Combination Zip lines & Cave tubing w/Nacho Review (Valor 1/22-1/29)

[wystiria]

Belize:

 

Combination Canopy tour & Cave tubing w/Nacho & Cynthia

125$ per person cash including Lunch. Thanks, Nacho/Cynthia

Phone: #501-225-2457 or 501-600-0200

 

Tendering:

First I just want to say a little about how we arranged to get off with the early carnival tours for Belize. As we were a group of 22 Carnival now provides a group coordinator. Anyway I worked it out with the coordinator to allow our group plus the few people we met with cruise critic to all get off the Valor with one of the Carnival tours. This worked out very well and had us on shore asap!

 

For everyone else you can try the pursers desk and many times they will let you go with the carnival tenders if you can show them a confirmation and the time needed to do the tours. If that doesn’t work you can actually just go with the carnival tours – you would be amazed how few people got checked. IF you don’t feel comfortable doing this just get up early and get the #1 stickers! The 1st tender of “regular” non carnival booked cruisers still gets to shore pretty early.

 

I do want that because of all the rain in Belize prior to us arriving many of the carnival tours were canceled. I think this helped us get on the early tender!! The group coordinator did not finalize any of the details for me till the night before. It was a scramble to get out all of the information to our crowd. Sadly I wasn’t able to get in touch with everyone…..but more on that later.

 

Combination tour – Cave Tubing canceled?

 

When I heard that carnival canceled their cave tubing tours I e-mailed Nacho to find out if ours was canceled too. He was very quick to get back to me! He confirmed that Cave tubing would be canceled for us as well AND that the bridge to get to Jaguar Paw resort had been washed out. He Said that the resort could carry us across but it might be a little rough and that for anyone who didn’t want to try this we could figure out options for them on the pier.

 

Once we got to the pier We all met up with Nacho – he was holding a sigh with our groups name on it. The group got separated and was on 2 tenders due to the way the line worked out. Anyway we all got on the bus, as people were climbing on I talked to Nacho. It turned out that the bridge was almost repaired and that it would only be a short walk in water about to our ankles to get to the other side. Our gang was cool with this so we all confirmed the Canopy tour. At this point Nacho also let me know that we would be able to do an abbreviated version of the Cave Tubing. The group was VERY excited about this news. It turns out that jaguar Paw resort has a spring fed cave system that we would be able to safely explore.

 

Canopy Tour (zip lines)

 

We got to the “washed out” bridge and were happily surprised that a back hoe has just about completed the work needed for our bus to cross. Due to the time restrictions we all had to walk over anyway so that we didn’t loose precious minutes! It was an easy walk and there wasn’t even enough water to get to our ankles. On the other side of the washout the resorts vans picked us up and continued the drive to the resort. Now for those who haven’t been to Belize it is a long drive out of the city to do the cave tubing and Jaguar Paw resorts canopy tour. Roughly 30 miles in which about a third is a rough dirt road. Our bus was pretty decent, a little better than a school bus and had air-conditioning and a great driver. However if you get uncomfortable easily on a rough ride this tour isn’t for you.

 

Anyway once we got to the resort it was a quick walk to the start of the canopy tour. Then we were geared up by a few very nice gentlemen and over to the first briefing. Here we were told the safety precautions etc. also they double & triple check our gear. Then it was a short hike up some steps to the first platform.

 

The first platform is really just a test run to make sure you know what you are doing. It is only about 10-15fft from the ground and pretty short. We were all instructed on what to do and we were off. Being the fearless leader, and an adrenaline junky I was first to go. No sweat! I zipped along, figured out how to break and happily yelled “Trogdor comes in the Niiiiiiiiiight” to get the gang going (for those who are not familiar with Trogdor it is a cartoon on homestarrunner.com)

 

Our whole gang got going then, we were roughly divided up into groups of 5 so that as one group was on the next platform the next group was heading to the same platform. Mostly to keep from having a traffic jam. A few of our gang did manage to get stuck in the middle of some of the longer zipline stretches. SO if they tell you not to break DON’T BREAK! - mostly if you are nervous you put more pressure on the above line behind the device you slide on – this slows you down. Trust me you don’t want to get stuck in the middle of one of these! Because it is more work to hand over hand pull your self to the next platform then it is to swing along 

 

For those of you that think you might not be able to do this – I just want to state that my mother in law whom was not really sure this was for her had a blast! She doesn’t love heights and had never done anything like this before – she really enjoyed it!

 

For me this was a cake walk! Honestly I never once felt unsafe and really thought it would be a little more “scary” than it was. This is nothing! Heh – I did ask if I could be hooked any other way to make it a little more exhilarating but they didn’t have enough staff that day to do anything crazy for me – no big deal.

 

Also if you decide you can’t continue at Jaguar Paw you can abort half way thru if need be. This might give you the confidence you need to start and once you do you will be fine. On the final platform there is a short vertical free-rappel. Basically you go down a rope to get to the ground. You control the speed as well as the staff up on the plat form. This is in case there are any problems.

 

Jaguar Paw Resort:

After the zip lines we headed over to the Jaguar Paw resort. This place is gorgeous! It was a little strange to walk thru the jungle after a 30 minute ride down a dirt road to then come across this gorgeous resort, with a pretty inground pool. *smile* they also have a butterfly enclosure which was full of really cool butterflies and a rabbit pen. The main build is air-conditioned and very nice. We had lunch here which was excellent and also change for the cave tubing portion of our tour. Although lunch was after cave tubing (in case we were short on time it was arranged this way) I will cover it now. We were served chicken and rice and beans and FABULOUS coleslaw!! YUM we also have coke or sprite in glass bottles – Belize recycles their glass. The lunch was YUMMY

 

Cave Tubing – the abbreviated version.

 

Now I have done cave tubing in the past in Belize, and this is not the same place as where you normally go! In fact it is a spring fed cave specifically on Jaguar Paw’s grounds. This part of our trip was very short because we only explored one cave and it was not on the main river where everyone is always taken.

 

From the resort we had a short walk through the jungle and past the butterflies to the entrance to the cave. The walk isn’t tough but you do need to pay attention to where you put your feet as it can be slippery in parts.

 

Then into the Cave we went carrying our head lamps and tubes. You need to becareful climbing into the cave because not only is it slippery it also has some low overhangs. We got down to the water and then in to the tubes we went. For the first half we were going against the current and this was kind of comical because you aren’t really streamlines in a tube so you need to work fairly hard at this. Anyway the cave we explored was magnificent!!! Definitely more stalactites and stalagmites to see! We paddled around in our tubes for a little bit and then we got out of them and the guide walked us around in the cave! This was really pretty cool you definitely do not get to do this on the normal cave tubing tour! We have some impressive pictures!.

 

Anyway then we paddled back to where we started from and made our way back to the resort. This is the point we had lunch. and did anymore changing etc. for the ride back. Then back in to the bus for us where Nacho shared a bottle of cashew wine with us and back to the terminal. We did end up with a little time to go shopping once we got back.

 

Really Belize has come a long way since the last time I was there!!! Pretty much has all the shopping you would see in most cruise ports. The prices weren’t bad either. And they had a decent selection of Cuban cigars and jewelry etc. However I think the last time I was there they had more of the local craftsman items. But I hear there is a craft market in walking distance from the pier and that is where you would find that type of item.

[southfloridian]

Great review, I just wanted to add to your comment

"I hear there is a craft market in walking distance from the pier and that is where you would find that type of item"

Yes there is a craft market is right across the street from the pier. The prices are a bit lower and the sellers are nice and they don't harrass you or chase you down. It seemed like the only people who would follow you around were the ones braiding hair, a polite no was enough though :)

[odis]

Were there any children in your group and if so, what ages? I have a 9 yo who is interested but the cruise line limits it to age 12 and over. If there were kids, did they like it or have any problems.

[southfloridian]

odis,

I went with my 8 & 12 yr. old. the cruise ship does not allow anyone under 12, but I'm glad we booked privately.

My 8 yr old loved it!! The have smaller size tubes nad small harnesses, so they are safe. Cynthia took my son and made sure he was enjoying himself.

for more details Here's a link to my review:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=289599

 

I hope you go and have a great time. :)

Here's Nacho/Cynthias website :

http://www.ncqadventuretours.com/

[southfloridian]

odis,

I went with my 8 & 12 yr. old. the cruise ship does not allow anyone under 12, but I'm glad we booked privately.

My 8 yr old loved it!! The have smaller size tubes nad small harnesses, so they are safe. Cynthia took my son and made sure he was enjoying himself.

for more details Here's a link to my review:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=289599

 

I hope you go and have a great time. :)

Here's Nacho/Cynthias website :

http://www.ncqadventuretours.com/