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Posted By: petsin Staying in Royal Palms - 01/04/04 07:33 PM
Hello,

I will stay for a week in the Royal Palms on a timeshare exchange condo, with my two teenager daughters. I was wondering if we would need to rent some means of transportation to move around (either bikes or golf cart). I am not sure how much time is needed to walk to San Pedro from there. Also, are there any restaurants around this resort?

I have read that there is a water taxi that has a regular schedule that covers most of the hotels and San Pedro town. Can any body tell me if this boat service covers all the way down to the Royal Palms?

And last but not least: any idea of which dive operators can do pick ups at the Royal Palms pier?

Thank you!
Posted By: cambriagal Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/04/04 09:39 PM
Anyone can pick you up at the pier. It is only a mile and a half to town, great bicycle ride to town. I don't believe in golf carts, like to rough it, even rode all the way to the Capricorn, walking the beach to town is an easy walk and a taxi back is best if the weather is hot, taxi rate is $10 belize one way. Very reasonable I think, they can show you where to rent bicycles also.
Posted By: cambriagal Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/04/04 10:09 PM
Sorry got my $ mixed up, we pay $15BZ one way, just ask for the local rate. and that is not per person.
Posted By: indygal Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/04/04 10:24 PM
We stay at Royal Palm and just rent bikes for the length of our stay at Joe's or Pete's in town. There are several resturants close by - we save those for the evening when we don't want to go into town. There is also a little grocery close. You probably won't go by water taxi unless you want to go way north of town. Bike ride is 10 to 12 minutes into town, which is 3 miles. We like Royal Palm. Nice pool, quiet, the teenagers will want to go to town. When are you coming down? Pam
Posted By: indygal Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/04/04 10:28 PM
There is a dive operator on Royal Palm pier (or was), but I do not know who it is. I expect that any of the dive operators will pick you up at RP or close by. There are a couple busy Resort/Hotels close.
Posted By: petsin Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/04/04 10:31 PM
Thanks a lot for the info. I guess the bikes look the best option. We want to have a couple of dinning outs, but most of the time use our kitchen and save the money for diving... laugh

We will be there from Feb. 28th till March 6th. Any suggestions for diving operations that can offer a discounted 4 days package? Depending on how much we can save, we may be able to do the Blue Hole... (otherwise is like going to Paris and not see the Eiffel tower wink )

Thank you again,
Peter from Chile
Posted By: Pedro1 Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/04/04 11:04 PM
Being from England I cannot understand why anyone would want to go to France-ever!
Posted By: petsin Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/04/04 11:57 PM
Well, sorry for that, I am english too (from my father) so perhaps the correct analogy in this case would have been: visiting London and not going to the Tower Bridge wink

BTW: I have seen that most dive operators in AC having web pages have a price tag of about US$180 for a day trip to the Blue Hole... eek Is there any less expensive way to go there that is not listed in web pages?

Thank you all,
Peter
Posted By: seashell Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/05/04 12:15 AM
There is a less expensive way to get to the Blue Hole but it depends on how many overall local dives you plan to do.

In other words, you can make an arrangement for an overall discount when you book blocks of dives, and negotiate a reduced rate on the Blue Hole trip as well.
Posted By: indygal Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/05/04 03:04 AM
Petsin, We will be at Royal Palm while you are there. See ya at the pool. Pam
Posted By: Roger Kelley Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/05/04 04:20 PM
Hi Peter,
Call me at 2456136 in Santiago, or e-mail me at [email protected], for some more info.

Roger
Posted By: KWIBMF Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/05/04 04:57 PM
Larry Parker owned the dive shop at the Royal Palms pier many years ago. If he's still there, I would recommend diving out of his shop.
Posted By: petsin Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/05/04 05:13 PM
I am trying to contact the Royal Palm local dive operation (Discovery Expeditions as I was told) but have not got any answer yet ([email protected])... so any additional info. would be appreciated.
Posted By: CHOOCHOO Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/05/04 06:09 PM
In our humble opinion, after 120+ dives in BZ, Amigos Del Mar is as good as it gets. There are others, I am sure, who are as good, but we've stuck with Amigos for years. They will put together a discounted package including the Blue Hole for you if you give the the number of dives you plan on (1 or 2 tanks), the number of people, and skill levels. SWIMBO did the Blue Hole again back in November, and if memory serves it was about $115.

CC
Posted By: Badco Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/05/04 06:22 PM
I've gotta ditto that for Amigos del Mar, been using them for five years now & never had anything but great service & professionalism. smile
Posted By: seashell Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/05/04 06:24 PM
Certainly I'll ditto Amigos del Mar too, but I've just got to know how Choo got the Blue Hole trip down to only $115. Was it a snorkelling only trip for you guys?
Posted By: cambriagal Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/06/04 04:54 AM
KWIBMF, interesting, Larry was the very first dive master on the island, he sold out about a year or so ago, after having moved the shop to the Spindrift and he has since left the Island. He was the greatest.
Posted By: BarnacleGirl Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/06/04 08:48 PM
Petsin: There is ALWAYS a cheaper way to get what you want. Where there's a will, there's a way. (who said that?) But remember, you always get what you pay for. If you are willing to sacrifice some ammenties, and go in a rat hole dive boat, then of course it will be cheaper! ummm... not that I recommend using lower quality services...you know, better safe than sorry. Especially when you are putting your life in their hands. eek
Posted By: KWIBMF Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/06/04 10:46 PM
cambriagal, I agree, Larry's a good guy, I enjoyed diving with him. Any idea why he left?

There must be a law in S.P. that business owners must relocate every year or two.
Posted By: CHOOCHOO Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/06/04 11:07 PM
seashell,

Oops! Once again I was talkin' when I shoulda been listening. "She Who Must Be Obeyed" has corrected me. That would be $150. And, so there's no misunderstanding here, I'm not the diver, she is. Even though the dear thing bought me a beautiful watch good to 200 meters, that is just about 665 feet deeper than I ever would agree to unless they fill those tanks with something other than air. Y'all know what I mean.
Posted By: seashell Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/06/04 11:17 PM
Thanks for the clarification, ChooChoo. Though $115, sure would have been nice. smile As I understand it the reason for the pricing of many of the tours and trips, etc. is due to the price of gas down there.
Posted By: CHOOCHOO Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/06/04 11:40 PM
That's a huge part of it.

In addition if it gets a "bit" rough outside the reef the smaller boats can be a trip from hell out to the Hole. Back in June when SWMBO went the first time, it was REALLY rough. 10-12+. Amigos took their 50 footer out so bruising and upchucking was held to a tolerable minimum. When you have all the right equipment you can get a bit more. Works here, works there.
Posted By: cambriagal Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/07/04 11:56 PM
KWIBMF he left to have knee surgery but actually didn't have to have it. He was there way over 20 years so maybe it was just time to try something new.
Posted By: petsin Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/11/04 05:47 AM
Thanks for all the suggestions. Actually, I have contacted Amigos del Mar and we have agreed on a very attractive dive package. I will post the deal later after we have it secured... laugh
Posted By: Darla Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/11/04 05:23 PM
Does Amigos del Mar dive shop have a website?
Posted By: Badco Re: Staying in Royal Palms - 01/11/04 09:24 PM
Darla, it's Amigosdive.com
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