Catalina Island Activities/Tour

I haven't been to Catalina Island in 25 years, but went several times before then. Back then, it was easy to book activities for the day on the island. Is it still like that? I am thinking I'd be most interested in a back country tour, but the ones from my cruise ship seem overpriced. I could be wrong, though, since it has been 25 years since I've been there. I haven't found a lot through google. There are a few sites, but I don't see anything like what we used to do there.

I'd kind of like to wing it and just go there and decide what we feel like doing that day and book a tour when we get there. Is that still possible these days? Since the ship requires a tender, are we better off booking something from our ship since they will most likely make sure we get back in time?

What size ship are you going to be on? Remember, 25 years ago, ships were much smaller and there weren't 2-3000 + people descending on the island all at once. There will probably be some drivers trying to pick up tours when you get off the tenders, but I don't know anything about them - you might try checking TripAdvisor. Since many of the back roads are very steep and winding with sharp drop-offs on the side, I'd hesitate to use a driver without some knowledge of his/her experience level

Our last time there, we did a ship's tour, a beautiful vintage 1950's bus all the way up to the top of the mountain where the airport is, and loved it. Our driver was "Bear" - he knew everything about the island and everyone on the island seemed to know him and called out to him as we passed. The airport itself is amazing - how they put a runway on top of a mountain is pretty unusual. If you get that far, don't miss the cookies they sell in the airport gift shop/snack bar.

Thanks for the info and I didn't think about it being a few thousand people all getting off at the same time. I'll just book through the cruise line and take the mystery out of it.