Cave Tubing with 2 year old?

[valuv2travel]

I got an email back from one tour operator who said I could tube with a 2 year old (she would sit on my lap in the tube). Anyone done this? How did it go?

[donaldsc]

I would not do it. Ignoring the fact that you may be so busy trying to hold the 2 year on your lap that you will not see things, do you think that they have PFDs for a 2 year old? You better check with them if you insist on doing this.

 

DON

[TMLAalum]

Is your 2 year old water-safe? If she is comfortable in water and dark places and she is permitted on the excursion, I would suggest bringing a PFD that fits her from home, JIC....

[valuv2travel]

We're def bringing her life jacket b/c we'll be doing other water related activities in other ports. She's fine in the water as we have a boat. Was curious if anyone actually took a 2 year old or toddler w/ them and how that experience worked.

[Fourseventeen]

I assume your 2 year old is your whole world so if thats the case I would NOT even consider doing this! You would have to be out of your mind to even consider this. Water in some places exceeds 50' deep. There is portions where the water gets moving pretty good and most of the trip is in VERY dark caves where I seen teenage kids freak out and even some adults! I could only imagine a 2 year old freaking out and falling into the water. That could be a very bad situation. I have seen kids drown in swallow still water...this is deep moving water in dark caves. I would highly suggest against this idea. Please keep in mind...I am in law enforcement and I am also certified with the state of AZ as a search and rescue officer...including diving, swift water and mountain rescue. If anyone who has done this says it is safe for a child...they have lost their mind! People die in that cave system. Carnival for instance stopped doing this excursion up until about a year ago because of a adult who fell off her float tube and ended up drowning inside this cave system. I wouldnt risk it.

[MidnightSwinga]

I assume your 2 year old is your whole world so if thats the case I would NOT even consider doing this! You would have to be out of your mind to even consider this. Water in some places exceeds 50' deep. There is portions where the water gets moving pretty good and most of the trip is in VERY dark caves where I seen teenage kids freak out and even some adults! I could only imagine a 2 year old freaking out and falling into the water. That could be a very bad situation. I have seen kids drown in swallow still water...this is deep moving water in dark caves. I would highly suggest against this idea. Please keep in mind...I am in law enforcement and I am also certified with the state of AZ as a search and rescue officer...including diving, swift water and mountain rescue. If anyone who has done this says it is safe for a child...they have lost their mind! People die in that cave system. Carnival for instance stopped doing this excursion up until about a year ago because of a adult who fell off her float tube and ended up drowning inside this cave system. I wouldnt risk it.

 

Woul you recommend or a 6 and 9 yr old?

[Fourseventeen]

6 I would be iffy about. 9 if they swim well and are not afraid of the dark. They do give people life vests BUT they do not make anyone wear them and I dont recall seeing them having youth sizes...though they may. Its a real neat experience to float these caves but you have to be aware that something can go wrong and if it does you need to be at least a decent swimmer and not afraid of the dark.

[ccbmom]

Oh dear. Yes, yes, yes, I would have felt VERY comfortable with my 2 year old in my lap! Especially if I had her own life jacket with me! We went with .com and they had a few children size life jacket and my DD, 9, wore one. And No, I haven't "lost my mind". I'm just not an alarmist!

 

There were many, many people in the caves and at NO time did anyone get scared. You have head lamps on and there are people everywhere. There was nothing scary about it! You're all connected together. I think you probably know your child better then all of us and if you think they'd be fine in the dark cave with a bunch of "nightlights" around, then I'm sure all will go well. I've done outdoor tubes with my child on my lap up until she was about 6 or 7 and it works out just fine.

 

We just did this last week and I can tell you there is NO fast moving water at this time of year. Since the Carnival death they have made changes to improve safety, like life vests -- duh! If you are comfortable on water, around water, there is no reason to make this out to be some kind of dangerous adventure. The water was only inches deep for most of our tour! One of our guides did the whole tour without a tube and he only had to swim through one short part. The rest of the way he WALKED! It also depends on the time of year. Our tour guides say they can't even do cave tubing when the river runs high in the rainy season.

 

Go, and enjoy the caves of belize!

[ccbmom]

6 I would be iffy about. 9 if they swim well and are not afraid of the dark. They do give people life vests BUT they do not make anyone wear them and I dont recall seeing them having youth sizes...though they may. Its a real neat experience to float these caves but you have to be aware that something can go wrong and if it does you need to be at least a decent swimmer and not afraid of the dark.

 

Every single tour we saw was wearing life vests, from the Carnival tour to .bz to .com. EVERYONE! Many wear helmets as well. We skipped the helmets because the river is running so low. There was nary a rapid to be found and we were pushed and pulled through the river.

[98Charlie]

I assume your 2 year old is your whole world so if thats the case I would NOT even consider doing this! You would have to be out of your mind to even consider this. Water in some places exceeds 50' deep. There is portions where the water gets moving pretty good and most of the trip is in VERY dark caves where I seen teenage kids freak out and even some adults! I could only imagine a 2 year old freaking out and falling into the water. That could be a very bad situation. I have seen kids drown in swallow still water...this is deep moving water in dark caves. I would highly suggest against this idea. Please keep in mind...I am in law enforcement and I am also certified with the state of AZ as a search and rescue officer...including diving, swift water and mountain rescue. If anyone who has done this says it is safe for a child...they have lost their mind! People die in that cave system. Carnival for instance stopped doing this excursion up until about a year ago because of a adult who fell off her float tube and ended up drowning inside this cave system. I wouldnt risk it.

I am not in law enforcement nor a diver. I agree 100%. I can't imagine taking a 2 year old on an excursion like that.

 

in my trip to belize in March, i went cavetubing with explore belize caves dot com and we had a kid of one year and four month with us, the tour guides placed him on his dads lap and once we were in the caves it was all nice and smooth river flow, the child was never at risk and he had fun seeing bats, whenever we got to a little rapids the guide would let us know and thats the only time u really let the kid know that we are going faster than normal and we were good absolutely no danger! check with the company above and verify for yourself! go to the website and send him an email and he will call you quick, thats how he did with me, his name is dennis perez.

jenpez - Welcome to Cruise Critic. I see that you joined today and all 4 of your posts are touting the tour run by Dennis Perez.

 

Any other things you enjoyed about your cruise in March?

 

Charlie

[TheGambit]

There are a couple of posts in this thread that look more like advertising to me than advice so I decided to throw my .02 in.

 

We were there just last Wednesday (4/6) and I have daughters 4 and 9 months old.

 

I would not consider bringing any kids under about 6 or 7 yrs old on the tour. 10 yrs is probably more ideal. It's not the rapids or really the depth of the river to worry about it's all the intangibles along the way:

 

1) several places in the river are actually too shallow to float through. This means getting into and out of your inner tube (for us) about half a dozen times. It wasn't easy for my wife and I and I can't imagine having our child on our lap as well. Who will hold your child after you lift them off your lap to get out yourself? Getting back on also is not easy and typically works best just launching yourself onto the tube... who will hold your child and get them back on the tube once you get on? Also in the midst of this, you'll be holding the tube, your equipment and your child's hand as you walk in the river on the rocks until the water gets deep enough to get back on the tube.

 

2) The day included about a 45 minute bus ride (one way), about 30 minutes for people to change / get river equipment together, and then about a 40 minute hike up the river to start (carrying your tube, equipment, etc.. on your shoulder).

 

...Then you finally get to the water to start the tour which can last anywhere from 2-4 hours depending on how and who you booked with.

 

That's a long day for a 2 year old right there, not counting getting changed after and back on the bus for the 45 minutes back to the port.

 

3) Most of the guides will tell you that most ships don't leave enough time for these excursions and as a result the guides are rushing to get you there and through the river. The pace of a two year old doesn't jive well with that.

 

In short I would not attempt with my kids until they are pretty much self sufficient. The water for a good portion of the tour is waist deep or less but does get deeper in parts. There really aren't any 'rapids', just places where the river flows a bit faster.

 

Sorry to be a downer, but as a parent with younger kids I'd want to know before going! :)

[ccbmom]

The water was very shallow for us, but we did not have to get out of our tube and walk it at all. They pulled us through and pushed us through. Yes, if you had to get in and out of the tube that would be tough. It was tough for my elderly mother to get out of the tube.

 

I'm not sure which tour is not helping you through the water, can I guess the Carnival one? LOL.

 

I agree that you have to gage how your child would do on the long bus ride as well as the walk through the jungle. For us, the pace in the jungle would have been fine for a small child. But to me those two items are more about whether you and your child would enjoy the tour, not about it being a life ending danger! :) Some children travel well, others don't. It really depends on the child.

[TeachNYC]

Duplicate

[TeachNYC]

I took my (then 22 month old) son and it was a great trip. We did it in August, so I'm not sure what the water is like at other times. We booked at the pier, and our guide was great! He helped me carry the tube to the water, made sure we got into the tube, and stayed with us the whole trip (we were the first tube in the line).

 

We did bring our own PFD for home, and he has been going to the pool several times a week since he was 12 months old.

 

That's my experience, ymmv

[ceneljeyan]

Just out of curiosity did you end up doing this trip as i am debating about doing it with my 4 year old and 2 year old!

[mitsugirly]

There have been plenty of post stating they took their young children with them and it's like riding in a lazy river at the water park. Also, many people have noted that the caves are not as dark as some seem to say. I don't know, I haven't done it yet. However, we will be taking our 3 1/2 yr old with us in September. She loves water and feels very comfortable in water and in the darkness. The touring company also says that safety is their main priority and they do not feel that their is any risk. Small life jackets are provided, but we will be bringing our own.

[Julienatul]

Im debating this with my 6 yr old and 3 year-old too. Both kids can swim but the 3 year-old is not a "strong" swimmer yet. Im just not sure about it yet.

[rhcpchika1]

We are cruising with my (ALMOST) 7, 8 and 2 yr old. I have decided to not take the 2 year old with us, however I think he would do ok. :)

[mitsugirly]

I'll come back and post how my 3 1/2 year old did on our cruise next week and let everyone know my thoughts. :)

[monicajay]

I would not take a 2 year old on this excursion. JMHO.

[satxdiver]

I have did the cave tubing trip three times. One time I did it while in port on a ship and two times while on a SCUBA diving trip to Belize. The caves are dark enough that it could be hard to find someone who fell off their tube. The last time I went they gave us head lights to wear which was not done the first two times. There are two or three caves depending on the tour operator. The caves are fairly long and curved. Once in the cave you can no longer see the entrance or exit. I would not take a young child on this trip.

[mitsugirly]

I believe I read that it is a mandatory rule that everyone has the helmets with lights on the tour now.

[CMM]

All I have to say is be very careful where you end up.

 

I researched this topic to death before our cruise and read such rave reviews. I was totally taken off guard when our trip deviated so badly. There were major flooding of the caves that cavetubing.com usually takes you to. Some companies had not gone, but ours choose to take us to an alternate site. They told us after we were all loaded on the bus.

 

This site had a long steep decent to the cave and it was extremely slippery with mud. Then the cave itself was in complete darkness. A couple of times they gathered everyone together to point their so called flashlights on their helmets on the path so the guides could see where to take us. My kids did NOT enjoy this one bit, nor did my husband or I.

 

So while I am sure the regular trip would be fun, I am mad at myself for taking my kids out in that mess. If I had a toddler with me I think I would have lost it.

[mitsugirly]

All I have to say is be very careful where you end up.

 

I researched this topic to death before our cruise and read such rave reviews. I was totally taken off guard when our trip deviated so badly. There were major flooding of the caves that cavetubing.com usually takes you to. Some companies had not gone, but ours choose to take us to an alternate site. They told us after we were all loaded on the bus.

 

This site had a long steep decent to the cave and it was extremely slippery with mud. Then the cave itself was in complete darkness. A couple of times they gathered everyone together to point their so called flashlights on their helmets on the path so the guides could see where to take us. My kids did NOT enjoy this one bit, nor did my husband or I.

 

So while I am sure the regular trip would be fun, I am mad at myself for taking my kids out in that mess. If I had a toddler with me I think I would have lost it.

 

 

I'm wondering when you say "they gathered everyone together" which company did you go with? Because I know that the one we are using .bz has everyone hooked together to begin with so that everyone stays safe. So, I was just wondering.

 

With all the hurricane/tropical depression weather over the last several weeks, I am going to ask them prior to leaving with them if it is dry or if the water levels are up or if it's muddy. If there is any chance of any of them, we will not be going. I know that our little one will be sitting in our lap on the tube at all times, not with her own tube, for safety. If she was not able to ride with us, we would not be going either.

[CMM]

I'm wondering when you say "they gathered everyone together" which company did you go with? Because I know that the one we are using .bz has everyone hooked together to begin with so that everyone stays safe. So, I was just wondering.

 

With all the hurricane/tropical depression weather over the last several weeks, I am going to ask them prior to leaving with them if it is dry or if the water levels are up or if it's muddy. If there is any chance of any of them, we will not be going. I know that our little one will be sitting in our lap on the tube at all times, not with her own tube, for safety. If she was not able to ride with us, we would not be going either.

 

We were with cavetubing.com and the part where we needed to point our lights was actually on the path down to the cave. All reviews previously talked about linking in the cave, but we had one giant chaotic free for all in the dark. It was a one of those really off days for them going to the wrong site and all, but one I didn't appreciate my family having to be a part of.

 

Here is my review from the Carnival Legend that includes the whole cave tubing experience. We had a number of unusual experiences that cruise, but we really have a great time in general. We all agreed that the cave tubing excursion was a disaster. It was on Thanksgiving 2009.

 

*Crusie Review on the Carnival Legend with teens to Belize, Roatan, Cozumel, and Grand Cayman

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1098358