Cave Tubing w/ Banana Boat?

[jenischmeni]

Hi! I was hoping to get an answer to this question that I posted over on the 'disabilities' section.

 

We are sailing on the Valor 6/11/06 and have already booked our cave tubing w/ Yhony. DH has an above-knee prosthetic leg (that cannot get wet).

 

I've emailed my concerns to Yhony and he's responded very promptly about utilizing a 'banana boat' for hubby, at an additional cost. (Which was still less than Carnival's quoted rate.) Carnival was unable to answer my question about how we could use their tour with this 'obstacle' and I think using Carnival would just be too big to get any results or personalized attention.

 

Has anyone ACTUALLY witnessed someone using this banana boat? I know there are two different types of banana boats. (I googled them! LOL) One is a ride-behind for speed boats (we call them 'torpedoes' in my area) and the other is a boat, shaped similarly to a banana and used to haul...what else...bananas! I'm just looking for someone who has taken this tour and witnessed this being used.

 

It may seem trivial, except prosthetic limbs are VERY expensive (think a new car - 23K minimum) and because of the hydraulic units for knees, water can be a problem. Unfortunately, DH can't hike to the spot w/o it.

 

I do trust Yhony, have been very impressed w/ his reviews. I've also emailed Yhony for a picture. I was just hoping in this warm, and quick-to-answer site, that someone has seen first-hand this arrangement and how well it worked (or did NOT work LOL).

 

Thanks in advance!

[michigander]

I have not see the Banana Boat but I did go cave tubing with Yhony a couple of weeks ago and one of the guides, Keith, described the boat to me. Yhony and his guides are wonderful and trustworthy but you are floating on a river and there is always going to be risk even though likely it is minimal. I can tell you that Yhony takes pride in accomodating to anyone interested in having the cave tubing experience no matter the age or disability. If anyone can pull it off he can. Good luck and I hope you have fun.

[jenischmeni]

Thank you Michigander for responding. I just received an email with the picture of the banana boat. I forwarded it to hubby (he's at work). I don't think this is going to work. It's like what we here call a torpedo. We've pulled this behind our speed boat. It's fun, but it's not going to work. I doubt that he'd be able to maintain balance on it and would end up in the water. If it happened because a boat capsized, then we could accept that. But, that's not going to offer enough security to risk it. It could be the difference between him being able to use his leg for the rest of the cruise or not!

 

I'm disappointed though. I was really hoping that this was going to be something we could all do. It seems like we encounter something similar every single time we travel. This need not be so difficult to work around.