Blue Marlin Beach Resort

Great location , super friendly staff

N/a

(1) Snorkeling tours were absolutely amazing; Tommy, the captain of the boat knew the reefs and ocean like the back of his hand. We went on 6 snorkeling tours, and each one was at a different location, based on weather, currents, water clarity, experience of the tourists, and if you requested a particular type of reef/marine life you were looking for (and I'm sure many other things I didn't know about!) Leslie, the snorkel guide, pointed out and found many different types of marine species and was able to identify them; he also was the most amazing free diver I've ever seen -- both in depth and length of time underwater. Was a reasonable price as well ($40pp for an hour -- being on the reef, it was less than 5-10 min to get to each snorkel spot). There were 2 tours/day — we took both tours every day for 3 days, and enjoyed all of them. Also, the coral was the most healthy and alive-looking that I have seen in the past 5 years; it seems to have been spared the severe bleaching many reefs sadly have suffered these days. (2) Even though accommodations are rated at 3* (and were wonderful), service was 5* (more than we expected!) More importantly to me though, it was a small resort with a really nice, laid-back, casual atmosphere, and staff were genuinely friendly, kind, fun, and interesting people. I'm generally a shy person, but felt really comfortable there. (3) Food was delicious, with fresh ingredients, prepared by a fantastic chef. Every single meal was different (we stayed 5 nights/4 days). My husband can't eat seafood (although he enjoys looking at it while snorkeling, lol) and accommodating that was not an issue at all.

I would mention that the reef you can snorkel to off the shore is severely damaged (I would guess from careless tourists, as everywhere else was not like that). It's also only a very small area that you can snorkel in due to boats. While this was a little disappointment to us (we would have spent more time in the ocean!) the tours were so good that it certainly made up for it.