Cave Tubing - Snakes??????

[threeofus]

Someone told me that a fellow passenger told her that the water was very murky and she felt snakes under the tubes..

I read many posts and I haven't heard one negative thing about the cave tubing excursion. Most people say that the water was clear.

Has anyone heard or experienced anything like this.

Thanks so much.

[Kathy555]

Hi - I was there in December. This was not my first choice for an excursion but my family outnumbered me. It was nice. The water is crystal clear. The only thing I felt hit my bottom was when the water was shallow and you passed over some rocks. The tour guide will warn you when to lift your bottom. I am a big chicken and I did enjoy it, but once is enough for me. The rest of my family would do it again in a heartbeat. Have fun and don't worry.

[threeofus]

Thanks Kathy. I really appreciate your feedback.

[suzycruzy]

We just got back and really enjoyed the tube trip dh and boys 9 and 12. We had a super day on tour, loaded with great information on bus. We were just alittle sore the next day from paddling. Would do it again in a minute. They said just to not go off the trail, but not dangerious at all.

[Andrea1970]

Just got to add a "ditto". Dh did it and loved it- said the water was nice and clear and cool. I haven't seen the pics yet (back just on Sunday).

[susanf31]

We just got back...did the cave tubing with Yhony. It was FABULOUS!! The river is crystal clear. I couldn't believe that we were in the middle of a rain forrest and saw no bugs, no mosquitos, no snakes. One spider and that was it.

 

I think the lack of mosquitos is due to all of the bats that live in the area.

 

It was a wonderful excursion. The water is NOT murkeyk, it was clear and beautiful.... and there were no snakes.

[Reneek]

Snakes?!?! I don't think so. I would have walked on water and I bet the guide wouldn't have been there either. That's not to say there are never snakes present - just unlikely with a group of people splashing and kicking that they would be drawn to the site. The water is crystal blue when in sunlight, appears dark within the caves - but the same water. There are snakes off the beaten bath within the jungle, according to our guide.

[davidaperryman]

No snakes on our tour. You have to walk several miles with the inner tube on your shoulder. Since snakes have no shoulders and can't walk very fast I doubt if they could make it. The command our guide gave when the water got shallow was "BUTTS UP".

[vic from vic]

We did the cave tubing last year and not a snake to be found. Once I did think that I felt one, but on further investigation, it was my life jacket strap!

[JennHales]

I was just talking to my mom, sister and husband about this.

 

They all want to do this excursion and of course being the snake phobia girl that I am I had to ask about snakes!

 

Anyway just wanted to share!

 

Jen

[kenwoodusa]

Snake Warning!!! Just wanted to warn anyone considering the cave tour that there are snakes in the caves. My brother-in-law was bit by a pit viper snake in the cave while on the excursion. It was a quick bite that required 20 vials of anti-venom before he was stable. The locals still denied it was a snake bite after we questioned it. We were on Spendour of the Seas and the excursion was on 3/2/05. He is recovering but it was very serious, he had to leave the ship and was flown to San Antonio Texas for treatment.

[mbisson]

What kind of pit viper was it? It's the use of the generic term "pit viper" that makes me somewhat suspicious. If it actually happened, why didn't you say what specific type of snake it was? If the drs don't know what specific kind of snake he was bitten by, they wouldn't know what type of antivenom to give. Antivenoms are specific enough that even for the rattlesnake, it can vary from specie to specie (ie: diamondback, prarie rattler, etc)

 

Other than that did he enjoy his cruise?

 

-Monte

no-I'm not a dr but I do watch Venom ER on Animal Planet :)

[marjudles]

Was the snake in the water or on the ledges and rocks within the caves or on the jungle paths? Did the cruise line doctors treat him initially or was he treated in a local hospital in Belize before flying home to Texas. Thanks for your reply - how this occured might affect my decision about cave tubing again. We did it two years ago with Reggie and loved it.

[chefdeedee]

Dear Friends here are some tips

 

Went Cave tubing with Princess - We went with the ship due to the fact that we were on a limited time frame. There were 500 people on the tour - 5 bus loads - never saw a snake.

 

Positives -

Cool experience to walk thru an actual rain forest - it was pouring rain -

The caves were neat to see, l (water was cool) - water was crystal clear.

 

Negatives

 

Our head lamps were not "bright enough" to actually see the formations in the caves.

 

The changing room "lockers" are little thatched huts with no security - if you don't want to lose it - don't bring it -

 

The bathrooms are not adequate to accomodate the amount of people on the tours - they stopped working when we were there.

 

The life vests you have to wear stink of mold and mildew :( - you will stink like those vests the whole time, and will be anxious to wash your clothes when you get back to the ship.

 

Most people on the tour were chilled to the bone before we ever got into the rivers - because it was raining cats and dogs and they weren't dressed properly.

 

Water was on the very cool side - good thing we wore "dive skins" to retain body temperature - hubby and I were the only ones "warm".

 

Could not hear the tour guide - there were so many people screaming - could not learn a thing.

 

The bus ride - The bus driver drove off the road at 70 mph to pass a house being moved on the road - yup - I said it - a house - We thought the bus was gonna tip over - we were terrified.

 

Would I do it again - no way - not worth 99.00 - glad I did it - yes - I can say I did it once.

[terryde]

Would just like to hear from kenwoodusa more about the snake bite incident - there were questions asked and I think we would all appreciate answers, since this is the only snake we have heard about in cave-tubing on these boards.

[davidaperryman]

That must have been one hell of a big snake if it required 20 vials of anti-snake venom.

[joyride]

Interesting that KenwoodUSA made his one and only post about snakes and we haven't heard from him again. Also, very limited facts on what really happened. I think the chances of floating through a cave in the water and having a pit viper just attack you are extremely slim. It all seems quite questionable to me.

 

KenwoodUSA - if you are out there and this really happened - you should give us more details about the incident. It is not very nice to just post like that and stir things up.

 

Anyway, I'm going CAVE TUBING on my Coral Princess cruise which leaves 3 weeks from today! Woo HOO! And, even though I may take a risk of being bitten by a snake, scared by BATS, bumping my bottom on rocks, cold water, etc. You know what? I would much rather endure any of these things and be able to say I have BEEN THERE AND DONE THAT. It beats driving to work and taking my chances on HWY 4 and 680 every day!

 

Joyce

 

Life is short - and I'm going CAVE TUBING in Belize!

[coloradoan]

Okay, I get it now. Cave tubing...snakes... and the posting warning us all of the dreaded viper in the caves??? The poster seems to just drop a bomb and leave?Happens right around St. Patrick's Day??? Duh, I'm ashamed it took me this long to figure this one out...

 

"Saint Patrick is most known for driving the snakes from Ireland. It is true there are no snakes in Ireland, but there probably never have been - the island was separated from the rest of the continent at the end of the Ice Age..."

 

http://www.st-patricks-day.com/about_saintpatrick.asp

 

 

We've been HAD people! Nice joke though!!

[kenwoodusa]

I am a very honest person and I truly wanted to just warn people about the possibility of getting bit by a snake while on this tour. I pray and hope no one has to go through what my family has gone through. We were on vacation too, and did not want to believe that something like this could happen. It was our worst nightmare. I am sorry it took so long to respond, this is the first time I checked this board again. I didn't know how appropriate it would be to give so many details, but now I am angry that some of you would think that I was lying about the incident. So here are the details... We hiked through the jungle and entered the water on our tubes. Did the whole tour. My brother-in-law mentioned at the end of the tour to our guide that he felt like something bit him. Our guide's eyes got pretty big and asked him what it felt like. My brother-in-law (Lonnie) said that it felt like a horse fly and the guide said that it probably was a horse fly and said no more. (We are from Alaska and have horse flies here so he knows what a bite feels like) His arm had a little bump on it at that point. He felt something bite him shortly after we entered the caves as we were passing a gravel embankment near a log. We think the snake was in the water because he was bit on the top of his left forearm as he was tubing backwards. After he got back to the ship, he had to pay extra to call the Doctor in earlier! The Doctor looked at it and wasn't sure at this point what it was but his arm had swollen up more. They put an IV in his other arm to get fluids in him. By dinner it had swollen up almost to his elbow and his hand started to turn black & blue. The Doctor still hadn't decided if it was snake bite, spider bite or some sort of bug bite. Lonnie had to get an IV at midnight and then at 7am the next morning, if it had swelled up anymore then he was suppose to go to the hospital in Cozumel, Mexico our next port. The next morning it was still getting more swollen so he was admitted to the hospital that morning. The Doctors in Cozumel started to treat it as a snake bite immediatley. Maybe they had more experience in these matters, but thank God they did. They researched the types of snakes in Belize on the Internet and made the determination that it was a pit viper. I do not know the different types of pit viper snakes and am merely repeating what the doctors told him. They must have felt pretty confident that it was a pit viper because they then searched for antivenim in the area and found it 35 miles away(I believe my sister-in-law said it was at Playa del Carmen). By the time he started to receive the antivenim, it had been over 24 hours from the time he got bite. They think the snake bite was so quick that he didn't get a deadly dose. Lonnie's bill from the Cozemul hospital reflected the 20 vials of antivenim, which after some research we were glad that he received it in Mexico because it is a lot less expensive than in the USA. While he was receiving the antivenim, his kidneys started to fail. They felt that he was responding to the antivenim but at that point they wanted to get him to the States in a hospital where they had dialysis (sp?) equipment. That evening 11pm (Thurs.) he was air lifted to a San Antoino trauma hospital. Just so you know if you are in the hospital in Mexico and they can't verify your Health Insurance due to the different time zones,etc. they will not let you leave until you pay. They did not let him leave until they paid $5000 (Most of the bill was for the antivenim). He was in the hospital in Texas until the following Tuesday. I can not tell you how hard it was for the rest of us to stay on the ship and wait for news. We wanted to go but Lonnie's wife felt that he would be OK and she needed to pack a few bags and they wanted her to leave immediately. My brother-in-law and wife came home on Thursday.(They had to break their trip back to Alaska into 2 parts because Lonnie was pretty weak & tired). We had dinner with them last night. For the first time Lonnie looked pretty good. He has been back to work part time but is still getting abnormal headaches. We hope & pray that he does not suffer from any long term affects. The whole reason I posted this warning is because Royal Caribbean is not responsible for anything that happens on the excursions and we all signed waivers before going on the tour so the Tour Operator is not responsible. I would have never thought that we could be in any danger. I just simply wanted to get the warning out there so people would maybe know of the possible danger on this tour. I would never joke about something like this, this is the only income for some of those people in Belize. I can not make anyone believe my story but I know in my heart I am not lying and we are so lucky that Lonnie is still with us. If you have anymore questions, I will check this board occasionally and will be happy to answer them.

P.S. kenwoodusa is a "she"

[blyle]

Thank you for your post. I appreciate your honesty. It has only been recently that I have been researching tours very carefully. Most of us just don't realize all that can happen and when it does it is horrible. We climbed Dunn's River falls only to hear about a passenger who was seriously injured in a fall there. We never even thought about that happening to us! Once my son came back from a cruise with an unusual illness that required hospitalization. They never did find out exactly what caused it. It has made me much more aware of what I choose to do on my cruise. I don't even drink water from the ship only that in sealed bottles. I never eat in the ports anymore and I definitely would not allow my daughter to get a tattoo since they scrape the skin to do the henna tattoos. I never use snorkels provided by the tour operators due to trench mouth and am very careful to use insect repellant especially in Belize. Our friend picked up an organism while surfing in Hawaii on his honeymoon and is paralyzed today.I used to take too much for granted but now I am very cautious. I hope Lonnie recovers totally and the family is back to normal.

[KenMo]

Nahhhhh....still not buying it! I haven't been cave tubing so I don't know first hand whether there are snakes or not. However, this guy sounds alot like the guy over on the St Maarten board who claims to have been forced to pay $6000 for a jet ski before the vendor would let him leave. Same style of story telling!!! Just my opinion!!

[2FromTN]

We were on the same ship (Splendour) and were cave tubing at the same day but with another company. I didn't see or hear of any problems while we were at the cave tubing area but I can say I heard a few people talking about this incident as we were getting off the ship in Tampa so I can verify that this is not a story that somebody made up after they returned home.

[Zeno]

"Pit viper bites are characterized by severe burning pain. Discoloration and swelling around the fang marks usually begins within 5 to 10 minutes after the bite. If only minimal swelling occurs within 30 minutes, the bite will almost certainly have been from a nonpoisonous snake or possibly from a poisonous snake which did not inject venom. The venom destroys blood cells, causing a general discoloration of the skin. Blisters and numbness in the affected area follow this reaction. Other signs, which can occur, are weakness, rapid pulse, nausea, shortness of breath, vomiting, and shock. "

The above was taken from the website: http://www.extreme-guides.com

The only pit viper indigenous to Belize is the fer-de-lance. It is not a water snake and lives in dry leaf litter on forest floors. Its bite is VERY toxic. 20 viles of anti-venom injected 24 hours after the bite would have been too late unless the snake's venom sacks were empty - in which case the 20 vials of anti-venom were wasted. (I did a little fer-de-lance research a few years ago when I was planning on doing some hiking in Martinique.) What probably bit this person was some sort of insect or arachnoid. The immediate reaction to even a PARTIALLY envenomed fer-de-lance bite is MUCH more extreme than the reaction described by the poster and the fang marks would have been clearly visible (the fer-de-lance has BIG nasty fangs). Even a minute amount of the toxin will produce the severe virtually immediate reaction described above.

P.S. The fer-de- lance does not hang out in caves or water but watch that leaf litter (particularly at dusk when the snakes can be more active and are less visible).

[Apex Cruiser]

Ok folks we just returned from Cave tubing on 3/16 Splendour of the Seas with Wet and Wild.

 

There are snakes in Belize, it is a tropical country after all. We ran into one on the trail to the caves. Green and white about 7 to 8 feet long. Now the snake did not attack us but it droped from the bushes around the trail and moved very quickly across the path in front of my wife and behind me. Came within about a foot and 1/2 of my wife. The snake made a lot of noise coming down showed no agressiveness and started up a tree on the other side of the path.

 

Now I do not know about snakes in the water but this one was real and certainly frightening in its speed and size. So a word of caution if you are deathly afraid of snakes then this may not be your excursion.

 

The excursion also requires a lot of physical exertion currently due to very low water levels. The road to the caves is as described a thrill ride and the general experience was fine for once in a life time but not something I would look to do again.

 

I can not vouch for pit vipers or anything but one very large green and white snake but it was there and trust me we were quickly out of there!

[montecristokid]

Im in the medical field, and have seen a lot of spider bites. Particularly impressive is the brown recluse bite. I have no earthly idea what kind of spiders are indigenous (sp?) to that area, but I would bet a nickel and a cold beer that a spider bite is more than likely. The bite itself is not impressive, but the reaction sure is, especially like explained, 24 hours later. Also, from speaking with several victims, when you are bitten by a venomous snake, you know it! It is extremely painful and I was told by a rancher "It'll stop you dead in your tracks"

Whats to learn from all this? Alot. Dont forget where you are. You are a guest in the jungle. No matter how many groups trample through, you are in a wild area so take extra care and precautions. Dont lift any brush, or rocks, if you reach down, look where you are putting your hands etc. Dont get freaked out, just be careful. Although extremely unfortunate things do happen, they are few and far between, or else they would be out of business. Enjoy and be respectful!!