Review of cave tubing/aerial trek combo with Nacho&Cynthia

[campboo]

Belize 11/30/05

 

(Note: I've posted this same review as a reply to several other threads, so if it sounds familiar, that's why.)

 

This was the day I was most looking forward to, because we had booked the aerial trek/cave tubing combo tour and I had heard only great things about it. I was wary of booking the combo tour with a private tour company because it was a long excursion (7 hours) and I didn't want to miss the last tender back to the ship, but after reading the reviews I decided to "risk" going with Nacho and Cynthia. It was the best decision I made!

 

The ship's tour had 140 people. We had 2 people (me and my DH) w/ 2 guides (Nacho and Cynthia). The ship's tour took 1/2 hour just to load the buses. Nacho met us right outside the pier building (he had e-mailed me with specific directions of where to meet him) and we hopped in his van and got a 1/2 hour tour of Belize City instead of waiting in the crowd.

 

It was over an hour's drive to Jaguar Paw Resort, and Nacho told us about Belize the entire ride. We got there about the same time as the ship's tour. While they tried to organize 140 people, Cynthia marched us up to the front of the line, and we were the first two people to go through the zipline course. It was lots of fun, but the whole thing goes pretty fast; we were done in less than 20 minutes.

 

When we had entered the resort, the resort staff had told us that the caves were closed because the water level was too high. Big disappointment. But Nacho gave us the choice of going to the Belize Zoo instead, or doing a different cave tour, where we would paddle instead of have a current carry us downstream. We opted for the alternate cave, so after we finished the zipline (the people on the ship's tour were still waiting in line to get their equipment) he took us through the resort to the Crystal Caves, where the 4 of us (me, DH, Cynthia, and the cave guide) spent a wonderful 1-1/2 hours paddling and walking through the caves. It was really great. As far as I know, we were the only two people on the ship that got to go into any caves that day.

 

Then we had lunch INSIDE the resort's air-conditioned restaurant. (The ship's tour ate outside; we all had the same food, though.) On the drive back Cynthia took us into a local store and helped us pick out some local products (cashew wine, honey, spices) to take home. We got back to the ship with 2 hours to spare. The ship's tour got back about 1/2 hour before we did, and they didn't get to do half the stuff we did. They did get a partial refund, at least, since the caves were closed.

 

Even if there had been more people in our group, we still would have been back in plenty of time. I was SOOOO glad we went with Nacho & Cynthia. E-mail him at nacho_cynthia@yahoo.com and he'll answer any questions you have. Tell him Boo sent you; he'll remember me.

 

The only hassle was getting off the ship on the first tender. After arguing with the purser the night before for about an hour, we finally just went to the theatre early that morning (6:45 for a 7:00 arrival in Belize) and waited until they called the ship's combo tour (they call them by code: listen for BEAD) and just got in line with those people. They all had stickers on their shirts; we didn't, but no one questioned us and we just walked right onto the first tender.

[Sam's Mom]

The tour sounds great! How much did it cost?

[campboo]

We paid $145/each. If there had been more in the group, it would have been $125. The ship's tour costs $135. It was well worth the extra $10. Payment was in cash at the end of the day; he didn't require a deposit. We tipped them $30, so I gave him $320 total. Sounds like a lot, but it was a great day!