Is Cave Tubing really Fun?

[rosenc1c]

We have a group of 18 going to Belize next March on the Carnival Triumph. I've suggested that we do cave tubing to the group. After looking at the websites nearly everyone has had the same reaction, that it doesn't look that fun and the water isn't even that clear.

 

I tried to explain that it seems the caves are the main attraction, not the clear water. So I wanted to ask here, is cave tubing really fun and worth doing? Is it a long bus ride and is there a lot of hiking involved?

[texancruzer]

We did it (private tour company) and enjoyed it alot !

 

The bus ride is about 45 minutes.....once out of Belize City and into the countryside it is really pretty country. Then you start seeing large hills. Once at the park, you each pick out a tube and begin your walk. Our guides carried the womens tubes (heard this is not always the case) and it made the walk very enjoyable. We walked @ 30 minutes but it was through rainforest like area and our main guide pointed out neat stuff. Went across the river once (saw cruiseline tours beginning there) but we continued on about 10-15 min. more and entered the river further out. The actual tubing was relaxing and yet like nothing I have ever done before....... the caves are dark. Black dark. You do not go "down" into them but rather the river has carved out the caves thru the large hills. Once done we walked back (carried our tubes this time) and had time to visit the restrooms and change etc. We then drove to a nice local restaurant and had a yummy Belizian meal. We all sat outdoors in a covered patio area. Then rode back to city.

 

Would I do it again? No. But I am glad I did it once. Going back to Belize next March and plan a tour out to the cays.

 

Hope this helps.

[shortstop95]

The previous post sums up it so well for me- "would I do it again- no". The bus ride was fun, the hike through the rain forest was fun and educational- getting into the river and hooking legs and arms was a hoot- but about after 5 mins in the dark dark of the caves I was a little under-whelmed. My wife was blue and freezing by the end. Glad we did it- yes to check it off the list- but would I ever go again- probably not.

[SeaBrz]

As we were told before we booked Belize cave tubing in 2009, IT ALL DEPENDS ON WHO YOU BOOK WITH! Sorry for shouting, but I personally witnessed why that advice is given in April 2009.

 

I did a lot of research before that trip because there was a news story about a cave tuber that had recently died in Belize, and more importantly, I was bringing both my DD and DGS on this trip. I paid a little more, but after a lot of emails back and forth, chose Major Tom and his son for our excursion. I've been so busy working on excursions for our next cruise that I haven't even checked if Major Tom is still operating, but I'd be surprised if he wasn't (except that he certainly deserves to retire after all of his years as an officer with the British Honduras Military - renamed Belize in 1973).

 

Major Tom and his son spent a lot of time before we entered the caves explaining about how we would get through the caves over the next couple hours. They gave us "mining lights" to wear on our head and said they would tell us when to turn them on. They also warned us about no loud noises once we entered the cave because the fragile, beautiful stalactites were affected by sound and could fall.

 

On our drive to the caves, they pointed out important ancient Mayan landmarks that still exist today, like the "sleeping man" mountain (awesome) and other little areas. They told us about the challenges they face with their close proximity to countries with very different political agendas and they sincerely wanted to know about us, too.

 

Lastly, and embarrassingly, they had to tell us that we were going to be going through the caves with other groups that did not have the same love, respect, and advice. Well, that was an understatement, and it made me ashamed to be an American for a couple of hours. Some tour guides just roped a bunch of drunk cruisers together in a tube line and let them go ... THIS IS DANGEROUS ... DO NOT GO WITHOUT A GUIDE! Our guide stayed at the head of our tube group the entire time, but sometimes had to "bank us" so he could go save an unattended group that was caught up in a cave eddy-- or worse. For Belize -- make sure you have a good, well-recommended guide that provides cave/mining headlights and instruction about traveling the caves.

 

My major point that I want to make to anyone reading this is, unlike the U.S., there are no government safety guidelines in place for less-regulated countries. This is a blessing in many ways, but also an alert to those travelers that expect complete safety. So my advice, for any country: research early, start an email or even phone communication, feel comfortable --- but most importantly -- DON'T MISS A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY because of fear.

[jsummerton]

I did it and it was okay. If you're not into caves or mild tubing which it sounds like you're not, don't worry, you're not missing a lot by missing the trip. I hear the snorkeling in Belize is really awesome. I wish I'd done that instead.

[markstudy]

Thanks everyone.... how many caves do you see? How much of the trip is in the cave vs. floating down the river?

[GinDon]

My review of cave tubing would be much more enthusiastic than previous posters. I chose this excursion (after much research) for 6 of us (age 15-65), and we used X-Stream Cave Tubing Co. We started by driving through the city of Belize, with commentary by our driver and guide, "M & M". I'm not sure if this was part of the tour, or if we just had to drive through to town to get where we were going, but in any case, we enjoyed seeing the city. The drive out into the countryside was very interesting, and eye-opening, to see how some people live in poverty. Once at the caves, we received our life vest, headlamp, and tube, and set off into the jungle. It was about a 45 min hike along a cleared path. The day was hot, but the canopy shaded us a lot, so it wasn't bad. Our guide took us past the regular entry site, and we walked about 10 minutes further, to a third cave. This was a small, walk through one. Then we came to the main entry place. You had a choice of dropping backwards into your tube from the side, or jump off a cliff into the water. All the macho men in my group jumped. I dropped. There are two big caves. Yup, pitch black in there, but the guide has a big spotlight, he points out formations, etc. on the ceiling, walls. We all had our headlamps on, but they don't give much light. I suspect they are more so the guide can see US, and keep track of us. The day we cave tubed (late Oct.) the water level was perfect, fairly swift current, only two "butts-up" moments. You go through one cave, then out into the sun (squint!) and float a little, then back into the second dark cave. After emerging from the second cave, you float down the river in the bright, warm sun for about 10 minutes. You are in the caves more than just going down the river.

Maybe we are just easily impressed, but we all agreed this was one of the best, most fun, tours we have taken. Would we do it again? You bet!

[texancruzer]

Thanks everyone.... how many caves do you see? How much of the trip is in the cave vs. floating down the river?

 

Hey Mark, its me TEX..... ( St. John dinghy thread :) ).......

 

We did our tour with Cavetubing.*** and had a great day. I seem to remember going into 3 caves (might have been 2) ..... all pretty long and very very dark. Like not see your hand in front of your face - dark. But my dd and I had 1 guide for both of us. He steered us and made sure we stayed in the current.....and one or two places it was quite slow so he did all the work to paddle us thru...... once in the river and tubing it was maybe pretty close to 1/2 and 1/2 time wise. Like I posted above. I really enjoyed doing this but I would not do it a second time..... of course I zip-lined in Costa Rica on a land trip last March and loved it......but not really sure I will do it again. Hope this helps - TEX

[markstudy]

Hey Mark, its me TEX..... ( St. John dinghy thread :) ).......

 

We did our tour with Cavetubing.*** and had a great day. - TEX

 

Thanks texancruzer :D that dinghy tip you gave me was such a great tip! I would have never figured that out without your help.

 

Yep... now I'm trying to pick a cave tubing company. My first thought is how can I find a private guide or the smallest group tour? I have this thing about too many folks in the background making my Jungle photos look less exotic. ;) Also looking at the option with riding ATV's (but I think a smaller group is my main interest, I'd give up the ATV's for the best tour company if I have to).

 

We did the zip-line in Costa Rica also on a land based trip. It a lot of fun running into you again on CC :) Thanks for the advice as always. (I'll keep an eye out for your Red Sea, Nile tour trip report... it should be fascinating).

 

[texancruzer]

Thanks texancruzer :D that dinghy tip you gave me was such a great tip! I would have never figured that out without your help.

 

Yep... now I'm trying to pick a cave tubing company. My first thought is how can I find a private guide or the smallest group tour? I have this thing about too many folks in the background making my Jungle photos look less exotic. ;) Also looking at the option with riding ATV's (but I think a smaller group is my main interest, I'd give up the ATV's for the best tour company if I have to).

 

We did the zip-line in Costa Rica also on a land based trip. It a lot of fun running into you again on CC :) Thanks for the advice as always. (I'll keep an eye out for your Red Sea, Nile tour trip report... it should be fascinating).

 

 

Mark, we had about 15 people and 6 guides - thats 2.5 -1 ratio..... I thought that was pretty good..... dd and I had one guide all to ourselves so we felt really safe. And not too many people to tell to move out of the shot for those pristine " exotic jungle shots" :D

 

I will definately be posting a review on the Africa POC forum...... this is our 30th anniversary trip (and dh's lifelong " I wanna do this" one)

 

Glad you had fun on the dinghys......as posted before we didnt get over to St. John and were very sorry we didnt ........ had a plan and then at the last minute decided to "wing it" and it didnt play out well - that is why I research and plan like a crazy lady ....... lesson learned (again !)

[vfb2girls]

We did the cave tubing excursion back in November 08 and also had M&M for our tour guides. They did an amazing job with our group and both myself and husband are happy that we did this excursion. Would we do it again, no, I almost froze throughout the whole excursion, shivered so bad that the poor guy in front of me holding my legs kept asking me if I was okay. For me it was interesting to see the caves but it was hard to enjoy myself because I was so cold. We are going back to Belize this March and have decided to just spend some time at the Wet Lizard.

[Chilehead]

As we were told before we booked Belize cave tubing in 2009, IT ALL DEPENDS ON WHO YOU BOOK WITH! Sorry for shouting, but I personally witnessed why that advice is given in April 2009.

 

I did a lot of research before that trip because there was a news story about a cave tuber that had recently died in Belize, and more importantly, I was bringing both my DD and DGS on this trip. I paid a little more, but after a lot of emails back and forth, chose Major Tom and his son for our excursion. I've been so busy working on excursions for our next cruise that I haven't even checked if Major Tom is still operating, but I'd be surprised if he wasn't (except that he certainly deserves to retire after all of his years as an officer with the British Honduras Military - renamed Belize in 1973).

 

Major Tom and his son spent a lot of time before we entered the caves explaining about how we would get through the caves over the next couple hours. They gave us "mining lights" to wear on our head and said they would tell us when to turn them on. They also warned us about no loud noises once we entered the cave because the fragile, beautiful stalactites were affected by sound and could fall.

 

On our drive to the caves, they pointed out important ancient Mayan landmarks that still exist today, like the "sleeping man" mountain (awesome) and other little areas. They told us about the challenges they face with their close proximity to countries with very different political agendas and they sincerely wanted to know about us, too.

 

Lastly, and embarrassingly, they had to tell us that we were going to be going through the caves with other groups that did not have the same love, respect, and advice. Well, that was an understatement, and it made me ashamed to be an American for a couple of hours. Some tour guides just roped a bunch of drunk cruisers together in a tube line and let them go ... THIS IS DANGEROUS ... DO NOT GO WITHOUT A GUIDE! Our guide stayed at the head of our tube group the entire time, but sometimes had to "bank us" so he could go save an unattended group that was caught up in a cave eddy-- or worse. For Belize -- make sure you have a good, well-recommended guide that provides cave/mining headlights and instruction about traveling the caves.

 

My major point that I want to make to anyone reading this is, unlike the U.S., there are no government safety guidelines in place for less-regulated countries. This is a blessing in many ways, but also an alert to those travelers that expect complete safety. So my advice, for any country: research early, start an email or even phone communication, feel comfortable --- but most importantly -- DON'T MISS A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY because of fear.

 

Major and minor Tom are still around and giving incredible tours. We used them about a month ago. They are definitely a cut above the rest.