Four of us will be making our first time visit and have narrowed our hotel choices to Aqua Marina suites and the Blue Tang Inn. Any positives and/or negatives on both would be appreciated. We go on an annual "guys" dive trip and have choose AC as our destination. We will be staying five nights during February. I am searching for any helpful advice for our trip. We like to dive in the morning and explore the local area during the afternoon, then hit the bars at night. Are most of the dive operators reputable?

Having only been to Ambergris Caye once, I'm certainly no expert. We stayed at Blue Tang in June. We enjoyed it. Very small pool, but nicely landscaped and a nice place to sit. No private balconies, but a nice place to sit on the third floor. The room we had was large, plenty of room, but it was only one room. I *think* the rooms at Aquamarina are actually one bedroom suites, with a separate bedroom.

Aquamarina certainly looks lovely from the outside. We had a beer there by the pool one evening. I certainly wouldn't hesitate to stay there.

Sorry, don't dive, can't help you there. Jean

well here the facts on aqua marina ,capt jeff stays in town at aqua marina ..I go each month ,to fish and snorkel love the Island ,here is the skinny vey clean some one is always cleaning.. new managment team wants guest to have a great time ..small suites ,kitchen with all the goodies,mico wave, frig ,plates table to eat on . small living room ,tel phones , color tv cable 60 chanel , bedroom small but ok lots of room for clothes .small bathroom ,huge shower,for two ???? veranda ,some huge some small get 207 or 206 or 307,306 the ends are nice .small pool, nice bar ,beach ok ,very nice people now working there .restuarant,only had good breakfest, there on tues when esteles is closed ,never had lunch or dinner there but may in the future ?? again great staff as in most hotels on san pedro the folks who work in hotels have a great ,warm charm and are supper to there guests..... blue tang never stayed there ,went to aqua because I like new hotels with all the goodies ,toys etc,, would like to try bananna beach as this is the hot hotel but can never get a suite in front as this place is so hot every body goes there ,and they have a great rest and bars ,whatever you do have a great time ,,. checkout fishingsanpedro.com for fishing or boat trips ,or beach barbbqs or personalize custom snorkel tours .enjoy live the dream

Most of the folks have their favorite dive operators. Personally, I like Hustler, but most if not all are very good from all reports. All of my experiences with different outfits have been good, very professional and accomodating.

What captjeff said. We stayed at Aquamarina Suites in July & enjoyed it very much, has all the conveniences of an apartment; you can save time (& money) doing breakfast en suite (might be a consideration for divers heading out for the day). I also really liked the location, right at the N end of the commercial part of San Pedro: walk to the major bars & many many restaurants. E.G. it's just a block & a half walk to Cocina Caramba (yum yum). The pub next door is now open; I believe Pedro already gave that place a thumbs up review, & the little bodega on the other side of the ugly ass bank has good cheap eats, got fry jacks there that were delish.

Went by Blue Tang, didn't stay there, but it looks very nice. It is a couple blocks north of the town. For our needs Aquamarina was the choice; we preferred being right in town...

Either hotel would do you fine. However, the rooms at Blue Tang that have two queen beds are one large rectangular room with kitchen and seating area. The one bedroom suites at AquaMarina, are one bedroom with a pullout in the livingroom area. Nicely segregated.

Neither hotel has a particularly large pool, but Blue Tang's pool is especially small. The pools are definitely for lazing about and that's about it.

Aquamarina is a hop and skip to my favorite operator, Amigos del Mar. You guys will have a blast if you go with them.

Blue Tang is a hop, skip and a jump from Amigos del Mar. On the other hand, Hustler's dive op dock is right in front of the Blue Tang.

Either place is a barely a stumble from the nightlife.

If you don't care about a pool, why not take a look at the Mayan Princess? It has studio suites but with fantastic balconey patios looking over all the action, and Amigos is right out front. The Mayan does have a couple of suites with an extra bedroom, but of those I have been in, the spare bedrooms are *very* small with bunkbeds.