Cave Tubing Tragedy Averted!

[mrmac]

Despite all the wonderful reviews of this excursion, everyone needs to know that cave tubing in Belize can be very dangerous. We very nearly could have lost two or three people to drowning last Thursday, July 14. It is the rainy season right now and the river had risen to a high level and was moving swiftly. We had a bit of trouble crossing with the rope at the beginning, but at that point I thought it was just part of the adventure. Having never done this and having seen so many great reviews, my danger indicator did not stop me from calling off the excursion. I deeply regret this as I brought a family group of 9 people, including my 80 year old mother and two 11 year olds. There was also a family of four with us.

 

Our guide had us pair up but as soon as we entered the water the group was immediately split up by the fast moving water with no hope of hearing further instructions. It was chaos after that. In the last cave I noticed the other woman in our group who was ahead of us with her husband was struggling in the water at the edge of a wall. She was out of her tube, trying to hold onto the wall and not get sucked under. The river had risen over the opening at this part of the wall but was still flowing beneath her. She said her husband had gone under and he was nowhere to be seen. It was frightening. In my own struggle to get to her I let go of my niece and away she went down the river. I will forever feel bad about that. I helped the woman move over away from the fierce sucking and then my sister and step-son slammed into the wall between us, knocking my sister out of her tube and down she went before I could grab her. I thought she, too had gone under the now underground river. But then she popped up on the other side of me, and my son and I were able to get her back on her tube. I got the other lady back on her tube and told her to follow me out to the middle so we could get out of the cave. She was in a bad state, fearing she had lost her husband and I couldn't see since my headlamp had been knocked off.

 

I managed to get out of the cave and pull over to the side of the river. I couldn't see my neice or my mother but knew that she was with the guide. Then my brother-in-law told me they were OK and ahead of us. My niece had managed to get to the middle of the river and had floated down the river to where the guide could grab her. The distraught woman was finally helped back onto her tube by some other locals/guides after hearing her pleadings. They told us we couldn't get out here and had to travel further down the river. We did and then saw a large group pulled over to the side with several guides grabbing people as they went by and pulling them to safety. Everyone was there and safe, even the missing husband, who had somehow gotten away from the sucking action and floated down the river without a tube, finally grabbing onto my niece's tube as she went by. We were all frightened, emotional and thankful that we were all alive.

 

But we still had a ways to go. The guides told us there were no more caves and that we were only two minutes away from getting out. I told them we did not want to get back on the river but they said it was the only way out. Incredibly, back in we went and managed to get to the pull out spot safely. Again, there were many guides/locals at the pull out helping to grab people and pull them to the side.

 

As you can imagine, we were quite shaken up by the ordeal. I feel so guilty for getting my family into this excursion and not sensing the danger early enough. I was very grateful to our guide for taking care of my mother and keeping her safe. Though she's in great shape, this was something none of us anticipated. But I also let the guide know he made a tremendous error in judgement in allowing us to go forward. The speed and level of the water at the rope crossing should have been his warning signs.

 

So here are my new rules for cave tubing in Belize:

1. Err on the side of caution. If you see lots of rain clouds above and up river and the paths are very wet, don't go. Enjoy the lunch! It was great, even though we were shaking.

2. Don't take any weak swimmers, no matter their age.

3. Don't take children under 11 or 12 or older folks who aren't in great shape.

4. If it's hard to cross the river, Don't! Go have lunch.

5. Remember you're in a rain forest and conditions change. Be aware of your surroundings. You are ultimately responsible for your party.

 

I hope everyone will take these rules to heart. I'm sure this is a great excursion most of the time. But not all. God bless.

[atljoo]

Mr Mac,

 

Glad to hear everyone is OK in your group.

 

We opted for the 4x4 Land Rover tour with our children (10 & 7) instead of the cave tubing. After reading your review I am confident we chose the right tour for our family. We could have done cave tubing without using the RCCL tour, but it caused some concern if we couldn't make it back to the ship in time. Now I think that should have been the leas tof our worries.

 

Our kids are great swimmers, but with a swollen river that doesn't matter. We'll have a great time on the RCCL-sponsored Land Rover tour by the river.

 

Atljoo

[debzkidz]

So sorry to hear about your horrible adventure, but I am glad to know everyone is okay.

We were in Belize the same day, on the Elation and were suppose to go cave-tubing as well. Our tour got as far as the dirt road turn-off when we found out it was closed.

 

We had heard rumors of what had happened to your group when we returned to the tourist village, but you know how rumors go. They have a tendency to get worse as they go, but apparently we heard some pretty accurate information.

 

Glad to know you are all safe.

[Zeno]

What a frightening experience ! I am so glad to hear that everyone was OK.

It's a good reminder that people should take to heart - these are NOT canned theme park experiences - if you have any misgivings - don't do it!

[bajalover]

mrmac, what a scary story! You are very brave for writing about this on this message board. (I saw some of the other posts on the Carnival site. ) You should be proud of yourself for such honesty! Sometimes things go wrong, don't beat yourself up for it. I am glad you are all safe now. We are taking this tour next week and I plan on bringing vests for my kids and I will also heed your warning regarding the river crossing! Thank you soooo much for the info!

[mrmac]

My reason for posting is to warn others not to make the same mistakes I did. This is not a "scary little story" to be forgotten as someone posted. It is to be remembered.

 

We all wore life jackets. Everyone on the river does. Other than not calling off the trip, our guide was very competent and very remorseful at the situation he got us into. We went with a very well reviewed company. Their minimum age is 8. But it doesn't matter who they are. It matters who your guide is and ultimately your own judgement. Mine was flawed but the guide sees the river every day.

 

Carnival has an activity level for their excursions. It's not a threat or danger level. We could all walk, swim and paddle.

 

Carnival had over 400 people out for the excursion that day. Many who were in line after us must have been cancelled because I only saw a few come through after we made it back. We heard stories of rescue helocopters and life guards being flown in to the river but we didn't see it for ourselves. Our guide did tell us he heard a fellow guide stopped her group mid-river and attempted to walk them back. The owner of the land didn't want them on the property and let loose dogs to chase the tubers. Unbelievable....

[Susky]

Any chance we can do this in just one thread?

[boatbunny]

Thank you so much for your honest review. We were in Belize on Explorer at the end of April and originally wanted to do the cave tubing. But our kids are only 5 and 8. There is one excursion company that will take a child under 6, but they were all booked up. Although we were thinking about it, we were leaning towards not doing it. As someone else mentioned, we realized that this was not a ride at Disney World, we were in a third world country, and in the jungle. Instead we opted for a great tour with Coral Breezes which included snorkeling, swimming with stingrays and nurse sharks. I am so glad we did. Even though we were not there during rainy season, we spoke to many people who did the excursion who said it wasn't as great as they thought it would be, very physical, and probably wouldn't do it again.

 

So, I think we'll hold off on this one for a few years anyway.

 

Don't beat yourself up, you had no idea of what to expect, and I completely agree that the tour guide should have assessed the situation and not allowed anyone, especially an elderly woman and a young child into that river. But, the tour companies get nervous that we'll go back and complain about a bad experience, which results in no business for them. Of course there are many of us who read a post like yours and can see the honesty and well meaning behind it, and it only helps us make good decisions about what is best for us and our families.

 

Thanks again!

[Scarlett131313]

My heart was pounding reading the near tragedy on the cave tubing excursion. If would have been in a panic if that were my family in danger of being sucked up by a raging river. I had read somewhere (maybe on here) last year about someone that got "bot bugs" on the rafting trip which is some kind of bug that burrows under your skin and then weeks later you get this big boil thing b/c the bug is still there. I read that to my son and husband they said "NO WAY." So we snorkled instead. Thanks for sharing!!!!!!!!!

[bluewave]

Thanks for sharing this story. Were you with the group from your cruise ship or was this an independent operator?

[Linda8818]

Thanks for your story. I've noticed that a lot of people who write in say 'it was the highlight of our cruise' regarding whatever it is they have to say. I wonder if people tend to keep bad experiences to themselves because they just don't want to think about it again.

 

Don't blame yourself, I think I would have deferred to the guide too, unless something looked obviously wrong. And if you had spoken up, I'll bet most of the others would have said 'oh don't be such a worrier' so you were in a difficult situation regardless.

 

Very glad everyone is ok.

[vacationeer]

the guides in belize emailed me about what occured last week.

they say that 20 buses and 15 vans were scheduled to take guest to the caves.

120 guest were in the water when it suddenly began to rise. accorrding to the guides this flash flood occurs at an average of 3 times a year. all the guides from each company assisted in bringing the guest out of the water and the other buses returned to the dock.

my friends scheduled for cavetubing did the aerial trek instead and had a great time. some companies have a "checkpoint" on the upper part of the river where they communicate using radios to verify the condition of the river.

similarly the sea currents can become quite choppy and the snorkelling is cancelled. its good to have and alternate trip in mind when visiting.

of course alternative options only work when in a small private group tour.

[okiemom]

My mom went on the cave tubing tour with princess (Grand) back in January. When she got home and told me that she did the cave tubing I thought she was nuts!! SHE CAN'T SWIM! Life jacket or not this was not a good excursion for her. The same thing happened to her that happened to the lady you helped. Needless to say she did not have a good time. The fitness level should be adheard to for sure. I would say most (swimmers) would enjoy this tour but I hate caves so can't say that I would go. You are right the tour operators see this river and caves everyday and should know if it is advisable to continue or not. Money or not! Lives cannot be refunded!

[BobbieSu]

Wow!

 

What an incredibly good ending to what could have been horrible.

Thank you for writing about it. It sounds like they did realize the danger of the situation and rerouted other tubers, unfortunately not in time for your group.

 

This is a good illustration that it is not a packaged product, that nature changes. When we were there in Feb some fellow CC'ers went cave tubing and complained that they had sore arms from having to push themselves over the rocks. Obviously that changes in the rainy season.

 

I'm glad you all made it out.

 

Su

[DrivesLikeMario]

Great advice, thanks for posting and glad you made it out safely!

[mrmac]

timely reminder....

[vmom]

Thank you for posting.

 

Flash floods can be very dangerous and scary events. So thankful to hear that everyone got out safely.

 

When we were in Belize last, there had been alot of rain and our cave tubing excursion was cancelled. At first we were disappointed, but boy am I glad now that it was cancelled rather than risk being injured or worse.

[Zyzygy]

and had a great time on the cave tubing, but...

We were tubing during a tropical storm; the water was very high and fast; my wife and I got separated in the dark about two minutes into the trip.

 

We had been warned by the guide to stay away from the right hand side of the cave near the end, as the water overflows the wall into a deep chasm. As we approached the area I saw a youthful man get pulled by the current toward the chasm. I called out to the guide, and he paddled over quickly and strongly to get the man and bring him back away from the chasm.

 

I wouldn't want to go again during a storm and high water. If I hadn't called to the guide, the guide wouldn't have seen the man being swept into the chasm.

 

Park rangers were posted in the swift waters to fend people away from sharp rocks, but I hit a few anyway.

 

We had a great time and enjoyed the experience, but it is definitely not to be undertaken by the weak or infirm or during heavy rainfall.

[travelntreats]

These are great posts on personal experiences and will be excellent to advise guests on this popular tour, I firmly believe, thanks to the first poster and his detailed and very good report. I was very intrigued by all this, and turned to the official sources in Belize to get the information on guides and their guests who choose this tour. Hope this helps, in the face of the recent terrible tragedy. This is what I got :

 

"Tour guides and operators who have been in the system for ten years or more are the best ones at this particular excursion, as they have the experience and exposure to this river and cave system necessary to successfully and safely carry out the cave tubing tour. Since the establishment of cruise tourism in Belize some six years ago, a large number of independent guides and operators has suddenly sprung up, with as yet limited experience. Hopefully, they are learning fast, but not at the cost of reducing the product quality delivered to guests.

 

The basic ways to do this tour are completely dictated by river conditions, which will determine if guests can be allowed to freefloat, or must be linked. Some prefer free floating (not caring for other people's feet under their arms!!), in which case the guides work around them, giving instructions, helping out where necessary, and generally providing an excellent, detailed, and leisurely excursion, safely and in comfort (river conditions will also dictate this method).

 

Some guests prefer to be linked, and that is then done by their guides. Recognize that linking, while allied to safety and control, also detracts from the greater experience, if the river is low, and not a danger in any form or way. Linked guests are sped through the river and cave system, not fully enjoying the bounty of this one hundred million year old cave complex, which was and remains sacred landscape to the Maya civilization and its descendants. Again, guides/operators with ten or more years of experience will give their guests maximum enjoyment, in safe surroundings, and in the end, do not speed their guests through and lessen the adventure.

 

Importantly, all cave tubing guests are always asked to beware of guides/operators who at times falsly advertise themselves, especially with reference to the time of their acquisition of tour guide or tour operator licenses. Our greatest and strongest advice is to ASCERTAIN beyond a shadow of doubt, how long your chosen tour guide in particular has been licensed, and go with the experience, rather than the advertisement.

 

Cave tubing is not an easy task, learning both about the natural elements of the rainforest, the river and the caves, is a long and detailed dedication, and simply running people through the system is not the right idea of a tourism product. Doing so, safely, in comfort, with detailed information imparted by guides with long exposure to the trade, is very safe, compelling and most rewarding to our valued guests to Belize."