Belize advice

Okay, here's the deal. A friend and I are going to fly to Cancun for reading break, and then catch a bus to Caye Caulker. During our stay, we are going to try to go to Tikal, and we are hoping to do all of this somewhat cheaply, likely by bus. I've checked around and I can't seem to find very much in the way of specific information on the topic. Can someone give me specific information as to how difficult this will be and how to best go about doing it?

Do some searches on this website as well as the Lonely Planet ThornTree. You don't indicate how long you have but it is fairly easy to take the bus to Belize City-water taxi to Caye Caulker and a bus to San Ignacio and over and back to Tikal.

Sorry, I have a penchant for vagueness when I ask questions. We are planning on a 7 to 9 day vacation. My wife works in the airline industry, so we are able to get to Cancun fairly cheaply, and would like to continue that trend throughout the trip. That being said, I've read on other forums that you can save a ton of time by taking a quick flight to Caye Caulker rather than going all the way to Belize City. Is this true? how much time/money should I be planning for either way.

And as far as Caye Caulker to Tikal goes, it's basically the same question. I know the water taxi to Belize City is pretty cheap and takes about 45 minutes, but I haven't been able to gather too much information as far as time and money go with that one either.