Belize Cayes on your own????

[lungfxr]

I've done Shark ray alley by ship tour, this time we're thinking of trying to book our own tour...something that involves the Cayes and snorkeling...how big of a problem does this present with tendering, has anyone tried booking "off ship" any suggestions on companies/tenders that are safe and will have me back on time?

THANKS
SDB

We were on the Pride West last August and we did Belize on our own. IT WAS AWESOME!!!
We were up early and were sure to be on the first tender off the boat. Still have my #1 sticker. We got to the pier and right there was the water taxi office. We went in and paid $12.50 for a round-trip ticket to Caye Caulker. We had about a half hour before the taxi was scheduled to leave (maybe a little longer) and so we looked in some of the shops on the pier. Our water taxi left a few minutes late and our trip to Caye Caulker took about 45 minutes. The ride was great - fast - across beautiful water and by pretty little islands. We got off the taxi and walked to "town." You can see from one side of the island to the other!!! Along the way we passed a little shack where we set up a snorkelling tour - I didn't pay for that so I don't know the price (but he wouldn't have paid if it hadn't been cheap lol). We did that and still had time to rent a golf cart ($10 bucks for an hour) - We tooled around the island (very tiny - even wound up on the "runway" of the "airport." Ate lunch at the Rasta Pasta - would highly recommend. Spent some time on a hammock drinking icy cold $1 dollar beers before making our way back to our scheduled taxi run. Got back to the pier with enough time to look in several shops before catching a tender back to the ship. I would not have missed this experience for all the world. Caye Caulker is unlike any place I've ever been. Could easily disappear here and never be found - no cars, no pavement, no commercial build up..... What a great day!!!!

Loved Caye Caulker!!! Took the water taxi at 9:00 a.m. came back at 1:30. Belize time was one hour behind the Paradise ship time. We could have come back a little later but did not want to chance it. We left ourselves a little time to swim at the Radisson Hotel pool which was available to Carnival cruisers.