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Posted By: infojunkie If Consumer Reports did beaches... - 11/14/04 06:16 PM
Hi,

We're choosing a place to stay for half of our Belize trip (the other half being in the Cayo district), and we've already gotten a ton of great suggestions from this board for places that meet our criteria. Now, we'd like to weigh them against each other based on their beaches -- 1. How pretty of a shady place to sit the beaches have and 2. How much they support wading in from shore. (A easy hop off a small sea wall and/or a little sea grass is fine, but a prohibitive scale of either would be disappointing. Also, a stroll to the next beach over is fine for the wading part of the question, but not for the sitting in the shade part.)

So, if Consumer Reports ranked beaches on these terms, how would they compare:
--Corona del Mar
--Banana Beach
--Steve and Becky's (i.e., Ramon's beach)
--Blue Tang
--Sunbreeze
--Xanadu (Only rank this one if you've seen it this year, since they expanded their beach.)

I've read that Ramon's and Banana Beach are probably the best of this lot. Do any of the others rank with those? How do those two rank against each other? How do the other four rank against each other -- particularly Corona del Mar, which costs significantly less, and Xanadu, which has a look and reviews that appeal to me a lot?

Thanks!

--Stacey
My family enjoys the Mar de Tumbo beach every Sunday. We are on our way there now. Best beach on the island. One of the few naturally sloping beaches with a firm sand bottom, limited sea grass and nice (but small) waves. Very cool sand bar a short swim off shore.

The closest of the above listed properties; Banana Beach, about 100 yards south of Mar de Tumbo.

The beach at Ramon's (Steve & Becky's) is also decent. My wife bartends at Ramon's.

SIN
Mar de Tumbo is the best beach, at least south of the river channel, and Banana Beach is close by, though there's a low seawall right in front of Banana Beach.

Not sure what has changed at Xanadu's beach. It still has a seawall.

I wouldn't obsess about beaches that much. No beach area on the island is really world-class, and almost all are attractive at least to look at. You're going to find seagrass most everywhere, except where it's been removed. If you don't like what's right at your doorstep, you can stroll a little ways and find something you like better.

--Lan Sluder
Posted By: growsnomoss Re: If Consumer Reports did beaches... - 11/15/04 07:52 PM
banana beach was nice, but no cancun. Try "temptation island" way north for the nicest beach. It's about a half hour by golf cart
Mer de Tumbo is the best, hands down, ask any local resident, much better than north, and I work up north.
Posted By: los Re: If Consumer Reports did beaches... - 11/16/04 02:02 AM
Ok I hate to spoil the party, but my wife and I just got back from AC and we were very disappointed with the beaches at AC. We stayed at banana beach for 3 days and never put our toes in the water. The turtle grass was everywhere and the water was light green. The water was not appealing like the mexican coast, but we knew that going to AC. If banana beach is one of the better beaches on the island, I would hate to see the other ones. We still enjoyed AC, and we had a great time, with great food and people. Enjoy!
Posted By: Anonymous Re: If Consumer Reports did beaches... - 11/16/04 02:24 AM
I still think the best beach in the town area is in front of Ramon's. Beaches in general in SP are very poor, compared with many of the destinations we are trying to compete with. Sea grass is deliberately left by order of the Town Council, allegedly as a conservation measure. I had one guest who waded through it and was bitten by a hidden eel.
a little sea grass is fine, but a prohibitive scale of either would be disappointing. Also, a stroll to the next beach over is fine

Banana Beach.
Posted By: Anonymous Re: If Consumer Reports did beaches... - 11/16/04 06:53 AM
We stayed at Banana Beach in September. We had read they had one of the best beaches on the island and I think that is accurate. A few mornings I walked from there into town by way of the beaches. The area in front of BB seemed to have less grass than most, if not all, other places I saw. There is a small seawall directly in front of the hotel archway, but easy to step down into the water from either side of it. The beach was kept very clean, raked and trash picked up several times each day. I have seen a lot of much prettier beaches, the sand on San Pedro beaches is quite coarse, my guess is probably from all the coral, but not so coarse as to prevent walking barefoot, but for just lazing in a beach chair, the view from Banana Beach was great - plenty of palm trees if you want shade and plenty of sun if you're looking to tan. For swimming my choice was almost always one of the pools.
Posted By: streetchie Re: If Consumer Reports did beaches... - 11/16/04 03:03 PM
I'm with Lan. Don't go to AC expecting great beaches. Most of the shoreline near San Pedro is seawalled and the beaches, compared to Mexico, are not appealing. Having said that, if you enjoy eccentic people, a unique culture, perfect weather (at times), diving, great food, etc, this place is for you. A cart ride north of the cut may present the kind of beaches you are looking for.
Posted By: alaurieb Re: If Consumer Reports did beaches... - 11/16/04 07:05 PM
I stayed at Xanadu this summer. There are a couple of shady spots for sitting and they do have a small retaining wall on their beach. While I never tried to wade/swim out from the beach - they do have some stairs at the end of their dock that lead into shallow water and they have a docking area for their kayaks that doesn't have a wall and is just beach.
Hopefully this helps a little.
Posted By: infojunkie Re: If Consumer Reports did beaches... - 11/16/04 07:25 PM
Thanks for all the input so far! I do understand I'm not coming primarily to a beach destination, and I will focus on the other aspects that make San Pedro delightful once I'm there, but while I'm picking, please excuse my over-analyzing this! There are still three specific facts I'm hoping to learn...

--On some maps, Mar de Tumbo looks to be equally between Banana Beach and Xanadu, but I'm getting the sense that it's easier to stroll over from Banana Beach. Is that true/false?

--Excluding Banana Beach and Ramon's for a moment, is Xanadu's beach any nicer than Blue Tang and/or Sunbreeze's?

--Is Corona del Mar's beach any less nice than Blue Tang and/or Sunbreeze's?

Thanks!

--Stacey
Posted By: klcman Re: If Consumer Reports did beaches... - 11/16/04 07:33 PM
1. Mar de Tumbo is definitely closer to BB than Xanadu, but that's not ot sya that MDT is far from Xanadu. How;s that for hedging?

Leave it at that - it's better than any of the other options you listed
Posted By: Barbara K Re: If Consumer Reports did beaches... - 11/16/04 07:33 PM
Mar de Tumbo is directly in front of Tropica Beach Resort. Banana Beach to the south and Banyan Bay to the North. Blue Tang has a nice beach - better than Sunbreeze or Corona del Mar (by far). Xanadu has an Ok beach area but a lot of seagrass in the water. Ramon's is probably what you are looking for. Caribe Island (way south) also has a very nice beach but is a bit far from town. What else are you looking for in a hotel besides the best beach? That may help you narrow it down.

BEST beach???? see the Aruba posts wink
Posted By: mrtgger Re: If Consumer Reports did beaches... - 11/16/04 08:27 PM
I had read on previous posts that Banyan Bay had one of the best beaches. But I have not seen them mentioned here except above. I'm just curious how Banyan's beach is since we will be there Dec. 3rd.

Thank you all for your excellent help. I booked our first trip about 2 months ago and can't wait. I searched these forum extensively before booking and still check back frequently to see whats up. This is the best forum for information that I have found for anywhere. You all have my praise and thanks
Posted By: Barbara K Re: If Consumer Reports did beaches... - 11/16/04 08:53 PM
very nice beach at Banyan Bay.
Posted By: mobunny Re: If Consumer Reports did beaches... - 11/16/04 09:35 PM
I'll second that. Just last night we were watching some video we filmed last August over at Banyan Bay around their beach area and at Rico's. It's really really lovely there. Enjoy! mobunny cool
Posted By: infojunkie Re: If Consumer Reports did beaches... - 11/19/04 05:13 PM
Everyone, thank you SO MUCH for all this helpful and informative input. We're focusing on Banana Beach right now, and I appreciate both your recommendations and your cautions about what to expect and what not to -- I'm sure that both will help make our experience great!

By the way, we're still working out the Cayo portion of our trip, pending some information on the trails at Black Rock Lodge. If you think you may have anything to contribute there, please check out the "Black Rock Trails?" thread in belizeforum.com's Accommodations in Belize section. Thanks!
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