My husband and I are searching for a nice (four or five star) hotel in
the Carribean or in Mexico with access to great scuba.  We want
something intimate and charming with ocean views, room service and
cable TV, but not a huge hotel with hundreds of rooms on a strip of
beach with hundreds of hotels.  Last year we were at the Victoria
House in Belize, and although we donīt want to repeat the destination,
we would like something similar.  We do not want an all-inclusive
Club-Med-Type resort.  I have been looking at Cozumel, Mexico and
everything looks really big and not so nice. We are looking for a
little gem by the sea.

Tangogirl –

A little vicarious pleasure came along with the Internet searches for
this answer!

The place to start is with the leading dive locations.  Jack Jackson's
book, "Diving: The World's Best Sites" lists the following locations
as offering the best diving in the Caribbean.  (I've also read that
there's great diving in the Sea of Cortez in Mexico but it's very
remote from resort areas such as Cabo San Lucas):

Bahamas
Bonaire
Cozumel
Curacao
Grand Cayman, Little Cayman


BAHAMAS
--------

Only 30 of the 2700 islands that form the Bahamas chain offer are
permanently occupied.  The diving is varied (both shallow and deep),
with excellent face dives along the coral walls along the bigger
islands like Abaco and Eleuthera.  Dive boats drop their passengers,
then let the Gulf Stream carry the divers to the pickup spot.

White Sand Ridge, north of Freeport on Grand Bahamas Island, is also
known for dives that encounter dolphins.  Here are two Freeport-area
options:

Pelican Bay @ Lucaya has both a traditional hotel and a suites
version:
http://www.pelicanbayhotel.com/properties.php

Another property worth investigating may be Running Mon Marina. 
Though a web page with the marina's domain name shows that the resort
is being refurbished, this travelog indicates that the work was
completed over a year ago:
http://running-mon-marina-and-resort.visit-the-bahamas.com/

The diving with sharks is highly recommended by Jackson; it is done
off Abaco Island:

Green Turtle Club
http://www.greenturtleclub.com/

Bluff House Beach Hotel
http://www.bluffhouse.com/

Eleuthera is one of the Bahamas "out islands," meaning that there are
fewer amenities.  None of the resorts there indicate that cable TV is
available, for example:

Cigatoo Resort
http://www.cigatooresort.com/

And finally in the Bahamas, Georgetown and Great Exuma is large enough
to offer a variety of hotels and TV (unlike Eleuthera):

Peace and Plenty Beach Inn (one of 3 properties with same owner)
http://www.peaceandplenty.com/en/index.html

Hotel Higgins Landing
http://www.higginslanding.com/


BONAIRE
--------

As remote as Bonaire may be, the Dutch investment in this island off
the north coast of Venezuela means that Internet and cable TV access
are readily available.  A smaller resort that may fit your
requirements is:

Captain Don's Habitat Bonaire
http://www.habitatdiveresorts.com/bonaire/index.html


COZUMEL
--------

Considered some of the best diving in Mexico, this area has a number
of caves along the shoreline for divers to explore.  Jackson's book
excerpts on Amazon.com contain interesting descriptions of diving in
the "cenotes" or underwater caves.  This smaller hotel in Cozumel has
only 50 rooms:

Playa Azul 
http://tours.tourfactory.com/tours/tour.asp?t=106429&ca=true&slink=0,%20www.playa-azul.com&home=


CURACAO
--------

Like Aruba and Bonaire which are also in the Netherlands Antilles,
Curacao hotels should have both cable TV and Internet access.  At
least two hotels on the island are the smaller size that you're
seeking.  All of Curacao's diving is along the west side of the
island:

Avila Beach
http://www.avilahotel.com/

Lions Dive & Beach Resort
http://www.lionsdive.com/


GRAND CAYMAN
-------------

The Cayman Islands are actually three islands – Grand Cayman, Cayman
Brac and Little Cayman.  Grand Cayman offers shallow and deep dives
with easy access to both locations.  On the north side of Grand
Cayman, shallow dives offer interaction with manta rays; in Georgetown
Harbor there are some excellent dives through tunnels in the corral. 
I've been diving here on both day and night dives.  Be aware that the
area along Seven Mile Beach is the most developed, with lots of
restaurants and nightlife.

Beach Club Colony
http://www.caymanresortsonline.com/beachclub/accomm.htm

Spanish Bay Reef
http://www.cayman-islands.com/Hotels/SpaniBay.html


LITTLE CAYMAN
--------------

This island is more remote and may not offer all of the amenities
desired, particularly cable TV.  However, scuba enthusiasts generally
rave about it:

Pirates Point
http://www.piratespointresort.com/

Southern Cross Club
http://southerncrossclub.com/main/index.html


Google search strategy:
"best diving locations"
Then pinpointing each location, the search was done with:
"Grand Cayman" + scuba + hotel

Eliminating the term "hotel" or putting some of the dive locations
into the Google search will yield GREAT diving pictures:
Abaco + "Shark Rodeo"
Bahamas + "Shark Wall"

If anything is unclear in this answer, please let me know before
rating the question.

Happy diving,

Omnivorous-GA

I would consider the divi Tierra beach resort on Cayman Brac. The food
is great there are only about 1500 permanent residents. The diving is
good. Bonaire has great diving especially the northern reefs. But the
crime is so high... Aruba is worse. Dutch tolerance ya know. I also
like to stay at the old small hotels in town in Cozumel. Good cheap
accommodations good restaurants great diving low crime. But your not
on the beach.