Cave Tubing in Belize
Cave tubing – it is exactly as it sounds: floating through dark caves on an inner tube. It sounds mildly terrifying, right? But my adventurous side pushed me to do it. I was really excited to try cave tubing! We had no idea of what it would be like. I pictured being in a claustrophobic tiny cave, I tried NOT to picture what could be lurking beneath us.
We hiked to our cave through the forest wearing our lifejackets and hard hats and carrying our tubes and it was quite a walk to get there! Chivalry is not dead people! Caleb carried both our inner tubes most of the time so I could take photos – and because the tube was just about as big as me and it was hard to keep it off the ground. :] I like to think I’m tall, strong and capable, but most of the time I just have “little mans syndrome”. We went cave tubing with a group of Coco Plum guests that stayed on the island with us.
Our tour guide asked if we all wanted to float alone or to create a human chain and all float together. Some people were a little skeptical floating alone – I mean, all we knew was we would be floating in a pitch black cave. For all we knew we could separate from everyone, make a wrong turn and then end up like Castaway swept out to sea.. or the optimistic side of me wants to say like a National Treasure and find an ancient room of gold and glory – but I’m definitely not that lucky!
So we decided to chain together putting our feet on the person’s inner tube in front of us and they would hold our feet under their armpits. Which was weird. I’m not going to lie to have my not-so-smoothly shaven legs under some guys pits. I really should keep on top of shaving – it’s just such a task! Am I right? Typically, I don’t prepare for my legs to be in some strangers pits. Let’s move on, I don’t want to really think about the experience much more…. haha!
Well, in to the cave we went! It was surprisingly dark at first, but once our hard hat lights were on it was very cool! You could hear mini-waterfalls and rushing water. I tried to take some photos with our waterproof digital camera, but they didn’t come out too great. The cave was way bigger than I expected and we even saw some bats along the way! The bats quickly reminded me of what could be under us… After this excursion my abs were so tight from keeping my bum up and out of the water the whole time. I have quite an active imagination! :]
The cave opened up to a couple of beautiful waterfalls, the secret type you only think mermaids go to with rushing water and huge boulders to lounge on. Once we were out of the cave we floated along the rest of the river spotting monkeys and tropical birds in the trees. It reminded me of Texas floating down the Frio in the summer with all your friends and family – but way cooler!
This excursion was amazing – we went in without any expectations and to see the secret waterfalls and sleeping bats was so much fun. I love getting out on adventures in new places. Trying new things in different countries is becoming one of my favorite things to do. Cave tubing in Belize, following a trail off the side of the road through a bamboo forest to waterfalls in Maui, and now possibly “snowboarding” down a volcano in Nicaragua? Who knows what adventures are in store for us! I am so blessed to live this life of traveling. There are plenty of more stories, pictures and videos of all of our adventures traveling all around the world to come. Follow along! :]
