crash @ night.

It is right in town--very accessible to shopping, restaurants, dive shops (I went to the Blue Hole with AquaDives), water taxi.

Good to hear from you again, Hector. Funnily enough, I've spent the last few days teaching some other people from Edmonton to dive!

Ruby's meets all of your requirements, and is very popular. One caveat - some people (it depends on the room) find it noisy in the mornings, as it has an (excellent) in-house cafe that opens obscenely early, I believe by 5:30am. There are other cheap hotels located as conveniently for beach and town, but Ruby's does seem to have the name. Beware that all of these in-town beach front hotels can be pretty noisy in the evenings too. One that probably isn't as noisy is Spindrift, because of the way it's designed.

As to dive shops, everyone has their favourite. For me I'd go with Island Divers for local dives, on the dock of the Spindrift. If you're towards the northern end of town you'll find Ecologic (under new ownership) will do you very well. My personal choice, and it is very personal, would not be to go with Amigos for local dives.

For atoll trips the field is about to become wide open. The two main competitors in this have been Amigos and AquaDives, offering similar products for similar money. But by the time of your visit AquaDives will be no more, and will have been replaced at Sunbreeze Hotel (another place you could consider staying as it also meets your requirements, though it's considerably more expensive than the others that have been mentioned) by "Belize Dive Connection" from Belize City. They have long been one of the principal dive shops catering to cruise ship customers, but their San Pedro operation will probably be more attuned to local customers. They are very well equipped with several large boats, and I suspect they will give Amigos quite a run for their money in atoll trips! They arrive in May of this year.

The majority of town centre dive shops don't have their own tanks and compressors but buy air (mainly) from Amigos. They have a few 100's (I know - I sold them to them) but you will have to arrange in advance to get them delivered to your dive centre of choice. If I were you I'd use a 100 for your first dive of a day, but switch to an 80 for a subsequent dive. Get an instructor to coach you in using less air - Rudy at Island Divers would certainly do this for you. Heavy air consumption is usually more technique than physiology, and I'd be surprised if he couldn't help you to improve.

The "town" area is very small, and you'll find any of the places mentioned by anyone (with the exception of Elbert's dive operation, which is several miles north) all within easy walking distance. And wherever you decide to stay most will pick you up at your local dock - including Elbert.

Have a look at the accommodation section of this website. There's a vast amount of useful information there.