Cave Tubing and Limited Mobility

[rockbock]

My family is going to do a cave tubing excursion when we visit Belize in September. My parents just decided to join us on this cruise. I'm not sure my mom can do this excursion, but I wanted to get some feedback from people who have done it already before I start looking at other options for my parents.

 

Background on my mom - She will turn 64 on this cruise. She has MS. She walks on her own, but tires easily and uses a cane or walker if she needs to walk more than a short distance or needs to walk on rough terrain. She also doesn't handle motion too well. She can float on the rafts just fine, but if there are any spots along the way where the water is "rough," it might make her sick.

 

(1) How difficult is the hike through the rainforest?

(2) Is the rafting a smooth ride or does it get fast/rough at times?

(3) Other than shopping or a quiet beach day, are there any other cool excursions I can look into that my parents could do? (They want to do ruins at Costa Maya and will be snorkeling in Cozumel and Roatan)

 

EDIT: Since Belize has limited things to do without an excursion, I'm now wondering if this might be a better port for my parents to do their ruins tour, and then they can do the beach day with us at Costa Maya - will post this as a separate thread though...

[crewsweeper]

It's about a mile walk over both smooth and rocky paths from the parking lot to the launch site. You do have to cross the stream with rocky bottom. And you carry your own tube. The float down is relatively smooth and you typically "lock in" with your feet through the arms of person in front of you. I'd say if your Mom is having a less than normal day it'd be tough for her. A good day she might do okay though. There is a place to sit and a bar restuarant upstairs at the cave-tubing park. Some vendors charge less for "observers". If a tour operator named Nacho is there that day with a group, he walks with a cane and doesn't go on the cavetubing, speaks excellent English and is a wealth of knowledge on Belize. Your Mom might find him interesting to talk with while the rest of you tube. if you're still looking for a tour provider, consider contacting him. His contact information is on several posts on this board.

 

I think the ruins at both ship excursion sites would be out too as they ential a good bit of walking about. There aren't any resort beaches nearby the tender pier. There is a manmade beach called Cucumber Beach abotu a 20 minute taxi ride away. It's used by local Belizeans primarily on weekends and may or may not be open or all facilities open during week days.

 

An intersting option to explore would be a city tour. You can do this via a taxi or horse cart with vendors either before the cruise or once there. (Nacho can do this too). You will have to go outside the tourist village to access these and that cna be scary for cruisers not used to handling relatively aggressive hawkers of tours and trinkets. A nice little flea/toursit market is also just across from the tourist village; many prices are lower than inside the t.v. for the same items.

 

Hope this helps. Enjoy Belize and the rest of your cruise.

[rockbock]

Thanks. They mention on the website that they will carry the tube and I don't think the foot lock would be a problem (and some of the operators use chains now). I guess my biggest concern is the one-mile walk. I'll have to talk to her about it.

[cruisergrandma]

I agree with crewsweeper on the info listed above. They will carry your mother's tube for her and that will help a little. They will slow the pace of the walk for slower walkers. On the walk there is also a small area of stairs. When we were there there was a rope strung across the river so she could hold to that as she crossed. My biggest concern would be that at the end of the walk there is a hill to get down into the river. I am sure she would not have trouble finding someone to help with this. Depending on the water level - we had areas that we had to get out and walk through very shallow water as it simply was not deep enough to stay on the tube and the bottom of the river is rocky.