I stayed at Captain Morgans in March 2000. I don't know if they still do it, but then they had a crew cleaning the beach all day every day. I've walked north to Mata Chica and south to the cut, and Capt Morgans had the prettiest beach by far.
I'm not sure of this so if anyone knows differently please speak up: I think the water taxi is what travels between the hotel docks and San Pedro, and the ferry is what shuttles walkers and golf carts across the cut.
Near Captain Morgans I'd recommend Capricorn for lunch and dinner. If you go at night, bring a flashlight for the walk back along the beach. Instead of taking the water taxi into San Pedro, you could take it north to the restaurants at Journey's End and Mata Chica. You could walk along the beach to them during the day. There's also a bar/restaurant on the beach path heading south toward the cut, maybe a 20-25 minute walk. When I was there in 2000 their dock was destroyed so the water taxi didn't stop there. Hopefully it's been replaced.
Janet