too cold for cave tubing???????

[WAVERYDER]

I am going to Belize in mid December and want to do cave tubing. Has anyone gone recently? How was the temp of the water??

[driftwood]

Fire is hot. Water is cold. If it turns to ice while you are IN the caves, most tour operators will refund a part of your money (unless they believe you have enjoyed yourself too much), although if you sign up for the Belize Cave Ice Fishing Adventure you might have to pay extra. If, as I have heard, the caves are now protected as part of the National Heritage, there is probably a "catch-and-release" policy, so you might not even get dinner out of it. You WILL, of course, have another story for your grandchildren!

 

The ordinary scheme is to get you very hot during the long, long march to the caves, both through your own exertions in walking, slinging your tube around, singing at the top of your lungs, and running from fire ants, crocodiles and fers-de-lances; and from the commercial complicity of the Sun, the nearest available star, which has been looking out for the Maya since well before we were born, which will be providing radiant energy. By the time you GET to the water, you are supposed to wish it was cascading down from a melting glacier. My wife and I will be testing this theory ourselves in January, although the intellectually stimulating and magical Major Tom has kindly offered to bring woolen blankets and steaming brandy for us in case we find ourselves to have been incautiously optimistic.

 

But "no use complainin'," as they say in a politically-incorrect opera by George Gershwin. No whining and crying until the deed is done and we are safe back in front of our comfy computer monitors, toasting marshmallows over the the settling charcoals from last year's Yule log and seeking the sympathy of our beloved CC audience! As the scientists say, "For every case of malaria, some mosquitoes must fly!"

[driftwood]

. . . as a sort of literary observation, it was probably the caves of Belize which inspired Shakespeare's song which begins, "When icicles hang by the wall," so you might want to "brush up your Shakespeare," as recommended in Kiss Me, Kate! before visiting Belize. I am discovering that a lot of the British Honduras/Belize crowd (particularly Major Tom) are better read than we are, even in such traditionally American authors as Shakespeare; and United States citizens seem to have developed a terrible reputation for ignorance and pigheadedness abroad in very recent years. I can't think why. As the Boy Scouts of America would say, "Do your best!" :rolleyes:

[themnms]

driftwood, all I can say is you made me choke on my tea with laughter!!!

 

 

thanks for the laugh

[driftwood]

O great, another lawsuit! :rolleyes:

[Nebr.cruiser]

Driftwood, are you perchance one of the writers on strike! If you're not, you should be. Head to Hollywood! Now!

 

To the OP: honestly, we went last December, and while the water is cold--you kind of 'Gasp' when you first get in--I was used to it in a few seconds and never even noticed it after that. I really hate cold water, too. I suspect it was around 72; just a guess.

 

It was about 80-85 the day we were there and I didn't get hot on the hike, but I know that of course it can get much hotter. All I can say is this cold water hater got along fine. I wasn't cold in the caves or on the river at all.

[driftwood]

"head to Hollywood AFTER the strike ends?"

 

But I am retired now--all the laughs are over. Sorry!

 

Mind your flattery doesn't keep me writing to the Cruise Cricket Boards!

[Nebr.cruiser]

Okay--after the strike ends then. And, at 62, I'm beginning to think that the 'golden years' are one of life's greatest jokes, and I plan on laughing my way to the grave--and beyond!

 

Actually, we haven't felt the effects of aging much yet; we are lucky to be healthy, active, and mostly retired. Sixty is the new forty!

[driftwood]

Yes at 64 I feel disgustingly healthy myself, and I can only imagine that after all Marvell's "Time's Wingéd Chariot" moves at a rather astonishing and catastrophic pace: now in the Twenty-First Century waiting to catch us at some blind intersection rather than trying to overtake us.

 

Of course if my impending exploration of Belize doesn't kill me, I will probably be proof against the next twenty years. Best wishes to you! But I have to get my money's worth out of my shiny new Merrells--at least you have recouped your investment in Tevas already! :p

[Sky616]

I am going to Belize in mid December and want to do cave tubing. Has anyone gone recently? How was the temp of the water??

 

 

 

Just there last Wednesday and the water was cool at first but definitely not cold. No colder than New Jerseys ocean water in early summer.

[WAVERYDER]

Thanks everyone! I live in Florida and here we go swimming in 80+ degree water. Maybe we'll bring something to warm us up on the ride down the river?

[cruzin76]

Thanks everyone! I live in Florida and here we go swimming in 80+ degree water. Maybe we'll bring something to warm us up on the ride down the river?

Maybe it is because I am 7 miles north of the Florida border but I have tubed and swam in a few Florida springs that are the same temperture (72)year round, Ginny springs, Blue springs, Deleon Spings.

[lyssa13]

Maybe it is because I am 7 miles north of the Florida border but I have tubed and swam in a few Florida springs that are the same temperture (72)year round, Ginny springs, Blue springs, Deleon Spings.

 

 

Ginny Springs, oh how i miss thee!! I just graduated from UF in May and this was one of the best things to do in Gainesville. The last time I went however, the stench was NASTY - too much trash is ruining the float down the river.

 

OY!

[2CoolCanucks]

I think we're going to be on the same cruise.

I'm looking forward to it.:)

 

But I'm Canadian so anything is warm enough... we have ice on the ponds here already!!!

[driftwood]

If you stay behind the guide in the icebreaker tube, you should be all right. But perhaps that goes without saying.

 

Arctic Crocs® are available to Canadian citizens at most Simpsons-Sears trading posts north of Winnipeg, but they ARE rather expensive, eh? ;)

[matman]

Hi driftwood,

 

Just got back from Belize and did some cave tubing there. The water in the cave was cold - but refreshing after a 40 minute hike to the cave.

[driftwood]

Welcome back! And am I glad you posted! Cursin' Bunny (sp?) (see her thread, "Certain Death in the Caves" or something to that effect) has been scaring all the rabbits away from the caves with tales of tubemen scraped to death on stalactites and drowning in high winds and ice water shootin' through the caves and I don't know what all--waterfalls, lions and tigers and bears O MY!--so we sure are glad YOU managed to survive, and I hope the cave tubing industry survives the disgruntled bunnies among us. There is noplace security like Homeland Security!

 

One thing you can always say about cold water is that it is REFRESHING--I would be happy to be refreshed at about 82º-90º F. myself, but that is a lot to wish for, even in the tropics. But cold water is guaranteed to keep crocodilians sluggish, or lamanai as the Maya would say, so I guess I can't complain. On a sunny day I might not be able to outswim them--or out-raft them, either! Wonder if the dot-net people carry the tubes for the ladies? But much good that will do me, anyway--just another old guy! :p:D