cave tubing

entering the underworld
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This excursion was awesome!  I try not to overuse that word, but I think it applies here.  We booked this directly through the tour company, saving ourselves about $30 each over the ship's prices, and we were in a much smaller group.  We were met at the tender pier by a representative of the company who brought us through a maze of stores and people to their office a little off the beaten path. There were 8 in our group which was much better than the 30 to 40 in the groups from the ship. Our tour guide was Ivar (aka p-boy or partyboy) who turned out to be a fountain of information. On the way to the tubing location he gave us the history of his country which used to be known as British Honduras and was quick to point out things of interest and answer all of our questions. Once we arrived at the location and got our tube and head light we started the 45 minute hike through the jungle to get to the jump off site. After about 5 min p-boy stopped and had us jump into the refreshing water for a quick swim while we let the bus group pass us by.  The swim was a blessing during the 40 minute hike in the humid jungle. Halfway in we stopped at a dry cave and he gave us some history on the Mayans that lived in that area, also we got a close up look (about a foot away) at some of the small bats that keep the insect population down. We finally made it to the jump off point were you can climb down into the water if you don't want to jump,and we started our adventure. It was a surreal experience p-boy would point out the different stalagmite and stalactite formations and tell us the different names, mostly associated with what they resembled.

belize cave tubing
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Lunch was included, and it was excellent!  We went to a small restaurant and had a plate of chicken, rice and beans, and cole slaw -- it was great.  Oh, I almost forgot, the van had a flat tire when we got back from the river.  Now this could have been a disaster, considering what a tight schedule we were on trying to get back for the boat, but all worked out well.  It did take about four guys under and around the front end of the van, but it was fixed and we were on our way with plenty of time to spare!

cruising between caves
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At dinner that night, we compared our experience with that of a family that went through a tour from the boat, and ours seemed to be much more informative and interesting because of the much smaller group.