Martin (divemaster) @ jaguar reef is a great guy. He really goes out of his way to get the most out of your dives. Its a small operation, and there are minimums on the number of divers required to get the boat out. There is no fancy dive shop or fanfare: its straight to the boat. They do, however, provide decent and acceptable equipment if you are new or in need. If you are going there in at least a small group its no problem. If your intention is to go dive while your spouse is on the beach, you might want to call ahead and see if other divers have specifically made reservations before proceeding.
That being said, on the days that we didnt have enough divers, the resort Hamanasi right next to jaguar reef seemed to have full boats all the time. I jumped one of those one day, but they were very spendy by comparison and lacked Martin's personal touch. This could simply be due to the fact that I was on a very populated dive.
Diving that area was pretty good. Its mostly 40', but there are some really great walls within a 20-30 min range of shore that are stunning from 70' up. You will most likely catch some massive eagle rays, lots of big ol' fat eels, and one of the better varietys of angelfish I have seen on a reef. There arent a lot of big fish: one small shark, no whale sharks (not the season when I was there) which they are famous for, no dolphin. I was told they arent as common as one might think, but most trips get luckier than expected.
By hopkins, the reefs arent beat up... its a nice plus. The downside is they are a longer boat ride than other places, and that was translated to us into the slightly higher prices due to insane gas prices. I cant imagine what it is there now.
As far as jaguar reef is concerned, they are not a USA 5 star resort but they go out of their way (probably more so than a typical carribean 5 star would) to make your stay as best possible. The staff remembers your name and who you are, and sometime go so far out of their way for you that you start to feel like they are working only for you during your stay. The place holds (I think) around 150 people and there are about 100 people on staff. The property is surprisingly large. Every morning there are around 30 people scurrying around before the breakfast crowd sweeping the sand and making everything perfect. They also have a trimaran you can use for free, and we took that up to the point and into some really incredible untouched mangroves. I highly recommmend getting a massage out on the dock cabana... its right out of a magazine. The excursions are pretty cool and we had some rough sea days where diving wasnt advised, so know that time is easily filled when things dont go as planned (as can unfortunately be the case).
The food can be different, but its all very good. Expect tons of local seafood, all fresh, incredible morning sunrises and a very comfortable and private atmosphere. The rock lobster tail was really good, and the fresh breakfasts are great. We made great friends with a lot of couples while there, but this isnt the place to go party with your buddies. Its isolated in Belize, but that lead us to feel we were "somewhere" and now just on a beach with rows of hotels. The local village is very small, but the people there are wonderful. They dont seem too affected by tourism like Ambergris is.
All in all, we completely intend to return this year. Its not for the prissy and overly demanding, but you will be pleasantly surprised with the service (and not to mention value) by comparison to other places we've been. Enjoy!
