Pete Taylor's River Tubing O.K. For 4 Y.O.?

[ffej]

We will be in Jamaica in a couple of months and were considering booking the river tubing and blue hole trip through Pete Taylor. Watching the video on their website of the river tubing made us question whether it is going to be ok for our almost 5 year old. The site says that the tubes have bottoms, but there are some small rapids, running into rocks, etc.

 

Has anyone gone on this excursion with a 4/young 5 year old? Would you do it again?

 

Thanks for your thoughts.

[6rugrats]

It's Peat Taylor. I know my kids would have hated it. Go to tripadvisor.com and read the reviews; apparently some posters there took young children who were fine. Have you tried emailing him and asking?

[sunrise&set]

We just took our son last month just before his 4th Birthday. He ended up wanting to sit with DH in the tube instead of having his own, but he did like it! It was just the 3 of us with a guide and we all held onto one another. The guide was great at steering us through the rapids. I really enjoyed it and would do it again. The water at Blue Hole was colder than I expected it to be, but you just have to do the rope swing and jump! DS did the rope swing with DH but once was enough. He swam a little and we tried some fresh coconut water. A very pretty spot!

[Nebr.cruiser]

We didn't use Peat Taylor, but another reputable guide and took grandchildren ages 3, 4, 5 & 5 on the tubing trip. If it's the same one we went on, it was quite mild and all the kids loved it and wanted to do it again. I suppose the swiftness and amount of water in the river might vary depending on rainfall, but it wasn't especially fast or deep and there weren't many rapids or rocks--just enough to be fun--when we were there.

 

We sat in large tubes with bottoms and each of the kids sat with an adult. We had the kids' own life jackets, but they were available. The guides who went along with us were extremely diligent about keeping the tubes together, away from the banks, out of swifter water, etc. They actually spent most of their time in the water, making sure everyone was all right.

 

It probably also depends on the child; used to water or not, likes or hates new things, scares easily or doesn't, etc. (Though it wasn't really scary at all.)

 

Our four were (this was a few years ago) very used to water (we live on a lake) and even the 3 year old could swim fairly well. They are also all the dare-devil, try almost anything type and don't scare easily. For instance, they all love river rafting in Montana, which is much, much scarier than this. And, all of us adults are very good swimmers as well, so we felt comfortable helping them.

[ffej]

Thank you for your responses. It sounds like something that our family would love!