Cave Tubing in Belize Question

[STARFISH*4]

Hi, we're leaving on the Legend on July 11th. It's our first time in Belize, the cave tubing sounds amazing, however, I can't seem to get a feel for how fast the water moves. I have rafted on the rapids in the NE, is this similar?

 

Also, we have a 9 yr old, who is a bit small for his age. And I am quite a bit out of shape. Are there height or weight limits for the tubes and/or ziplines?

 

Any info would be great.

 

Thanks.

 

i never hear or read that the water is running fast while you are tubin (i havent tubed in belize--hubby is planning to in december)...i have rafted Colorado and Green Rivers in Utah and then tubed river in Idaho...it just sounds like it is so slow-going even to the point of just having to be dragged...guess it would depend on when you go as to water levels...but i have never heard fast-running or rapids from cave tubing reports in Belize...only that they shut the tubing down if the water is running to fast

[bowbiter]

Water current was SLOW when we were there. Although it probably depends on how much rain they've had lately.

[julianne74]

Water current was SLOW when we were there. Although it probably depends on how much rain they've had lately.

 

 

I agree. I would not say it's like "rafting" - it's pretty slow. It was very leisurely.

[golfpccc]

Will be in Belize in Dec. Cave tubing sounds like a lot of fun. However, I have a bad knee and was wondering how far you had to walk to the actual caves? Jaguar Paw's site says they are right at the entrance to the caves and you don't have to walk, but then mention in another paragraph that it is only a 30 minute walk. What is it? Is the walk up hill? How strenous is it? Thanks everyone.

[gtcruzer]

I have a bad knee and was wondering how far you had to walk to the actual caves? Jaguar Paw's site says they are right at the entrance to the caves and you don't have to walk, but then mention in another paragraph that it is only a 30 minute walk. What is it? Is the walk up hill? How strenous is it? Thanks everyone.

i would also like to hear from someone who used them. i have the same bad knee on both sides. thanks in advance!

[Captain Carnival]

I don't know if anyone ever posted this before, or even knows for that matter, but what company does Carnival use for cave tubing?

[conniejb]

Will be in Belize in Dec. Cave tubing sounds like a lot of fun. However, I have a bad knee and was wondering how far you had to walk to the actual caves? Jaguar Paw's site says they are right at the entrance to the caves and you don't have to walk, but then mention in another paragraph that it is only a 30 minute walk. What is it? Is the walk up hill? How strenous is it? Thanks everyone.

 

You do cut out some of the walking time going with

jaguar paw but also it is not 30 mins of walking it just takes 20 to 30 min because the guide will stop and point out interesting facts along the trail. I have a bad knee also and I was fine. We were ages 7 to 37 and we all enjoyed this excursion very much.

[conniejb]

So, is it fair to say that cavetubing.com is the best/safest/cheapest bet out there or should one book through Carnival directly? THANKS!

 

BTW: is it cavetubing.com or cave-tubing.com???

 

 

Are we reading the same thread??? They may be the cheapest but....well lets just say you get what you pay for

[Captain Carnival]

Are we reading the same thread??? They may be the cheapest but....well lets just say you get what you pay for

 

If "You get what you pay for " was a logical axiom then perhaps you maybe correct. However, "cheapest" may also be OK for those of us on a budget and just looking to maximize our limited fun dollars. :(

[Grits53]

Will be in Belize in Dec. Cave tubing sounds like a lot of fun. However, I have a bad knee and was wondering how far you had to walk to the actual caves? Jaguar Paw's site says they are right at the entrance to the caves and you don't have to walk, but then mention in another paragraph that it is only a 30 minute walk. What is it? Is the walk up hill? How strenous is it? Thanks everyone.

 

Carnival takes you right through the Jaguar entrance. I assume there are different trails to take, but the one we took was long, with rocks and tree roots everywhere, and hills. It was a long, hot walk, carrying those huge inner tubes and wearing our life vests. Our guide never let us stop and did not tell us about the flora and fauna along the way. The pace was much faster than leisurely. I'm not gonna lie to you. It wasn't an easy walk for us, and we are in our upper 50's and thought we were in halfway decent shape.... What you do is walk down this trail to where you enter the river, and then you end up getting out of the river at the same place you started from. This is not something I would do again. It was a lot of work, even during the river part. I like to be lazy on my vacations!

[Grits53]

You do cut out some of the walking time going with

jaguar paw but also it is not 30 mins of walking it just takes 20 to 30 min because the guide will stop and point out interesting facts along the trail. I have a bad knee also and I was fine. We were ages 7 to 37 and we all enjoyed this excursion very much.

 

I guess this all depends on which guide you end up with. This was not our experience AT ALL, when we went with Carnival through the gates of Jaguar Paw. Let me ask you, since I'm not sure this is the same.... Did you all have to get into a school bus to go up (and down) that steep, steep hill to the river entrance at Jaguar?

[Grits53]

I don't know if anyone ever posted this before, or even knows for that matter, but what company does Carnival use for cave tubing?

 

On our photo CD, the label is "Adventure Cave Tubing at Jaguar Paw Belize". We did this through Carnival. We went through Jaguar Paw's gate, and that is where we received our tubes and later our photo CD. So can we deduce that Carnival uses Jaguar Paw? By the way, they gave me the wrong photo CD, and I had to email them after I got home to get them to send the right one. So be sure to LOOK AT YOUR CD before you take it!

[kiraryker]

So who should we go thru???? I have so far Jaguar Paw or Xtreme Cave Tubing?? Do you have their web sites?

 

Thanks

[conniejb]

If "You get what you pay for " was a logical axiom then perhaps you maybe correct. However, "cheapest" may also be OK for those of us on a budget and just looking to maximize our limited fun dollars. :(

 

We were on a budget too but it was not a huge difference in price and it is worth it not to wear a life vest the smells like stinky arm pits and lights that do not work. If your light does not work you can only see what the other people are looking at. Oh and I do know that they were not as expensive as some of the others.

[gtcruzer]

thanks connie

[conniejb]

thanks connie

 

You are welcome :)

[ciship]

Can anyone tell me if the vehicles taking you to the cave are air conditioned? We are going in late July. Also, how long is the drive from the ship to the cave? I have heard of "dragging". Will the water be too shallow in July for tubing?

[DvsDave]

Hello:

 

I will be sailing on the Carnival Valor in July and would like to go cave tubing. I know that cavetubing.com has gotten really good reviews and the price is good. My question is, I don't want to hold onto anyone's feet. Does anyone know of another company that does not do this. I have seen on the boards that some companies use yellow tubes and if you have to link you hold onto the handles instead. NCQ is quite expensive compared to cavetubing. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

 

We just did this.... you had the option of holding feet or going solo. The guide said if the water was high we would form chains.

 

JUST A WARNING...

we went with xtreme... and we got back at 4:15 and the last tender was at 4..... we went back with the Carnival employees! I don't know what we would have done if we were just a couple of minutes later!!

[STARFISH*4]

seems that there have been reviews of people just barely getting back from the various companies--might be going thru the ship...its more but its worth it for saving the stress of oh its getting late and we are going to miss the last tender:eek:

[conniejb]

seems that there have been reviews of people just barely getting back from the various companies--might be going thru the ship...its more but its worth it for saving the stress of oh its getting late and we are going to miss the last tender:eek:

We got back with time to shop.

[Chilehead]

I made this same post in the Major Tom Minor Tom thread but I'll post it here too. I hope it helps:

 

We just went cave tubing with Major Tom last Wednesday July 1, 2010. I cannot praise them enough. There were only 28 people in our group and we were treated great.

 

Our main guide was Mogley (like in "Jungle Book"). He is a 20 year old native and was absolutely fantastic. My 6 year old daughter followed him around like a puppy dog and he was great with her too. He made the bus ride seem short with his stories and information about the island and it's history.

 

In the rain forest Mogley taught us about all of the different plants and we even ate termites...well, my son, daughter, and I did; my wife passed...lol. They tasted like little crunchy mints, believe it or not.

 

We were there two days after tropical storm Alex was there and the river was a little high and fast so Mogley actually took us through two cave systems rather than one so that we didn't get cheated by how quickly the water was moving with a shorter float.

 

After the float, Mogley took us to a spot where any of who wanted could jump off of a small bluff into the water. Even my six year old jumped and it was a blast.

 

Afterwards on the way back, we stopped at a local grocery where we could buy a local beer if we chose to for the ride back.

 

The whole experience was fantastic from beginning to end.

 

Some of our friends that we met on the ship booked their cave tubing through Carnival and they said that they felt as if they were hearded like cattle, only did one cave and they paid twice as much.

 

I'll try and answer a few other questions I saw in this thread:

 

.com and .net are definitely NOT the same.

 

I believe that Carnival uses .com.

 

As you read above, we took our 6 year old and she loved it. Your 9 year old should be fine as long as he/she is comfortable with the water. We're boaters so our daughter was raised boating and around water.

 

As you read above, we were there two days after Alex and the river was fast and high. We had no problems at all. It's very relaxing.

 

Hope this helps everyone. Have a great time and cheers! :)

[Captain Carnival]

This is a late follow-up question to those who have recently gone cave tubing as I will be doing so next week but......how deep is the water these day's; I've read a few posts that it can be shallow?

[Chilehead]

This is a late follow-up question to those who have recently gone cave tubing as I will be doing so next week but......how deep is the water these day's; I've read a few posts that it can be shallow?

 

We were there two days after Alex hit Belize when it it was still just a tropical storm so I'm probably not the best one to ask but it was great when we were there. We only had to "butts up" a couple of times and never had to drag our tubes.

[Captain Carnival]

We were there two days after Alex hit Belize when it it was still just a tropical storm so I'm probably not the best one to ask but it was great when we were there. We only had to "butts up" a couple of times and never had to drag our tubes.

 

 

Thanks!