Any jungle or cave tubing accidents??

[Thamsey]

My daughter is scared of doing this excersion... this being said she is 33.Thought I would check out and see if there is any valid reasons to her fears.

[sharecruises]

My daughter is scared of doing this excersion... this being said she is 33.Thought I would check out and see if there is any valid reasons to her fears.

 

JMO...any excursion could be "dangerous">> read the spider monkey bite thread, that is very scary and to me the scary part is that the jungle spa seems to NOT be taking responsibility for the monkey that attacked this young lady...sad and scary

 

Belize is jungle...with some dangers ...bugs, mosquitos..must use deet/bug spray...

 

so if she has allergies this could be of concern

 

the caves just do NOT appeal to me...I don't like the idea of lugging a tube thru a jungle, bugs, etc...wading over...having people's feet on me, etc LOL>> tho lots and lots of people rave about it and it seems that cynthia and nachos and also some x-stream people get rave reviews

 

I don't like snakes and/or bats much either..maybe your daughter is afraid of them also?

 

I think there is a HUGE tendency for people to find CC and get the idea that stuff is a "must do" in places...for instance I also had NO desire to swim with stingrays in Grand Cayman and people told me how much I would 'miss" this opportunity...and I sure did not miss it at all

 

Even when I would post about stuff to do in GC OTHER than stingrays people would come on the thread and tell me what I was "missing"??

 

Different people have different expectations of their vacation. I don't know why there is this trend to make everyone into some "extreme sport" fan or have them do a trip like the contestants on the "Amazing Race" tv show

 

I have NO desire to bungee jump, scuba dive, swim with stingrays, or float around a cave....JMO

 

Maybe your daughter feels the same way???

May not be really really "dangerous">> but might not be fun for HER?

There are other excursions she could take ....Belize seems to NOT be a safe place to wander around by yourself either, so it would be good to take an excursion, but not necessarily this one??

[chris2597]

There was a post several months ago about a viper snake biting a cave tuber in Belize. The thread stated that vipers are not water snakes but can be cave dwellers. According to the thread the tuber felt something bite him on the upper arm and that the guide noticed the fang marks when the tuber was getting out of the water. The man was airlifted to San Antonio for treatment. I think the thread can be found if you do a search. This has been the only problem that I have ever read about concerning cave tubing.

[MJfromCA]

I agree with Cheri that what is great for one person may not be the best for someone else. Cave tubing is not our thing either, but I know some love it.

 

Belize is said to have the second-best coral reefs in the world for snorkeling/scuba diving (first is the Great Barrier Reef in Australia), so we are probably going to snorkel there. There are supposed to be excellent Mayan ruins to visit as well.

[cruiser_j]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=8613448&postcount=132

 

The above link is a lenghty post about my experience. I tried to be fair and post both the good things and the bad things.

[bguppies]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=8613448&postcount=132

 

The above link is a lenghty post about my experience. I tried to be fair and post both the good things and the bad things.

 

Thanks for that extremely detailed and honest assement of the excursion.

 

It is MUCH appreciated.

 

Bill

[lynninsc]

While on vacation in Belize this past June, our group of 6 spent a day cave-tubing (arranged through our resort). Although I can see why some would enjoy this adventure, none of our group did. Yes the scenery is beautiful and now that it is over I am glad I had the experience, but while it was occuring, I thought it would never end. It was very, very hot and muggy, the mosquitos are HUGE, and all of the females in our group found the caves creepy. I was very excited about doing this, until we started our trek through the rainforest. Then I began to worry about snakes and spiders and such. After we entered the caves, I really became worried about such things. It was not a horrible experience, but we all agreed we wished we had chosen another way to spend that day. We immensely enjoyed all of our other activities while in Belize. Cave-tubing just seemd to be too much work for the amount of pleasure.

[sharecruises]

While on vacation in Belize this past June, our group of 6 spent a day cave-tubing (arranged through our resort). Although I can see why some would enjoy this adventure, none of our group did. Yes the scenery is beautiful and now that it is over I am glad I had the experience, but while it was occuring, I thought it would never end. It was very, very hot and muggy, the mosquitos are HUGE, and all of the females in our group found the caves creepy. I was very excited about doing this, until we started our trek through the rainforest. Then I began to worry about snakes and spiders and such. After we entered the caves, I really became worried about such things. It was not a horrible experience, but we all agreed we wished we had chosen another way to spend that day. We immensely enjoyed all of our other activities while in Belize. Cave-tubing just seemd to be too much work for the amount of pleasure.

 

Thanks, your post is a great reminder that this is NOT for everyone IMHO

 

I have read other less than happy reviews of the cave tubing, tho many many people do enjoy it. The "creepy" factor is there tho : snakes and bats, mosquitos too...

 

Not to mention lugging a tube thru the rainforest.

 

Sometimes there is a tendency on these boards to latch onto one particular excursion, or one particular beach club or whatever and push the crap out of it. "You don't want to miss this"?? Yeah, I do want to to miss it frankly <grin>

 

 

There are many other options to do in Belize and if this does not appeal I don't think it is a good idea to try to talk people into trying it. Either it sounds good to you or not LOL...and to me? It just does NOT sound like my idea of "fun".

[PINEVIEW01]

There was a post several months ago about a viper snake biting a cave tuber in Belize. The thread stated that vipers are not water snakes but can be cave dwellers. According to the thread the tuber felt something bite him on the upper arm and that the guide noticed the fang marks when the tuber was getting out of the water. The man was airlifted to San Antonio for treatment. I think the thread can be found if you do a search. This has been the only problem that I have ever read about concerning cave tubing.

I cruised with a women who posted here way back about her near death mishap. Her tour was also with a Carnival's large group. She too spun off but there was no guide to see her and help her. The bus left with her still lost in the cave. I don't think you can even find the thread as it was on the old board format. I just know if I ever do go, it will be with a small private group.

[CajunGroover]

My husband and I, along with my parents went on the Cave Tubing excursion two years ago. It was just "OK" for us. The hike to where you enter the river was long, hot, humid, and carrying an intertube thru all this is not that fun. However, when you finally get there, the ice cold water feels pretty good. I also found the inside of the caves to be a bit creepy. You can't really see much while you are in there. You wear a head lamp, but ours were'nt working half the time, so it was pretty dark. There were a few pretty areas of the cave that were worth seeing, but it was mostly just dark. Floating thru darkness is not that exciting for me. But....right as we were coming out of the cave, we came to a shallow part of the river, only about 1-2 ft deep. Someone near us floated over to the side of the river, and pushed off on a rock to float back out to the middle. Evidently, there was an extremely poisonous snake resting on the rock, that did not like being disturbed. The snake jumped into the water, and was aggressively coming at the floater. Two of the tour guides saw this happening, and yelled for everyone to get out of the water. Thankfully, we were in shallow water, and most everyone was walking thru it anyway. The two guides got sticks and killed the snake. Our guide was one of those that responded, and he said that it is one of the deadliest snakes around. It is usually not a water snake, but if provoked will attack. Needless to say, I am glad this happened at the end of the float instead of at the beginning. Luckily...no one was hurt that time, but when you are in a jungle lots can happen.

[CajunGroover]

My husband and I, along with my parents went on the Cave Tubing excursion two years ago. It was just "OK" for us. The hike to where you enter the river was long, hot, humid, and carrying an intertube thru all this is not that fun. However, when you finally get there, the ice cold water feels pretty good. I also found the inside of the caves to be a bit creepy. You can't really see much while you are in there. You wear a head lamp, but ours were'nt working half the time, so it was pretty dark. There were a few pretty areas of the cave that were worth seeing, but it was mostly just dark. Floating thru darkness is not that exciting for me. But....right as we were coming out of the cave, we came to a shallow part of the river, only about 1-2 ft deep. Someone near us floated over to the side of the river, and pushed off on a rock to float back out to the middle. Evidently, there was an extremely poisonous snake resting on the rock, that did not like being disturbed. The snake jumped into the water, and was aggressively coming at the floater. Two of the tour guides saw this happening, and yelled for everyone to get out of the water. Thankfully, we were in shallow water, and most everyone was walking thru it anyway. The two guides got sticks and killed the snake. Our guide was one of those that responded, and he said that it is one of the deadliest snakes around. It is usually not a water snake, but if provoked will attack. Needless to say, I am glad this happened at the end of the float instead of at the beginning. Luckily...no one was hurt that time, but when you are in a jungle lots can happen.