Cave Tubing Death

[Name game]

I saw photos last night from someone who just got off the Glory and was not too far behind the woman that drowned. The water looked very rough and people were not linked. He got photos of people's faces and people looked absolutely terrified. Just seeing the photos (even if I didn't hear about the death) made me make up my mind that I will NOT do cave tubing. My heart goes out to the family that lost a loved one.

[jandjfun]

I saw photos last night from someone who just got off the Glory and was not too far behind the woman that drowned. The water looked very rough and people were not linked. He got photos of people's faces and people looked absolutely terrified. Just seeing the photos (even if I didn't hear about the death) made me make up my mind that I will NOT do cave tubing. My heart goes out to the family that lost a loved one.

It would be interesting to see those pictures. Not necessarily the ones of people faces, but of how high and swift the water was. I still will never go cave tubing there again, I don't care how high or low the water is, but I would like to compare the water level from when I was there. Thanks.

[izzyvet]

I just read an article on the incident on a Belize news site. (Channel5Belize.com) They mentioned that according to Belize law, there must be 1 guide for every 8 guests. They also mentioned that this particular trip had 50 guests and only 2 guides. However, currently there is no penalty for breaking the law, and they are looking into now changing this. Very sad for the family. This didn't need to happen and if the law had been followed, tragedy may have been averted. I find it interesting that a Carnival sponsored excursion was allowed to operate illegally.

 

So much for the idea you are safer on one of the cruise-lines shore excursions.

[arroyogal]

We were some of the first to arrive for the cave tubing (independent with Dennis). There were 11 of us which linked side by side and one behind another -5 one side, 6 the other. Our ages ran from 45-72 years. Dennis was extremely watchful over us all and had guides at both ends of our chain. We skipped another cave due to water conditions. He commented how deep and swift the water was. When we were getting out there had to have been 100 or more in line to go across the rope. It sure didn't look organized..

We have done white water rafting and zip lining in Jamacia. I definately prefer to do research for independent, smaller groups. We had a wonderful experience on all of them. We all have taken chances for a thrill but this is not the way you ever expect things to turn out. Our deepest sympathy to the family and friends

[Patneeds2cruise]

We were with cave-tubing.com and they were great! Never felt any danger whatsoever. We were all linked together with a guide on all four sides using their tubes as rudders if we were to bump into the sides or anything else.

We came into the cave as they had the woman up on the rocks and were performing CPR. One of our guides went over to offer assistance and he came back and said that it was already too late. We had four guides for about 30 (I think?) people. He told us later that they never have more than 10-12 people to one guide because it's just not safe. We saw many people all alone and completely abandoned from their groups and no guides in sight. There was a lot of screaming and panic. We were all very calm and quiet. Yes we were told that Belize had received a lot of rain the night before and the waters were high and fast but we never once felt unsafe in any way. It was a very enjoyable tour except of course for the tragedy we came upon. I am so sorry for the family. But you know, this is life and accidents do happen, you have to live and experience things. Hopefully the family can take some comfort in the fact that she died doing something she wanted to do and hopefully got some enjoyment out of it.

Now I love Carnival and will defintely cruise again and maybe even cave tube again someday but they need to take a good long look at what happened and the way they were doing this. They needed some more guides and more experienced guides, I think. They should take a look at the local companies and learn from the way they handle this sort of excursion.

Just my opinion.

[KAZGIRL]

Wow!

 

I just booked this excursion for me, my husband and our 3 kids through Island Marketing (X-Treme Cave Tubing) for our March Carnival Cruise on the Valor. I had no idea that it could be this dangerous! Can anyone who has done this excursion tell me if they provide lifejackets?(especially for the kids!) I guess we will have to re-consider.

 

What a terrible tragedy for sure!

[poobears]

While I think it's horribly tragic and my heart goes out to the family. A death from accident can occur at any time on any of the excursions. Just getting in the water at the beach is a risk. You never know when tragedy will strike on excursions or even aboard the ship.

 

Accidents can happen any time, any where, but especially when you add water and people need to realize that risk. I plan on taking this excursion in the future and don't feel any more unsafe now than before the incident occured.

[Patneeds2cruise]

I'm not familiar with the Xtreme Cave Tubing that you mentioned but we all had life jackets clearly marked cave-tubing.com and our tubes were well inflated and also clearly marked. We each had a light for our head. The person in the front of our line (there were 8 of us linked together by our feet) had a real big light. Just be sure that the company does link the people together and keeps them together instead of letting anyone go alone. That not only keeps you safe but keeps you from going too fast.

[Patneeds2cruise]

Wow!

 

I just booked this excursion for me, my husband and our 3 kids through Island Marketing (X-Treme Cave Tubing) for our March Carnival Cruise on the Valor. I had no idea that it could be this dangerous! Can anyone who has done this excursion tell me if they provide lifejackets?(especially for the kids!) I guess we will have to re-consider.

 

What a terrible tragedy for sure!

 

I don't know how old your children are but I would be careful about taking small children on this excursion. We had some children in our group, I would guess about 10-12 years old and our guides stayed right with them the whole time. We also had a small child that I would guess was about 3 or 4, and he rode on the tube with his father (I assume) and appeared to be very safe as well. I would just be very cautious with the very little ones. Things can happen so quickly with those little guys and they are of course the ones dearest to our hearts.

[Safetyal]

Wow!

 

I just booked this excursion for me, my husband and our 3 kids through Island Marketing (X-Treme Cave Tubing) for our March Carnival Cruise on the Valor. I had no idea that it could be this dangerous! Can anyone who has done this excursion tell me if they provide lifejackets?(especially for the kids!) I guess we will have to re-consider.

 

What a terrible tragedy for sure!

 

 

We went with a private company, like you are doing, they required life jackets. I would also check out when the dry season is. It is usually in spring. The river is lower and the current is not as fast. Of course any good amount of rain will change that condition.

[wanttogetgoing]

We were on this excursion with cavetubing.com. Things were crazy, the water very high, and very fast. Our guide told us much faster and higher than was normal after the previous days rainy conditions.

 

To give you an idea of how fast the water was, we stopped as a group where they were doing cpr and our guides made sure we were all ok. He then said that from this point on to the end it usually takes 15 minutes to finish, but on this day it would only take about 5 minutes to cover the same distance. I don't think it even took that long.

 

My dd (12) also got knocked off her tube at this exact spot ,where the woman first encounted trouble, by a free floating tuber. The only difference is our guides were right there and had her up on her tube again within 30 seconds. It was very scary. In fact, we cancelled our kayaking tour in Freeport just because we were not up to another water outing. (Carnival credited us our fees without question when we made the cancellation request) It was difficult to go on being carefree and happy vacationers after that.

 

I feel there should be some way to measure depth and speed of the water and to have predetermined levels set that would force tours to cancel if the levels exceeded the posted safe guidelines.

 

My heart just aches for the family.

Sandra

[rizjti]

Wow!

 

I just booked this excursion for me, my husband and our 3 kids through Island Marketing (X-Treme Cave Tubing) for our March Carnival Cruise on the Valor. I had no idea that it could be this dangerous! Can anyone who has done this excursion tell me if they provide lifejackets?(especially for the kids!) I guess we will have to re-consider.

 

What a terrible tragedy for sure!

 

I was there. If the water at the crossing is higher than your knees, do not go! It was shoulder high and very fast moving. Also, bring a spot light, the lights we got barely worked and were very small. Also, make sure the guides stay attached to you, as we were just sent on our way. Life jackets are flimsy and very old. I had my 12 year old daughter, her friend and her mother with us. We were linked together, but broke apart because it was to hard to steer and couldn't see where we were going. It is suppose to be a beautiful trip, but was very scary.

[fabulousmindy]

We were with cave-tubing.com and they were great! Never felt any danger whatsoever. We were all linked together with a guide on all four sides using their tubes as rudders if we were to bump into the sides or anything else.

We came into the cave as they had the woman up on the rocks and were performing CPR. One of our guides went over to offer assistance and he came back and said that it was already too late. We had four guides for about 30 (I think?) people. He told us later that they never have more than 10-12 people to one guide because it's just not safe. We saw many people all alone and completely abandoned from their groups and no guides in sight. There was a lot of screaming and panic. We were all very calm and quiet. Yes we were told that Belize had received a lot of rain the night before and the waters were high and fast but we never once felt unsafe in any way. It was a very enjoyable tour except of course for the tragedy we came upon. I am so sorry for the family. But you know, this is life and accidents do happen, you have to live and experience things. Hopefully the family can take some comfort in the fact that she died doing something she wanted to do and hopefully got some enjoyment out of it.

Now I love Carnival and will defintely cruise again and maybe even cave tube again someday but they need to take a good long look at what happened and the way they were doing this. They needed some more guides and more experienced guides, I think. They should take a look at the local companies and learn from the way they handle this sort of excursion.

Just my opinion.

 

 

Amen, we felt the same way. We went down before you guys with Major Tom and were ziplining when it happened. The Carnival folks were just getting in when we got out. Kim saw a kid fly off the rope and got our guide to save him. The CC tour guide didn't even see it happen.

[gday12345]

We were there on Sept. 18th. We did the excursion with Yhonny and while we came to this same area there was a group that had gotten stranded on the wrong side of the cave. There was a major attempt to rescue them as we were safely guided through by our guides. We held the big lights on them to assist as long as we could. I don't know the outcome but several emergency vehicles were approaching as we left the park. I felt completely safe with Yhonny's group as they physically guided us to the right side and had previously warned us about the area and the high water. At that time Carnival had cancelled their excursions but this link states it was a Carnival booked excursion.

 

 

http://www.wftv.com/news/17577889/detail.html

[PeachtreeJoe]

It is AWFUL, although I don't think it matters what company it was. Accidents happen no matter where you are or who you are with. There is no one to blame.

 

I beg to differ. I spoke to several people who were on this excursion. Many feared for their lives. There was discussion on the way to the caves that the water was too high, and the trip should be canceled. The pictures of the excursion posted on the ship illustrated that point. If the tour operators were aware that the conditions were unusually dangerous, they should have been granted the authority to cancel the excursion.

[Cruisin'Trooper]

this is so sad. I have done this excursion with Yhony, not Carnival, and they take very good care to make sure that they keep everyone together and safe. However, I am not sure that I would do it again now. I would feel sad just thinking of this young lady and her husband.

As far as Belize, I don't really care for it.

cave tubing is one of the biggest excursions that they offer, they have no beaches. Well, they have beaches but you have to take about a 45 minute boat ride to get to it. Carnival will probably leave this excursion off of their tours, I don't blame them. while it is fun, it is not worth even one passenger losing their life.

Prayers go out to her family.

 

Cruzn

 

We also did our cave excursion with Yhony at cavetubbing.com and I have to say he went over board when it came to safety. In fact, my wife commented about how many cruise ship excurions in the river with us were not guided and were floating away into the dark with no assistance and guidance.

[eyern]

When I started this thread, there was not a lot of information that could not be verified so I didn't post anything that I could not verify..(I also ran out of internet minutes.) I did interview several people that were on the cave tubing trip (including my table mates). This is what I know to be true.

 

1) This was a Carnival shore trip.

 

2) The Carnival CAVE-TUBERS were not linked, Non-Carnival cave-

. -tubers were linked (including my table mates).

 

3) The responce time for the Belize EMS was over an hour.

 

4) The river level was high and the current fast.

 

5) Non-Carnival guides did help several people from the Carnival sponcered

trip when they got in trouble.

 

I morn the loss of my ship mate. My heart goes out to Edwardo and

the children and family

 

Rest in peace Linda.

I was there with cave-tubing.com and can verify all the above except the EMS response time, which I would estimate as correct due to the remoteness of the area.

[eyern]

We were on this excursion with cavetubing.com. Things were crazy, the water very high, and very fast. Our guide told us much faster and higher than was normal after the previous days rainy conditions.

 

To give you an idea of how fast the water was, we stopped as a group where they were doing cpr and our guides made sure we were all ok. He then said that from this point on to the end it usually takes 15 minutes to finish, but on this day it would only take about 5 minutes to cover the same distance. I don't think it even took that long.

 

My dd (12) also got knocked off her tube at this exact spot ,where the woman first encounted trouble, by a free floating tuber. The only difference is our guides were right there and had her up on her tube again within 30 seconds. It was very scary. In fact, we cancelled our kayaking tour in Freeport just because we were not up to another water outing. (Carnival credited us our fees without question when we made the cancellation request) It was difficult to go on being carefree and happy vacationers after that.

 

I feel there should be some way to measure depth and speed of the water and to have predetermined levels set that would force tours to cancel if the levels exceeded the posted safe guidelines.

 

My heart just aches for the family.

Sandra

I can agree to all this except I did think it took another 15-30 min to complete the trip. Regardless, it ws a very sobering tragedy. My linked up group did not experience any problems except one guy got flipped out in a low water area (we went over a rock that we normally would not have due to to the higher water) and he got back in without a problem. THis happened near the end. THere was much difficulty on the crossing, where I witnessed one near drowning, and I was told by someone on the Carnival tour that 4 other people felt they were going to drown on the excursion.

[eyern]

I beg to differ. I spoke to several people who were on this excursion. Many feared for their lives. There was discussion on the way to the caves that the water was too high, and the trip should be canceled. The pictures of the excursion posted on the ship illustrated that point. If the tour operators were aware that the conditions were unusually dangerous, they should have been granted the authority to cancel the excursion.

 

It would be interesting to see those pictures. Not necessarily the ones of people faces, but of how high and swift the water was. I still will never go cave tubing there again, I don't care how high or low the water is, but I would like to compare the water level from when I was there. Thanks.

If I remember right, it was between belly button and nipple high, and swift. It was actually quite difficult to cross without being swept off your feet and many were. This should have been my first clue, but never having been there before, I thought this was the norm. It swept my water camera out of my velcro'ed swimsuit pocket, although it didn't velcro together as well as usual due to the camera size.

[loveJake]

If I remember right, it was between belly button and nipple high, and swift. It was actually quite difficult to cross without being swept off your feet and many were. This should have been my first clue, but never having been there before, I thought this was the norm. It swept my water camera out of my velcro'ed swimsuit pocket, although it didn't velcro together as well as usual due to the camera size.

 

We were there two weeks before and the water level at the crossing did not go over my knees.