Hi mcf57 - fellow Georgian and Thrashers fan from Doraville here. I still have an old Kovalchuk jersey gathering dust in the closet.
I'm a relative newbie to diving, but my wife and I got OW certified at Ramon's in Ambergris Caye this past December. We did our PADI coursework online and then our certification dives there. The folks there were fabulous and we enjoyed it so much that we bought our own gear and went back for another week in May. We've dived with most of the staff there at this point (Adolfo, Dixon, AC, Pete, Raul - and boat crew: Rooster, Major, Koala...) and I can't say enough how much they made our time there a pleasure. One thing I really appreciated was that our "pool" dives were actually in 8-10ft deep ocean at the end of the pier, which was so much more enjoyable.
The town of San Pedro is very chill, and we kept finding great new places to eat just walking distance from the resort. We always felt very safe and welcome everywhere we went, and never felt a need to rent a golf cart to go anywhere. The airstrip is right next to the resort, and there are tiendas nearby for food and booze. We stayed in a "jungle" tiki room the first trip and in a colonial style cottage the second -very happy with both.
The "local" dives just off shore are a 5-10 min boat ride out, returning to the resort for your surface interval. Most of these are 60-80 ft deep drift-ish dives following cuts and channels through the reef. Plenty of nurse sharks, reef sharks, a turtle or two, and lots of fishes around. We heard dolphins one dive and I just barely saw them in the distance. The conditions were a bit choppy both trips, and it can make getting back on the boat a bit interesting (better once I learned to follow the DM and captain's lead). Visibility was typically 60-80 ft, temperature consistently 80-82F. One of our checkout dives was at Hol Chan (marine park on the shore side of the reef - only around 30-40ft deep) which I really enjoyed, but I don't think it's a regular local dive - maybe because of the park fee?
We went back for our second trip in May to gain experience and solidify our skills in a familiar environment, and we found that to be a great decision. After a couple days on local dives, we decided to take the day trip to Turneffe (3 tank dive, about a 1.5 hr boat ride one way) mostly because the chop would be less on the lee side of the atoll. We dived on the NW side of Turneffe (Vincente's Wall, and nearby) and had amazing dives with a green moray eel and such clear calm water with visibility 80 ft+. Very lively reefs and a wonderful experience - significantly more satisfying than the local dives. The beauty of this day trip convinced us to take another to Lighthouse Atoll a couple days later (also 3 tank, but a 2.5hr boat ride one way). Our three dives that day were the Blue Hole, Half Moon Caye, and Aquarium. I have to say - the Blue Hole was cool, but we're much more into reefs - the second and third dives were world-class. Yes I'm a newbie at this, but I've watched a lot of diving video of reefs around the world, and this was of that level. Spotted Eagle rays, turtles, sharks, eels, grouper, a puffer so big I couldn't believe it, huge schools of fish - I could go on and on. One of the best days of my life, hands down.
Just my 2 cents. Happy diving!