Anyone take small kids cavetubing?

[biksgirl]

I'm considering using cavetubing - dot-com for my upcoming cruise and I noticed on their website they have pics of parents with small kids in their laps. Has anyone actually done that? My kids are 5 and 3 and my sisters are 4 and 21 months at time of cruise. Will they be safe sitting in our laps?

[Fourseventeen]

I would only recommend doing that for people who dont care about their children. You ever watch the news and see kids who drown in the swimming pool or bathtub? Well imagine a river with flowing water and dark caves where you can barely see where your flashlight is aiming. Doesnt sound to safe for small kids if you ask me. But thats just my .02 cents I guess.

[MamaParrotHead]

Um, no.

[Fourseventeen]

glad to see im not the only one who thinks this is a stupid idea and isnt afraid to say a little something :D

[biksgirl]

Thanks for the input...I assume the two of you have actually gone cavetubing and thus have first hand knowledge that it isn't safe for kids.

 

I thought it was a little bizarre that there were pics of kids in parents laps, but I have never been, nor do I know anyone who has, so really had no clue how safe it was...the water doesn't look deep, but you never know.

 

guess I'll be booking something else!

[Fourseventeen]

yes I have been. I have also been in the water where I couldnt touch the bottom and the current was so strong that I would have been screwed if I wasnt a good swimmer (not to mentioned I am also trained in swift water rescue). I was there in Oct and it was raining that day we were there but who knows what type of conditions you could encounter. I wouldnt even take a kid under about 8-10 yrs old.

[biksgirl]

Thanks again. Can I ask? Is there anything (besides beach time) that you recommend doing in Belize with the small kids?

[Mack2]

I went with my kids, the age range in the group was 4-10

 

When we had gone, the river was low and there wasn't a strong current like some folks are describing.

 

With the children, and the safety limit of number of tourists per guide, we were in a group of 8. Four adults, with four children riding tandem (their tubes strapped to the adult tubes)

 

we had a great time. My younger son (age 7) was disappointed that he didn't get a "butt massage" when the guide called for "Bottoms Up!" My 5 year old daughter did well, and the 4 year old wasn't too nervous being tied next to his mom.

 

 

 

I guess it depends on the state of the river... like I said, the river water level was well below the green marker when we crossed it... there were a few times when the guide had to stand up and drag us around... but there are also parts of the cave in the darkness where we were told that it goes down to depths of 50' or so.

 

We used Vitalino who runs cavetubing.bz

I would really reconsider the 21-month old. Even with the life preservers... it might not be a terribly good idea...

The other thing is that my kids are all pretty comfortable with water. They can swim okay, so treading water isn't a problem for them.

 

Finally, when we had gone, there were no cruise excursions doing the caves because of the fatal drowning the year before... so there were very few groups in the cave... We had out 2 groups of 8... pretty much the entire time.

 

More people might be problematic now that the cruises are using the caves again.

 

 

edit:

Another tour you can consider is the tour to see the ruins at Altun Ha.

We considered that, but on our last cruise, we decided to go to Tulum at the Cozumel stop (which worked out since it wasn't pouring rain at Tulum, but Cozumel was under a rain storm)

 

Instead of seeing another set of ruins, we tried the caves.

[Mack2]

One bad thing is that if you commit yourself to the cave-tubing tour... it's a good 45min ride out to the cave. If you decide that the river is too high, you're kinda stuck out there until the other people get back from the tour.

 

If you're still interested in the tour, I would suggest calling the company and expressing your concerns, even though I'm afraid they will still tell you something to the effect of "NO PROBLEM!"

 

Again, since I didn't experience hordes of other tourists or a fast current, I found the experience to be quite enjoyable... and I was glad that the kids got to experience it with us.

But I suppose if the conditions weren't as friendly, I would have a different opinion.

 

Also to note, the grandmother's (my mom and my mother-in-law) came along with us on the tour... age 64 and 61... they enjoyed themselves...

[Fourseventeen]

I dont know but I would assume most parents would give their life for their children so why would anyone care to risk taking a small child into a river regardless of the waters level at the time. Sure it COULD be safe but then again, what if its not. By the time you realize its not safe its usually to late. I have dealt with many kids who were victims of drowning cases...some turned out ok but most didnt survive. Me personally I would never risk a childs life just to have a little fun. Once they are old enough to swim and somewhat care for themselves I say go for it but until then I wouldnt risk my childs life just to try and have fun on vacation. Cave tubing is a blast but dont under estimate what COULD happen. Wait until they are at least old enough to swim. Just my .02 cents.

Do a hiking tour instead or maybe find a nice shore snorkel tour...that would be much safer.

[biksgirl]

Thanks for everyone's input.

 

We have decided to NOT do cavetubing with the kids...some of the adults in our group of 25 will still go, but we'll find something else to do in Belize with the kids...even if we end up on a beach again! Better to be safe than sorry!!!

[biksgirl]

...oh and Mack2...great pictures....looks like your kids had so much fun...I hope in a few years I can take the kids cavetubing too!!

[cruiserzia]

It's not a stupid idea at all. You just would have to clear it with the tour operator you booked it with. We just came back last week and did the cave tubing. Your were supposed to be 10, but we took a chance and took our 7 year old- knowing I was willing to bail if it didn't look like it would work.

 

The hardest part is the walk through the rain forest carrying your tube. Thankfully my daughter was happy to walk for 30 minutes and carried her own tube the whole way. Your wouldn't want to carry two large tubes and a toddler.

 

It was very shallow where we entered and there were very few spots that were over 2-3 feet deep. There was almost no current, so to be honest you got a workout paddling your way through the cave and down the river. It wasn't much different from being in a pool. All that being said- our guide immediately latched a rope onto our daughter's tube handle and kept her attached to him. Our guide allowed us to "free float" and said the kids could get out of the tubes and swim when we weren't in the cave.

 

Everyone has a life vest, but I did not see any very small ones. I imagine with the small kids you are bringing your own "floaties" anyway. I always used a full body one that couldn't come off and felt very confident snorkling in the ocean etc. with my kids when they were younger. I saw that some of the tour operators actually had large tubes that did not have openings in the bottom, which would be ideal for someone with a child in their lap. There were also some tour operators who had everyone hooked together 3-4 across and 10 long, so no chance of anyone getting away even if they tried. The caves are dark, but there are so many people floating in them with head lamps, that you can see pretty well.

 

I wore flip flops and they suggested we rent water shoes. The flip flops were fine for the walk but they said they might come off in the river. Knowing what I know now, I would stick with the flip-flops. They were fine for the walk and then I could have taken them off and used them for paddles in the water. That's what our guide did, and it sure made it easier to pull through the water. Otherwise I could have just put them in my lap. I carried an inexpensive camera and wished I had brought our good one. It really is a very calm river (although I imagine that can change depending on the season, so you'd have to keep that in mind)>

[Fourseventeen]

not to be so negative BUT this is why kids drown! People always under estimate the water! "oh its so calm and shallow" yeah right! There is places in that river in the dark caves that are 10-50+ feet deep!!! The place I jumped in the water was at least 10-15+ feet deep cause I jumped in from 15 feet above the water...straight legs and arms and didnt hit the bottom. When we were there the current in places was always strong enough that you couldnt swim against it. Why would someone be so ignorant to toss their children into harms way...I dont get it. Sure if they can swim and fit a life vest without it coming over there head then by all means....have fun! But if your kid is 16 months old or even 5 years old its not a good idea. People have died in this EXACT river system. Carnival at one point stopped offering this tour because someone on their cruise had died on this excursion....a 52 yr old woman...not even a child! So imagine if a kid got in the same situation this woman got into.

Now please keep in mind...im not trying to be an a**hole here. I have a lot of law enforcement training including search and rescue and swift water rescue training so I am not just some guy who wants bash on people for something I am not experienced with. I deal with slow and swift moving rivers on a normal basis and I know that most people under estimate what the water can do. Why chance putting your small kids in a situation like this if you dont have to. Wait until they are old enough to at least swim and make sure their life vest is tightly secured and can not slip over their head.