Got back from two weeks in AC on the 31st, tried to get my husband to come back to Texas, sell everything and bring me some more clothes and take up residence in AC but couldn't talk him into it. Last year we stayed at Belizean Shores, this year at Banana Beach and really liked being closer to town rather than so far north. We got to experience much more of the town and local people by staying closer. Took a look at Aquamarina Suites and may stay there next time, only concern is the construction going on next door and if it will be finished by next year. But Banana Beach was nice, stayed in ocean front and rooms were good, staff there is great and El Divino is very good, though expensive for dinner. The maritinis in the martini bar are wonderful. Only thing we would have liked was for the Breezeway bar to be open but fixing drinks in our room probably saved us a fortune! Seems though that BB is losing money by not opening up that bar ...
We had wonderful meals while we were there. Our favorite find, which I had not seen mentioned on this board, was Jerry's Crab Shack just across the street from Ramon's. The food there is great, several really good entres, and the pizza is wonderful. And their key lime pie fresh out of the oven is fabulous.... We had some fresh fish that one of the guys caught one day, red snapper, and we took it to Jerry's to prepare for our dinner, they fixed it however we asked and it was really great. Jurgen, the waiter/bartendar, is so friendly besides being a cutie! It's a great place and I highly recommend it ... open for lunch and dinner.
We also tried Laniappe, across from Fido's .. went by to have one of their now famous burgers but they only serve them at lunch .. but had a very good dinner, then went back another day at lunch and had the burgers ... no lie there, they are delicious. We ate dinner a couple of nights from the street vendors, very good and inexpensive! Michael's at Coconuts is also great and pretty close to BB, and one of the prettier bar settings. The new Palapa bar is really nice and we spent an entire afternoon there, lots of fun and being right over the water now is nice, you can see lots of ocean life just sitting there. Sweet Basil, yummmmm, had the shrimp salad and it was my birthday and they brought me a wonderful birthday dessert and some kind of drink that was good. Wine DeVine is a nice store with a great selection of wines, also bought some of the cheeses there. E-mailed them ahead of time and they had several bottles of wine delivered to our room at BB and put in the fridge so we had chilled wine when we arrived. And of course the Sunday barbeque at BC's is a must, great bbq.
Confirmed that Nancy's Store is the best place to shop for groceries, and also liked the Mini Mart #2 and the little store just across the street from BB was good as well. Avoid Island Supermarket if you can, very expensive and the people there aren't very friendly at all.
Husband went diving, no pica pica but he used Safe Sea. Weather was beautiful the entire two weeks, just a couple of quick little rain showers.
Also I had asked before our trip about fresh juices, specifically grapefruit juice.....none to be found anywhere because they aren't able to get grapefruit right now due to lack of rain. Did find some fresh orange juice, you have to order it then go back and pick it up later, and fresh pineapple juice, both were great. So if you want grapefruit juice you might think about taking some with you.
Spent some time in the casino, had a lot of fun, the girls who work there are very nice but boy they can take your money really quick!
A great trip, very sad to have to leave but looking forward to going back next year.