Best wildlife will be in the more remote areas. That means:

Tikal (stay inside the park for guaranteed monkeys, flocks of 50 parrots making huge noise, toucans, tanagers, trogons, agouti, coati, etc).

Chan Chich

Lamanai

I'm sure that Chaa Creek has some pretty good wildlife, but its main claim to fame is the lodge experience itself, not the wildlife.

I didn't really have a desire to stay at the most expensive place with a reflection pool; we got a great deal on Chaa Creek at Luxury Link. I always check there and Groupon and have scored some nice deals that way. Agree with RAC that Chan Chich is a good bet for wildlife.

Hi,
I would suggest splitting you stay between two places. Blue Marlin Lodge on Southwater Caye is amazing! Better than Pelican! They have a full service dive shop, snorkeling, a great restaurant, Charlie's Place bar and the most idyllic location right on the barrier reef. They can arrange for transfers to the mainland and from there a tour of the ATM. The ATM can be taken as a day trip from the Stann Creek District. For the mainland, try Macaroni View Hotel on the on the gorgeous Hummingbird Highway. The ATM cave is definitely worth seeing but I would not schedule your hotel stay around this as many hotels and resorts offer this as a day trip. between these two hotels you can base your stay in the amazing Stann Creek District and get the best of jungle and beach. Blue Marlin Lodge also partners with Chaa Creek for Surf and Turf vacations. Perfect for families with teenagers. This district is also the most cultural and diverse of all the districts in Belize! Come and enjoy, relax, and adventure with us!

Luxurylink is a great resource if you're flexible and willing to snap up a good deal. Chan Chich occasionally goes on sale there as well.

I agree that Chan Chich or Lamanai would be better for wildlife so it's a tradeoff between that and ATM. There are lots of accommodation options in the Cayo area. We wanted to be on the river for easy access to canoeing and dePlooys worked well for us and we liked their very jungly feel. Chaa Creek definitely felt a bit more manicured to us and we joked that they had valet canoe parking. It just depends on what you're looking for. We also considered Black Rock and Mystic River looked really nice.

I've stayed on Maya Beach and don't recall off the beach snorkeling. We did kayak out to False Caye one day. A trip to the reef from here will require a longer boat ride as the reef gets farther and farther away as you travel south. There are very few snorkel off the beach places in Belize, mostly offshore cayes and I think the very north end of Ambergris.

Can you snorkel from the beach at Caye Cauker? Would like to know from dan_heimbrock why you prefer Caye Cauker to South Water Caye? I read that Pelican Beach at South Water Caye was the only, or maybe the nicest, place to stay if you want to be able to snorkel from the beach. I would like to go out to the reef as well, but my family really likes the flexibility of being able to just snorkel all day from the beach and have the comfort of the resort right there.

Good snorkeling from Caye Caulker is by boat. People do snorkel at the 'split', but, it's not that good.

Caye Caulker is a fun, funky little island. Lots of good food and drink. A few quirky little shops. Lots of cheap places to stay. It's fun.

I've never been to South Water Caye, just Tobacco Caye, which is close by. It was fun being able to just walk in and snorkel. But after three nights, I was ready to get back to 'civilization'.

I just like having easy access to a town and a variety of restaurants. It sounds as though your family is happy just hanging on the shore and snorkeling.

naturetraveller, we are back from South Water Caye and HIGHLY recommend Pelican Beach Resort, especially since you mentioned you want to snorkel off the beach. The beach is so pristine and beautiful, and the snorkeling is the best we've experienced anywhere. Consider booking a snorkeling trip to nearby reefs - you'll see huge sea turtles, rays, moray eels. Extremely friendly and helpful management.