why the hype on cave tubing?

[bevo]

Can someone tell me what is fun about cave tubing? Everyone is raving about it, but it seems to me you are sitting in a cold dark cave with dark water. Tell me what its really like. DO you see lots of fish? Is it pretty? Is it warm? Sell me on this b./c I want something fun to do with our girls when we go in March. We don't want to see snakes and spiders and gross stuff...

[Ellya]

Well, in all likelihood you won't see snakes or spiders. Actually you probably won't see any wildlife at all, including fish. What you will see is, semi-jungle vegetation during the hike (it's not really full fledged jungle, but you definately get the jungle effect), very scenic river views surrounded by tropical foliage, interesting geology of the cave and surrounding rock formations, and, yes, some dark cave parts in which the water is dark as well. You might see bats hanging on the ceiling if you look up with a light near the entrances. Otherwise, you won't see them either. You will hear tropical birds chirping all through the forest. You will have fun paddling and floating your way down the river through and around the natural obstacles. You will definately feel like you are in a really different place than home, much more so than shopping at the pier!

 

You will also get to enjoy a great local meal with most tours and, if you eat at the same place we did, be given the opportunity to dive from a high dive area into the river (if you dare). Or you can be like me and just take pictures of other brave people in your party!

 

We also enjoyed the (rather long) bus ride to the river since you get to see the countryside and homes all along the way. Birds of paradise flowers grow in the ditches like weeds! Does that help?

[gone_cruisin]

I loved the cave-tubing! You sepnd about 20-30 minutes walking to get to the entrance of the cave. It's a very slow leisurely walk which my parents in their 60's could handle. The guide pointed out interesting things along the way.

 

Once we got to the entrance, everyone got into their tube and just drifted into the cave. It was so peaceful and relaxing. They gave you lights to look around. Floating thru the cave probably lasted about 15 minutes and then you exited and continued to float down the river. It actually was a blast cause parts of the river were quite fast and could whip you around a bend.

 

I even saw girls get out of their tubes and swing from vines and drop off into deeper parts of the river. They were so cute!

 

All in all, I would say you are in the river for about 40 minutes. Give it a shot.

[Bob7]

Can someone tell me what is fun about cave tubing? Everyone is raving about it, but it seems to me you are sitting in a cold dark cave with dark water. Tell me what its really like. DO you see lots of fish? Is it pretty? Is it warm? Sell me on this b./c I want something fun to do with our girls when we go in March. We don't want to see snakes and spiders and gross stuff...

Hey Bev,

We go in March too, on the Miracle, which ship are you?

We weren't nuts about the inner tube thing either, we've done tubing at so many water parks. And we're more into hiking and walking, so we booked a private cave walking tour, same price as cave tubing, about $60. We wanted to be able to take shots of the cave formations, and stop and poke around instead of floating past. There are 2 walking tour caves about the same distance from the dock (1 hour) as the tubing. One is the Tiger Sandy Bay Cave at the Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, and the other is St. Herman's Cave in Blue Hole National Park. If you want to see shots of them I can post some links, and the operators. But kids love tubing and your girls might enjoy that more than walking, kids won't walk anywhere these days :-)

-Bob

[Scorpiorose]

I just read that CC found 55 cruisecritic users were actually tour vendors from Belize and they had to kick them off. While I'm sure that this is a great tour and many people love it, it might be that some of that raving wasn't from actual cruisers at all. Just a thought. :cool:

[gone_cruisin]

nope, not a tour vendor...just a happy cruiser :p

[bevo]

thanks for all the responses! I am more confused than ever now! :)

keep those comments coming...I still don't know what to do. We are in Belize from 6:30 am to 6pm (on the Princess Grand). We will have lots of time...

[gone_cruisin]

There are other things to do besides the cave-tubing. I have done Goff's Cay for snorkeling and swam with the nurse sharks (all were just as fun). I just know that there is nothing to do on the pier, so definitely find an excursion.

[michigander]

Hey Bev,

We go in March too, on the Miracle, which ship are you?

We weren't nuts about the inner tube thing either, we've done tubing at so many water parks. And we're more into hiking and walking, so we booked a private cave walking tour, same price as cave tubing, about $60. We wanted to be able to take shots of the cave formations, and stop and poke around instead of floating past. There are 2 walking tour caves about the same distance from the dock (1 hour) as the tubing. One is the Tiger Sandy Bay Cave at the Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, and the other is St. Herman's Cave in Blue Hole National Park. If you want to see shots of them I can post some links, and the operators. But kids love tubing and your girls might enjoy that more than walking, kids won't walk anywhere these days :-)

-Bob

 

 

Can you give me some more information on these walking tours?

[Bob7]

Hey Scorpio, very interesting, this board has always been full of so many posts about who is the best cave tubing operator it got real tiresome, and now it looks like we've found the reason.

Bev: whadda ya know, a Princess ship that says in port later than mid afternoon! .. we've passed up so many Princess cruises b/c they leave way too early. This one gives you lots of time in port. The private tours will pick you up earlier than the ship tours, you can make your own times. Remember local time is 1-2 hours off ship time, depending on time of year and daylight savings.

 

Can you give me some more information on these walking tours?

Hey Mich, yer a neighbor, we're across the border in Ontario. We usually fly out of Detroit, love those US deals.

The Tiger Cave tour in Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary is run by Matthew, and he's very prompt and informative if you have questions, email him from their web site. He picks you up at the ship, it's a 45 minute drive down Western Hwy to the Sanctuary, then a 20 minute jungle drive, then a 25 minute walk through the jungle to the cave. You can do part or all of the cave, the full cave takes about 2 hours. Here's a link to a shot of it:

http://www.belizedistrict.com/pages/photo17.html

 

St. Herman's Cave at Blue Hole Nat. Park is a little further drive, about 1 and quarter hour, but only a 10 minute walk to the cave from the parking. That cave is about half a mile, has huge caverns and crystal formations, takes 1-2 hours. Here's a shot of some cavers by the stallagtites:

http://www.carbonworks.com/photo/belize/P7240023.jpg

and here's a shot looking out from the entrance:

http://www.vivaelviaje.com/gallery/album03/PB170231

We're doing this one in March, and will do the Tiger Cave next time there. We picked an operator who didn't want a credit card up front, not nuts about sending that over the net. We're using Yhony at Cave-Tubing.com for $60, less if you have over 4 ppl. Nacho and Cynthia at NCQ Adv Tours will do it for $75 incl lunch, we didn't want the lunch b/c we want to stop at the famous Cheers restaurant on the hwy, best one in Belize. It's best to get an operator who is used to doing ship tours, the other ones aren't used to watching the time closely to get you back before you sail. There is no ship tour we've seen that's just walking the caves, but there are some that do cave walking with other stuff like jeep driving etc, usually about $100.

 

If you just want to do some jungle hiking and don't want to go in caves (b/c you saw that new movie "The Cave" :-) ... Quanacaste National Park is a 1 hour drive on the new Western Hwy and has cool trails. So do Blue Hole and Monkey Bay.

 

If you want to save a bit of money you can rent a 4x4 for $75 plus gas = about $100, so 4 of you would pay $25 each instead of the $60 tour price, and it's an easy highway, but for us the price difference wasn't worth the rental and navigating hassles.

-Jungle Bob

[vernamay]

:) Hey Cave-Tubing is the rave! It was wonderful! I am a real person who did the excursion just two weeks ago. A group of 6 ages 8 to 55. We booked with Yhony at cave-tubing.com and they did an excellent job! If you're in Belize as long as you say. That's one excursion that you must try, it's easy, fun, the scenery inside and outside of the cave is breath-taking! We all agreed it was our funnest part of our whole cruise. We did the Mayan Ruins, Snorkeling and Stingray City and of course sunning on the beach. A few of us are planning on returning soon!

Give it a shot, try it you'll love it!

[ladybugmc]

Just went this past week. A group of us CC folks went with Yhony from cave-tubing.com. Had a really good time. I like adventure though and looking at unique nature. Enjoyed the rain forest hike and fast trip through the caves. It was very safe though, almost too safe for me :) Feel free to look at the picts that I posted on Roll Call NCL Sun 1/28 thread.

[michigander]

Hey Bob7 do you live in the Windsor area? We always surprise our non-Michigan friends when they learn that parts of Ontario are actually south of Michigan. Glad you are enjoying our Detroit metro fairs...we fly out of there as well. Glad we have the one Canadian channel they do a much better job broadcasting the Olympics!

 

Thanks for your information. I am signed up for Yhbony and his cave tubing company the first week in March ...I didn't see a hiking option. I have arthritis in my hands and am a bit concerned about crossing a river with a strong current using a rope, which is why I thought about hiking. For now I'm going to stay with the plan but will further research your recommendations. Did you have a website to reach the guide (Matthew) you recommended?

[Bob7]

Hey Mich,

We live near London, so about 2.5 hours driving to DTW.

Yhony doesn't put the hiking option on his web site, you have to request it. We're signed up with him for mid-March. We decided on Blue Hole b/c of easier access, but we really want to see the Tiger Sandy Bay Cave too, next time.

Here's the link for Matthew at the Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary:

http://www.monkeybaybelize.org/do.html

which takes you past the main page to the list of tours. I think their contact email was MBay@BTL.net and then he uses another email to reply. He's very prompt and thorough. They run school tours too. Both sound like a lot of fun. Did you see that new movie The Cave? ... we haven't yet ... new creature feature. The ship should show that the day before Belize :-)))

-Bob

[JXOPF]

Was the water cold on the cave tubing? We're going mid-March.

 

Is it possible to do the cave tubing and also swim w/sharks/rays somewhere, all in one day?

 

There will be about 12 of us and we now have a full day in Belize. Thx.

[HRHMadonna]

The river was not cold to me...we were there on a beautiful January day 2006. We all had a couple of shots of Cashew wine on the bus and after the walk, we actually found the water to be refreshing.

 

I would say it's impossible to do shark/ray snorkel & cave tubing on same day....Snorkeling is off shore in the Cayes and cave tubing is one hour inland by bus to the rain forest area...too much distance and not enough time....I have done both (on 2 separate cruises) and loved both...you can't go wrong either way.

[Bevard]

You'd be pressing your luck to do more than one planned excursion and be able to really enjoy yourself. I loved the cave tubing HOWEVER the jungle was not really a jungle and I thought the water was very chilly. The caves were completely black (with bats overhead - we shined our lights up there) and some points and the water was not flowing. We had to paddle with our arms the whole time. I hope there's more free flowing water when you go. I don't remember the time of year we went. Don't look for any fish or wildlife - there isn't any. All we saw was a terminite hill on the way.

[JXOPF]

I just read that CC found 55 cruisecritic users were actually tour vendors from Belize and they had to kick them off. While I'm sure that this is a great tour and many people love it, it might be that some of that raving wasn't from actual cruisers at all. Just a thought. :cool:

 

That's a lot! I wonder how they were found out...? :confused:

[WWWMOM1]

We booked directly through Reggie's Tours 4 years ago and my kids still talk about the experience. Driving through Belize to get to the river is quite an experience in itself. We passed by one room schools which was something for my children to see and appreciate. The walk to the river was a nice educational experience. I have to admit on the day we went, sitting in the water was chilly at first but you soon became use to the temperature.

Then you sit back and realize that here you are floating down a river in the middle of the jungle and you think "how much farther could I be from my humble Midwest beginings?" We've cruised over 10 times and this and swimming with the rays in the Caymans have to rate as the most impressive times we've had on a cruise. Not only did Reggie (back then he was our guide)make us feel so welcome to his country, he brought us to this great local restaurant for lunch. It was out in the middle of nowhere and they served us an wonderful chicken and rice lunch. On the way back to the ship, the van stopped at a local zoo. I thought it would be some depressing facility with animals in substandard quarters. Instead it was this pleasantly surprising zoo that didn't have you partitioned 50 feet from the animals. I'll never forget walking past the area where the black leapords were knowing I was so close I could touch them. There are photos of Harrison Ford at the zoo entrance as he is a financial contributor to the facility.

I can't imagine anyone being disappointed in any of what I described above.

[kingclick]

That's a lot! I wonder how they were found out...? :confused:

 

Not that hard. All they have to do is check into the IP address of the poster. They can locate where that IP is and then if they are "faking" like they are from the US when really the IP is in Belize.....

[Eliot Ness]

Can someone tell me what is fun about cave tubing? .......

Here is a link that has a video of cave tubing in Belize:

 

http://www.gatorclaw.com/voyageofvalor

 

Go to the site and then select Chapter 5: X-Stream (Belize). These are videos made by CC member Gatorclaw, and I think he did a great job in documenting their cruise. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so this might help you get a better idea of what to expect.

 

John

[JXOPF]

Questions: Does Yhony's tour incl.lunch and where...is it Cheers?

 

Has anyone done Tom g r e e n w o o d's tour (belize cave tubing)?

[cjuswin]

John that video was great. I am going in 32 days on Miracle and we are going cave tubing.

[nyccruisedwlegendofthesea]

Ok, first... I am a real person.... sort of... lawyer in NYC.. don't hate me! Second cave-tubing was totally fun went with cave-tubing.com had a blast. We ate a Cheers, they were super cool and safe... I went with my fiance... took tons on picture of the beautiful landscape. I definetely would do it again... but would like to go a faster one.... otherwise it was great..... FYI I went on Legends of the Sea... would not do that again. But I will save that for another posting....... I am at work right now and a little tired... BUT DEFINTELY WORTH IT. Also, if you have any doubt that I am a really a person from NYC, in December we had the transit strike and I came home last Saturday to the worst blizard in NYC history. :)