Caye Caulker --Just back DIY

First a big THANK YOU to all cruisecritics who have posted information. This was our favorite day of the cruise.

We are used to traveling on land on cruising and are used to taking public transportation and researching for DIY. We were on the HAL Ryndam Western Caribbean cruise from Tampa Jan 31. We were in Bleize Feb 4, the other ship in Bleize that day was a NCL ship (the Jewel??). Both were scheduled to be there 8am-5pm.

After doing a bit of research we did not want to book a private tour in advance since weather conditions can affect snokeling conditions and our plan was to snorkel. If the weather was bad we would do something else. We looked oline and saw that several dive shops on Caulker offered half day tours starting at 10:30 so we hoped to make the 9am water taxi taking the San Pedro Express since it is close to the tender docks.

Holland America ships are resonably small so that seems to make customer service a little more personal. Early in the cruise when I just went to the front desk armed with my water taxi info and a printout of the dive shops and asked about getting on one of the first tenders, no problem. We were granted permission to be on the first tender, they took our cabin number and name.

We arrived on time to the anchorage and got on the first tender. We walked out the front gates between all the waiting tour buses and ignored the people seeling tours. I said water taxi and someone came up and asked if we wanted the San Pedro Express, he led us to the ticket office, we bought two round trip tickets..they were $10 each for Caye Caulker (I thought they would be more but I have my ticket and that's what we paid).

The water taxi was for 9:15am--not 9am so we had plenty of time. The water taxi office is very easy to find and right next to the cruise ship area.

We made the mistake of sitting near the front of the taxi--WARNING--the front is bumpy. Sit as far back as you canWhen we arrived at Caye Caulker we were getting off and someone called my name, saying our tour was ready. I told him that was my name but I hadn't booked a tour--he insisted he was sent to look for me for a snorkel tour. Then I'm wondering did I e-mail some company to ask questions??? Turns out I have a common name and sure enough someone else had booked a tour in advance. That settled I said we wanted a snorkel tour and this was one of the companies on the list so we followed him to the office. the other people were on the NCL ship and had signed up for the longer Hol Chan trip. While I would like to do that for a short visit we really just wanted to get out to the reef. What luck, for $25pp we were directed to a boat with two other people who were staying on the island. just four of us had a guide and a wonderful snokel experience.

First we went to the Coral Gardens--a park right close to the Caye, it took no time to get there. The guide led us around the coral and picked up things for us to see, then we found a very nice eel and even a lion fish. There were huge sting rays hiding in the sand. With si few people the fish stayed around and were not scared off.

Then we went to jump in with the sting rays. These guys are wilder than at Grand Cayman, but they still come for a free lunch. Last we went to some deeper coral heads and could go off on our own. When we got back on the boat we had fruit and drinks.

We were told we could stay out longer but by 1 we were a bit tired, since the entire time had been actual snorkeling so we zipped back. This gave us 45 min before the water taxi so we had a liitle time to walk around. DH got something to eat and sat by the water taxi dock at this liitle cafe while I made it out to the split which is very pretty. Yes the guy with the grill was by the "road".

We had been told to be at the water taxi dock early--the taxis come right on time, load and leave so I can see how you could get into trouble if you we're paying attention. We did give ourselves a cushion by planning taking the 1:45 back with a later taxi as back-up.

Also when we signed up for our snorkel tour the person told us that if we missed the taxi--or had problems to come back to them, they would try to get us on one of the ship tour boats or find another way to get us back to the ship.

The taxi came and this time we sat in the back. On the taxi over we met people from the NCL ship who were going to San Pedro, they were on the return taxi (also in the back) and said they had a wonderful time, lunching along the sea and doing some walking.

This for us was very very easy. We did our homework, had a plan, asked the ship to let us off early and had a wonderful day.

glad you had a great trip. Your description and review is very helpful.

crewsweeper--your posts really were the driving force behind our choice to go to Caye Caulker. What a wonderful unspoiled chill out place it is. The women we met on our tour were each traveling alone and felt that this is a perfectly safe destination.

The people are so friendly.

Thank you for the help on this board.

BTW on HAL they have a tour guide in addition to the shore excursion desk and the shopping person who helps DIY people or anyone else who has questions about a port. He had lived in Belize and when I asked him for any details he was impressed by how much info I was able to collect and was the person who told me to ask at the front desk about getting the early tender. He said there is no guarantee, but it helps to ask in advance and be sure that they knew the taxi schedule and why we were making the request.

We are thinking of returning for a longer stay.

Do you know the name of the company that you went snorkeling with?

Star Tours. If you google they have a website and were one of the companies I was planning on using. I liked the fact that they do offer tours for cruiseship passengers so they know that you need to get back. When we got to the office they asked our departure time and asked specifically if it was ship time or island time (HAL changes the clocks so ship time is island time).

We did not pre-book and essentially had the half day snorkel trip listed on the website for $25. The other people we met had pre-booked the longer trip as a cruise passenger tour, they were met at the port--escorted to the water taxi and I assume were helped to make their way back to the ship. This was a wonderful day.

You mentioned you took the San Pedro Express. What is the diff. between that & the other water taxi that is further away that people have mentioned. Would you only take the other watertaxi if wanting to go to another island?

The San Pedro Express is right next to the tender dock gates, the other taxi is a little bit more of a walk. Both water taxis go to both islands. On Caye Caulker each water taxi has its own dock.

Did you bring your own snorkeling equipment or did the tour include equipment?

Thanks!

We brought our own, I know they had equipment but do not know if it was included. Everyone in the boat had their own gear. I did see a sign that said rental $15, but again I don't know if you sign up for a tour if you need to pay for rental--I would e-mail and ask them.

Thanks Mountainmare for the informative post!! Can't wait to share with my sister as this sounds great..We'll be there in a few weeks :-)

~Kelly~

Thanks, Mountainmare. Sounds like we'll be giving the website a visit and quite possibly following in your fins :)