Did I Imagine This Excursion?

[AUTUMN SUN]

AWHILE BACK I COULD HAVE SWORN I READ ABOUT AN EXCURSION THAT I CANT FIND ANYTHING ABOUT NOW. IT WAS A TRIP DOWN THE RIVER TO ONE OF THE RUINS AND YOU ALSO WENT IN SOME CAVES. I DONT THINK TO GO TUBING BUT JUST FOR EXPLORATION. ANYTHING THAT INCLUDES ALL THREE: RIVER,RUINS AND CAVES? OR MAYBE I WAS JUST DREAMING!:p

[Bob7]

Hey Autumn, nope you weren't dreaming. It could be several, first the Barton Creek Water Cave, not far from the tubing river, using canoes and/or kayaks with spotlights on them, about half a mile long, large colorful cave formations, Mayan cultural artifacts, skeletal remains (no doubt placed there by the tour people, but hey, no prob).

 

It might also be the Chechem Ha Pottery Cave, with a network of ropes and ladders to get through.

 

Or it might be the Blue Creek Cave near Santa Cruz, a "wet cave with dry routes." You hike and swim with yer headlight to an underground waterfall.

 

Or it might be our fav, the one we we're thinking of doing instead of sitting in a tube all day, the Mountain Pine Ridge Reserve with the huge Rio Frio walking cave, crystal catherdral, underground pools with falls, a Mayan burial cave, foot bridge to get across the stream and out the end, nice trail to another cave, Cuevas Gemelas. Near the Thousand Foot Falls site and the Rio On Pools hike and swim.

But yer gonna hafta get out of that chic tour outfit in yer avatar picture, get a headbank around all that blonde hair, and get yer good old hiking duds on!

-Bob

P.S. We're on the Miracle too, in March.

[AUTUMN SUN]

But yer gonna hafta get out of that chic tour outfit in yer avatar picture, get a headbank around all that blonde hair, and get yer good old hiking duds on!

-Bob

 

Thats pretty funny!:D This is my first cruise so I have not been able to wear a tour outfit yet!!:p You must not have seen my profile, cause if its outdoors, especially with water, IM THERE!!!;)

With that said, I really like your suggestions, especially the last one. Where might I find more info on that!!!

[Altacan]

Hey Autumn, nope you weren't dreaming. It could be several, first the Barton Creek Water Cave, not far from the tubing river, using canoes and/or kayaks with spotlights on them, about half a mile long, large colorful cave formations, Mayan cultural artifacts, skeletal remains (no doubt placed there by the tour people, but hey, no prob).

 

It might also be the Chechem Ha Pottery Cave, with a network of ropes and ladders to get through.

 

Or it might be the Blue Creek Cave near Santa Cruz, a "wet cave with dry routes." You hike and swim with yer headlight to an underground waterfall.

 

Or it might be our fav, the one we we're thinking of doing instead of sitting in a tube all day, the Mountain Pine Ridge Reserve with the huge Rio Frio walking cave, crystal catherdral, underground pools with falls, a Mayan burial cave, foot bridge to get across the stream and out the end, nice trail to another cave, Cuevas Gemelas. Near the Thousand Foot Falls site and the Rio On Pools hike and swim.

But yer gonna hafta get out of that chic tour outfit in yer avatar picture, get a headbank around all that blonde hair, and get yer good old hiking duds on!

-Bob

P.S. We're on the Miracle too, in March.

 

 

I have not seen the Mountain Pine Ridge tour offered on any of our cruise trips? Who do I contact to find out more information about it?

 

Happy sailing!!

[CTP]

Can anyone give me more info on Mountain Pine Ridge Reserve. May be some tour operators that do that area.

 

Thx.

[Bob7]

Ok Autumn, you’ve convinced me, yer ready for the jungle!

Hi Alta and CTP.

 

I don’t think the ships offer these tours. We found 3 tour companies that seem to cater to the stuff at Mountain Pine Reserve, Cayo Adventure Tours (http://www.cayoadventure.com), Belize Explorer (http://www.belizex.com), and Tropical Expeditions (http://www.tropicalexpeditionsbelize.com). But it sounds like we don’t have time to do everything in the Reserve, perhaps skip viewing the falls, b/c Tropical lists the tour time as 9 hours to do everything, and that’s exactly how long we’re in port, too tight a squeeze. Actually we lose 2 hours in port b/c ship time is 2 hours ahead of Belize time, so we arrive at 7:30 but that’s only 5:30 local time, no tour is going to start then. (Private tubing tours start at either 9:30 or 10 ship time, depending on the operator.) Also heard that Discovery Expeditions Belize does Mt. Pine, but no other info on them.

 

And I don’t know if those 3 above are used to dealing with ship tours, so that they’re used to getting ppl back in time to sail. I haven’t tried to contact them yet b/c the cruise is off a ways yet. Heard Cave-Tubing.com does dry cave tours but it’s not on their web site.

Barton Creek sounds like fun, I’d rather be in a canoe or kayak than a tube. And Blue Creek Cave sounds cool, hiking and swimming to a waterfall in the cave. Wendy’s a bit worried about getting claustrophobia. Guess I better not bring home that DVD “The Cave”, seen that movie yet? Nasty cave creature.

 

Hey Autumn, yer cruise is New Year’s Day?! So how are you gonna make it to the ship if you don’t get to bed till 4am?

Aaack, the weekend’s over!

[AUTUMN SUN]

"Hey Autumn, yer cruise is New Year’s Day?! So how are you gonna make it to the ship if you don’t get to bed till 4am?"

 

Well, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......................

Ive already asked around and no one seemed to know of anything going on in the area on New Years eve but im sure there is LOTS to do. I will have some family meeting me in Tampa (going on cruise to) and I bet they will find some kind of trouble for us to get into!:D

Those excursions look fun but am a little worried about the time. Belize has a lot of adventure type tours and I keep changing my mind. Ill have to come back I guess!!

Oh ya, thanks for the info!!:)

[Bob7]

I guess we should shake the bushes to see if anyone has done the Mt. Pine and Barton Creek Cave areas. I’ll post a new thread about that.

 

We also thought of renting a car/jeep, especially if the rental office opens early, we’d get on the road before the tours. The tour companies say the sites at Mt. Pine are well marked, their HQ bldg is right at the entrance, so they’d be able to show us what to do. Here’s a link to a map of the roads and sites:

http://www.belizeX.com/images/maps/cayoDistrictMap.gif Draw a line 2 inches to the right of Belmopan and that’s Belize City where we dock. So ya drive up Western Hwy past Belmopan, make a right onto Chiquibul Road, and Barton, the falls, and the Rio caves and trails are down there. We wouldn’t try that w/o first talking to ppl who had done it. We may have to get on a local Belize message board to get the real facts. It would save a lot of money … I saw a rate of $65 for a rental car, and Tropical’s rate for a full day at Mt. Pine was $99 p.p. That’s a lot of extra beer money!

[AUTUMN SUN]

I guess we should shake the bushes to see if anyone has done the Mt. Pine and Barton Creek Cave areas. I’ll post a new thread about that.

 

We also thought of renting a car/jeep, especially if the rental office opens early, we’d get on the road before the tours. The tour companies say the sites at Mt. Pine are well marked, their HQ bldg is right at the entrance, so they’d be able to show us what to do. Here’s a link to a map of the roads and sites:

www.belizeX.com/images/maps/cayoDistrictMap.gif Draw a line 2 inches to the right of Belmopan and that’s Belize City where we dock. So ya drive up Western Hwy past Belmopan, make a right onto Chiquibul Road, and Barton, the falls, and the Rio caves and trails are down there. We wouldn’t try that w/o first talking to ppl who had done it. We may have to get on a local Belize message board to get the real facts. It would save a lot of money … I saw a rate of $65 for a rental car, and Tropical’s rate for a full day at Mt. Pine was $99 p.p. That’s a lot of extra beer money!

MY DH IS NOT THAT ADVENTUROUS. I HAVE TO LIVE VICARIOUSLY THROUGH OTHERS!!!:D HECK. HE DOES NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT EXCURSIONS I HAVE PLANNED. I HAVE TO BE GENTLE WITH HIM. WOULDNT WANT TO GET TO DIRTY OR BE IN A "DANGEROUS SITUATION!!" :p

[Bob7]

Yup, I hear ya. We're pretty careful anymore too. Had a close call in Europe, got back to the ship with 15 minutes to spare, they had the ropes off the gangway, we could hear our names being called over the loudspeakers as we ran up the dock. Security said we were the last 2 onboard.

 

I emailed the 3 tour operators to see what they had to say about getting to Mt. Pine Reserve or Barton Cave as a second choice, will post their reply.

 

Have you told your DH about cave tubing? Tell him there is very little chance he'll spill his beer. We don't really want to spend the whole tour with our butts in a tube, and we wanted to take our good camera, but tubing may be the only option in seeing the caves. Not sure which tubing operator to get, Wet N Wild and X-Stream have had vehicle breakdowns, it would be nice to get new vehicles, apparently ***** has new Toyota vans. Also nice not to have to pay a deposit up front, not nuts about sending some island lads our credit card, some have no deposit and no payment until the tour is over, like Cave-Tubing.com, and NCQ Adventure Tours. Also, NCQ has the lunch inside the Jaguar Paw Resort, a rainforest style cafe with a/c, that might be nice. Costs $75 tho', rest are around $50.

[AUTUMN SUN]

Yup, I hear ya. We're pretty careful anymore too. Had a close call in Europe, got back to the ship with 15 minutes to spare, they had the ropes off the gangway, we could hear our names being called over the loudspeakers as we ran up the dock. Security said we were the last 2 onboard.

 

I emailed the 3 tour operators to see what they had to say about getting to Mt. Pine Reserve or Barton Cave as a second choice, will post their reply.

 

Have you told your DH about cave tubing? Tell him there is very little chance he'll spill his beer. We don't really want to spend the whole tour with our butts in a tube, and we wanted to take our good camera, but tubing may be the only option in seeing the caves. Not sure which tubing operator to get, Wet N Wild and X-Stream have had vehicle breakdowns, it would be nice to get new vehicles, apparently ***** has new Toyota vans. Also nice not to have to pay a deposit up front, not nuts about sending some island lads our credit card, some have no deposit and no payment until the tour is over, like Cave-Tubing.com, and NCQ Adventure Tours. Also, NCQ has the lunch inside the Jaguar Paw Resort, a rainforest style cafe with a/c, that might be nice. Costs $75 tho', rest are around $50.

 

DH WOULD NEVER DO CAVE TUBING. PLEASE POST WHAT INFO YOU GET. IM CURIOUS TO KNOW. THANKS!:)

[Bob7]

DH WOULD NEVER DO CAVE TUBING. PLEASE POST WHAT INFO YOU GET. IM CURIOUS TO KNOW. THANKS!:)

Uh oh, that dude is gonna be seriously cramping yer style! Maybe you should send him to the spa and you head for the jungle!

 

I heard back from Belize Explorer that the Rio stuff is too far, but they would do the Barton Cave Canoeing for $100, a 1.5 hour drive each way, 2 hours at Barton. So we're thinking that's still too far, and we are looking now at Blue Hole National Park, with St. Herman's Cave and a 2 mile scenic trail. It's near the cave tubing. They want $70 to do that. I think it's just a 1 hour drive down a pretty good road, so we're thinking of renting a vehicle for that, Budget RentaCar is 1 minute from the ship and has Suzuki 4x4 Jimmy's for $75, Pancho's has 4x4 SUV's for $60, and Crystal Rentals has Chevy Trackers for $73. Split between 2 couples that's just $15 each. Hey, tell yer babylove he can go 4 wheeling! ... that'll get him out!

Ta ta,

-Bob

[AUTUMN SUN]

Can anyone give me more info on Mountain Pine Ridge Reserve. May be some tour operators that do that area.

 

Thx.

 

I FOUND THIS WEBSITE WITH INFO.

WWW.NCQADVENTURETOURS.COM

[AUTUMN SUN]

Uh oh, that dude is gonna be seriously cramping yer style! Maybe you should send him to the spa and you head for the jungle!

 

I heard back from Belize Explorer that the Rio stuff is too far, but they would do the Barton Cave Canoeing for $100, a 1.5 hour drive each way, 2 hours at Barton. So we're thinking that's still too far, and we are looking now at Blue Hole National Park, with St. Herman's Cave and a 2 mile scenic trail. It's near the cave tubing. They want $70 to do that. I think it's just a 1 hour drive down a pretty good road, so we're thinking of renting a vehicle for that, Budget RentaCar is 1 minute from the ship and has Suzuki 4x4 Jimmy's for $75, Pancho's has 4x4 SUV's for $60, and Crystal Rentals has Chevy Trackers for $73. Split between 2 couples that's just $15 each. Hey, tell yer babylove he can go 4 wheeling! ... that'll get him out!

Ta ta,

-Bob

 

IM AFRAID 4 WHEELING WONT FLY EITHER. I THINK ILL STICK WITH CORAL BREEZE AND THERE SNORKLING AND CAY CAULKER TOUR.:rolleyes:

[Bob7]

Ok hon, that's a popular one, should be fun, good luck!

Oh, and make sure yer Dh doesn't see the thread "Botfly - Use Deet", or you'll never get him off the ship :-)

[pacerzfan]

Cucumber Beach is located 5 miles from Belize City, I am not certain the cost for transportation from Belize City to there and back. It is a "man-made beach but it is very nice. Prices will vary depending on taxi operator. The beach is equipped with huts for shading and chairs for relaxation. The Entrance fee is US 5.00 per adult and children 10 years and under enter for free. Also, they have Old Belize Cultural and Historical Center, which is a virtual museum that displays live scenes of Belize's History, Culture and Industries. The Entrance fee is US 10.00 per adult, US5.00 per child 6 - 12 years and under 6 enter for free. With the purchase of tickets for the museum you receive on free beach pass which will allow you to enter the beach. In addition to the Museum, there is the Gift shop where you can purchase items that are made in Belize. Secondly, there is the Sibun Bite Bar and Grill, which overlooks the Beachand you, can enjoy the cool, fresh breeze as you enjoy one of the many Belizean dishes. The cost of the meal range from US 2.50 - US20.00, Drinks range from US 1.00 - US17.00. Finally, there is Marina, which caters to both the sport fisherman and the recreational boater.