Belize - Cave Tubing

Tuesday, June 15th – Belize

Bob and I went to breakfast together in the Paris Restaurant and while we were eating, we could see land off in the distance. As we were starting back to the cabin, the ship passed a small island that had a couple of buildings and some sort of tower. The Carnival Capers had warned that the ship would be making several sharp turns that morning and it did! I thought it was odd that Bob had only eaten fruit for breakfast but found out why…he was meeting Kent for breakfast a little later and then they were going to get in line to get tender tickets…he ate breakfast twice that day!!

  

Gilligan's Island?

Tender tickets were to be handed out at 8 a.m. in the Normandie Lounge and by being one of the first ones in line; the guys got “tender #1” for all of us. By the time they got back, Laurel and I had our bags packed for the day and were ready to leave. Being on the Riviera Deck may have some disadvantages since it is the lowest level of cabins, but it certainly is convenient when it comes time to get off the ship at a port…being in the forward part of the ship made it even easier. A few people were milling about, but the tenders were not being loaded yet and we were instructed to just wait on the stairway going down to deck 3. We never did hear them announce our tender number, but as soon as they started loading the first tender we were right there ready to board…there was only one other couple ahead of us and we were among the very first ones to leave the ship. I was worried that we wouldn’t get off early enough to make our cave tubing tour, but there was no problem whatsoever.

Although the tenders are very fast (I mean REALLY fast) it still took over 20 minutes to go from the ship to the shore. The tender dock at the “Tourism Village” was specifically built to cater to cruise ships, and has bathroom facilities, restaurants, snack bars, and a variety of local souvenirs shops. 

The wake of our tender as we head to shore.

We weren’t quite sure where to go when we first docked but we asked around and were pointed to where Richard, the Xstream Cave Tubing representative, was waiting. Belize was an hour behind “ship time” so we actually were an hour early for our tubing tour that was to meet at 9:50 local time. Xstream will only take 14 people in a group for their tours so they started registering the first few people that had arrived. As I signed my name to the list I realized that the other two families going on our tour were Cruise Critic members that I had emailed several times. It was fun to put a face to the name!

Meeting place for our cave tubing tour.

  

Charles Perry was to be our guide and he took us to where his van was waiting. There were 12 of us in the van going together plus Charles and another girl who was training to be a guide. Just before we left, Charles loaded a cooler into the van and right away the van was filled with the delicious smell of fruit! (It was to be our “treat” when we were done tubing.)

Our trip first took us through Belize City, the country’s largest city with a population of 70,000. Before leaving the city, Charles pulled into a gas station to fill up the van. Gas was $8/gallon Belize dollars which translated into about $4/gallon US dollars…and to think we complain our gas prices are high!! As we waited for the tank to be filled, a man approached us and wanted us to buy cashews that he was selling. No one bought any (although I wish I had now).

Driving through Belize City.

Leaving the city we were on a paved road that gave us a good look at how poor the people in Belize are…most homes we saw were just shacks. We rode for a long time (45 minutes or so?) and then saw the sign pointing to a road leading to the cave tubing. Charles turned onto a dirt road that looked to me would only be passable with an SUV or some type of off-road vehicle. The road was filled with huge rocks that made for a very bumpy ride. Charles joked that we were getting a free massage but my back thought otherwise! At one point a large tour buses was passing the van on the left. Charles was talking to the girl (in training) and didn’t notice the bus coming around. He started to veer over to the left a bit and if Laurel had not let out a yell I’m sure we would have collided! It was pretty scary at the time…later we joked that the van ride was more “Xstream” than the cave tubing!!

The area where the cave tubing begins has a small rustic, open air restaurant…the food was being cooked on open fires in the back. There is also a restroom which was pretty rustic…only two stalls (on the women’s side at least) and they were “yucky” and wet. Laurel and I ran to use the restroom while Bob and Kent were nice enough to go get our inner tubes. We were required to also each take a life jacket which we tied around the tubes.

Laurel and I each wore our swimsuit with a pair of shorts on top. The four of us all had water shoes and they seemed to work out well. I also brought along a nylon fanny pack that I used to carry very small bottles of bug spray and sunblock (neither of which I needed), my water camera and a waterproof container that I put some cash and my Sail and Sign card in. I also had a water bottle carrier that I clipped to my fanny pack. No one else took water, but I was glad to have it when I got hot and sweaty on the hike.

To begin the tour, we walked through the rain forest carrying our tubes for probably 45 minutes or so. The walk was not terribly strenuous…the worst part was just the high humidity. Charles would stop periodically to point out various trees and bushes and explain a little about them. At one point, Charles cut a piece of sugar cane and let Bob have a taste. At the beginning of the trail we crossed the river at the point we would be returning to once we were through the caves. The river was very shallow and not very swift so this wasn’t any big deal. There was a rope strung across to hold onto if you wanted.

Our guide, Charles.

Laurel pointing out a termite nest.

Along the way we went into a couple of dry caves…but just barely. I thought we would walk into the caves and do some exploring, but we just stood at the opening of the caves and looked at some bats. This was no big deal to me, but Bob and Kent had done a lot of “caving” in college and they thought it was cool.

When we reached the starting point of the float trip we had to wait on another group getting into the water. While we were waiting another Xstream group caught up to us and the two groups stayed together the rest of the time. The bad part was that meant our small group of 12 now had doubled. The good part was that one guide stayed at the front of the group and the other watched the rear which worked out well in certain places.

  

The group ahead of us was tossing their tubes into the river and then jumping off of a rock about 10 feet above the water. I suppose we could have done that too, but Charles had us hold onto a rope and lower ourselves slowly down into the water. The water was cool (not cold) but felt so good after being hot and sweaty. The place we got in the water was right at the start of the first cave so as soon as we were all in the water we entered the cave.

Each person was given a headlamp to wear while in the caves. We were fortunate that Charles had carried all of the lamps for our group in his backpack and didn’t hand them out till we got there. People that we saw in other groups were all carrying their own headlamps. The inner tube was enough to carry…I didn’t want anything extra! The guides each had headlamps with red lights so they were easy to spot in the caves. They also carried big spotlights that they would use to point out things for us to see as we went.

The caves were large and the ceiling was very high so unless the darkness bothers you, I wouldn’t worry about claustrophobia. I was a bit surprised that we had to paddle almost all of the time we were on the river. I had envisioned just being carried along by the current while I relaxed…not so. Laurel and I both realized later in the day that the inner parts of our upper arms were all bruised from all of our paddling. There were some spots where the current was swift, but these places were so shallow that the guides would yell “butts up”. Not heeding their warnings would result in some nasty bumps on your backside! One spot along the river was so shallow we had to get out and carry our tubes a short distance. I'm sure the depth and speed of the current varies based on the time of the year. 

I had no idea that the caves would be so long. There were two different caves and I’m a bad judge of distance but I would guess maybe combined they were a mile long! At one point there was an opening in the cave ceiling where you could look up and see all of the lush vegetation growing above…just beautiful with the sun streaming down into the dark cave!

After exiting the caves, we came to a place where people were using a vine to swing out into the river. Of course Bob and Kent had to give it a try! Eventually we reached the spot where we had crossed the river earlier and this is where we got out. It was only a short walk back to where the van was parked.

  

Charles had ordered our lunch before we started our hike and it was waiting for us when we got back. The meal was $5 and consisted of grilled chicken, rice, beans, slaw, fried plantain, a delicious sweet muffin and a glass of fruit punch. Since we had started our tour earlier than scheduled I figured we would have plenty of time to eat afterwards. I didn’t realize at the time that the rest of our group hadn’t ordered any food so then I felt like we needed to rush a bit so they didn’t have to wait on us so long.

  

My plan was to change out of my wet swimsuit before the trip back to the ship…however the bathrooms were even more nasty and wet than they were before so I opted to stay in my swimsuit. As we were getting into the van I happened to remember the cooler full of fruit that Charles had loaded earlier. The others in our group said they all had been eating fruit while we were eating our lunch! Rats!! Charles knew I was disappointed so he said “hurry up…go get some!” He had left the cooler with another Xstream guide and we hustled over and grabbed thick juicy slices of pineapple and mango. I have never eaten anything that tasted so good!!

  

On the way to the caves, Charles had driven about 30 mph on the bumpy road but going back it was more like 45 or 50! Yikes…I thought the whole van was going to fall apart! Also the van was air-conditioned…depending on where you sat! The first two rows (where we sat) were freezing cold. Laurel and I resorted to wrapping up in our beach towels to stay warm. The guys in the back two rows got none of the cool air and were covered with sweat!

At least the fast driving got us back to the tender dock with about an hour to spare! I had read about the National Handicraft Center that sold crafts made by locals and I wanted to check it out. Kent and Laurel decided to just do a little shopping there at the dock. I knew we had to leave the “tourism village” to get to the Handicraft Center, but that was easier said than done! The whole area was behind a locked fence being protected by guards…the only way out was to go through one of the long shopping buildings. Once outside this area we discovered that there were lots of small booths set up where people were selling all sorts of stuff. We by-passed them on our quest to find the National Handicraft Center.

A house we passed while walking to the National Handicraft Center.

We found the building, but it was locked and appeared to be closed. I knocked on the door and a man came and let us in. It was a little awkward shopping while he watched us, but he was friendly and visited with us a bit. I was looking for a basket with a lid (which I didn’t find). All we bought was a bottle of Marie Sharps hot sauce for $2 (US). They had many different varieties and in hindsight I wish I would have bought more because my sons love the stuff!

  

The line for the tenders had grown quite long by the time we returned but didn’t take too long. It was very hot standing there and it was encouraging to see several tenders show up at once to load passengers.

It was interesting to compare our day’s activities with our dinner companions each night. They had also gone cave tubing, but with a Carnival-sponsored tour. They had a very large group that traveled in a bus. Their tour didn’t include any food nor did they go through the dry caves. On the way back to the port, their bus had a flat tire so they had to sit by the side of the road until another bus (that wasn’t air conditioned) showed up to get them. All of this they got for $89 compared to the $60 that we paid for our tour with Xstream!

  

I’m sure Kent and Laurel thought my obsession with planning was a bit crazy at first, but by the end of the week they were bragging to others about how great it was to have every detail taken care of and how much money they had saved with the tours that I had lined up on the internet (instead of booking through Carnival.)

Each night the waiters and waitresses would entertain the diners with singing and dancing. They attempted to get passengers up to sing and dance also and Bob and Laurel were always some of the first to jump up and join them! This would have been more fun had it not been for some issues they were having with the sound system…that thing needed some major work!!

Macarena anyone?

One of the fun things we discovered on our first cruise was that it was a great time to try new foods...or just indulge in "extra" servings of the things you really love. Bob found out he really liked escargot (me not so much) and desserts were always a good time to splurge!

Let's just try all of the desserts on the menu!

  
After dinner we went back to our cabin briefly, and Laurel couldn’t get her Sail and Sign card to unlock the cabin. (The card acts as an ID card, key card, and charge card for all purchases made on the ship.) It had worked fine before dinner, but after repeated tries, the card would not open the door! A trip to the purser’s desk and the mystery was solved. The purse Laurel had carried to dinner had a magnetic clasp and it had de-magnetized the card! They were able to fix it but said to keep it away from any type of magnets!

The evening entertainment was a comedian who was “ok” and a magician. I fell asleep during some of the magician’s show, but what I saw wasn’t all that great. This guy (John Duffy) had performed on our last Paradise cruise and I wasn’t impressed with him then either.