Belize – Cave River Tubing
Belize has an number of incredible caves. Some with historical artifacts, other caves have a river running through them. Instead of going the archeological route, we decided to take a River Cave Tubing tour. We didn’t see the remains of an ancient Mayan sacrifice, but we did learn a ton about the history, flora, and fauna of the area. It’s not every day that you can do a river float in a tropical environment through a series of sacred caves, so I am happy we made the effort to do so in Belize.
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Belize Cave River Tubing
Choosing a Tour Company
While researching companies to do a Belize cave river tubing, I was surprised at the cost. It was hard for me to believe that it would cost over $60 usd per person to float down a river. After the tour, I realized the cost goes into much more than just a tube rental. First off, our guide was extremely knowledgeable and trained to go into caves. Also, it was about an hour drive from San Ignacio to the parking lot of the caves. Lunch was a lovely home made buffet and we had tubes, life jackets, and helmets with waterproof headlamps attached. Also, we did the tour at our own pace and enjoyed ourselves, making the tour over 4 hours long. All of these items more than justified the price.
Do a little research when choosing a tour company. There are tour companies that cater to cruise ships and only do the second cave, instead of the entire route. If you are driving yourself, also be careful of the guides at the gate. Our guide mentioned that he had gone through a training process that not all the guides offering their services at the gate are properly trained (more on this later).
At a Glance:
- Rating: 3 (out of 4) stars, would do it again.
- Location: About an hour outside San Ignacio, Belize
- Cost: $65/per person
- Restrooms: Near the parking lot
- Duration: 2 – 4 hours (depending on you!)
- Don’t forget: Swimmie, sunscreen, and bug spray
Highlights:
- Floating on a beautiful blue river through a series of caves.
- Knowledgeable guide to teach us about the local flora, fauna, and history.
- Entire trip was at our own pace.
- Home made local lunch (we were originally going to go to a restaurant, but we told them in advance that we were vegetarian).
Lowlights
- Cruise ships offer this as an activity, so after a certain point, it became much busier.
- Got a little chilly in the cave.
Arriving and Hiking Up-Stream
We decided to go with a tour company that was lesser known and lesser rated online, called Kawiil Tours. It was also $5 less per person. Although fewer reviews, the ones they did have were all good. As we got closer to the date, I asked about vegetarian meals. This is when we found out we were the only ones on the tour. This made me a little nervous based on our experience in Peru (read that post here). But I was able to request that we leave an hour earlier than the time listed on the website. This was amazing because when we were finishing up the tour, there were crowds of people hiking the trail from the cruise ships that were in that day.
Our guide arrived promptly at 8 am and we were off. The drive to the cave tubing parking lot takes about an hour. On the way, our guide conversationally spoke about life in Belize and speaking English versus Creole. He pointed out different items and explained typical Belize structures. The drive there went pretty quickly.
When we arrived to the parking lot, we used the restroom, added sunscreen and reduced our gear. I recommend wearing only your swimsuit from the get-go. We wore some shorts, which got wet at the second river crossing. The hike to the first cave is relatively flat with two or three river crossings. The hardest part is carrying the tube, life jacket, and helmet while hiking. We opted to wear everything for the hike. I was able to do the hike in Teva water shoes without any issues. Our guide immediately spotted any bird he heard and described some of the typical flora in the area. I recommend also bringing bug spray and suncreening up – check out the brands we recommend in the shoppe.
Cave 1 – Belize River Cave Tubing
The casual walk/hike, you get to a staircase leading down to brilliantly blue water of the river. I wanted to stop and take a million pictures from the stairs, but the mosquitos were swarming! We buckled up our life jackets, tightened our helmets, and gingerly eased ourselves onto the tubes. The river slowly takes over as you head for the first cave. Looking upstream, you see the river exiting another cave. Apparently you can continue hiking upstream, but our guide said the last time he did so, he got a massive amount of bhat flies (those bugs that burrow into your skin before they hatch).
Once you get into the first cave, it get dark super fast. Luckily our helmets come with waterproof headlamps! The cave is only about 10 feet high and 15 feet across with a smooth ceiling and walls. It feels like maybe you are inside a giant drain pipe or something. Every now and then, you will get a drip from above, which our guide said the ancient Maya called a blessing from the gods. I was blessed many times during our tour.
At one moment, we all turned off our headlamps to experience the total darkness. It was a little too eerie for us, so we didn’t last in total darkness for too long. The river was very slow, but eventually the cave did open up larger. With areas for bats. The bats were so fast that we could barely see them. Historically, I do not like bats due to my fear of rabies. I think bats are cute, but I associate the two and know that bat bites do not leave a trace. So it’s hard to tell if you were even bit by a bat. Extra scary. Luckily we floated out of the first cave without incident.
Cave 2 – Cave Swim
The first cave opens up to a small sandy beach area connected to the trail. We swam around a bit here and jumped off a rock in the shaded sun. On the beach, there were massive amounts of matching floating tubes. This is where the cruise ship guests began their tubing quest. We found a large iguana in the trees and were ready to get going again, when the cruise ship guests arrived.
Entering the second cave, the water is very shallow and our guide helped us navigate the “rapids” with a rope. The entrance to the second cave is huge! The cave ceiling is well above us with many nooks. We saw an offshoot of the cave that our guide said he explored, but did not see any artifacts. The ancient Maya believed caves were the entrance to hell and left offerings to please the gods in times of hardship, like droughts.
We reached a jungle covered cave entrance and climbed out of our tubes. If you exit here, you can go zip lining. We opted out of zip lining, trying to keep our experience less expensive and grounded (pun intended!). We climbed some stairs to get to another side of the cave. The water here was crystal clear and still. We swam back to our original side as a little detour. To be honest, caves make me a little uneasy, so this was a neat experience that gently pushed on my comfort zone.
Cave 2 Continued – More Cave with River Floating
When we reached our tubes again, a large group was heading for the cave swim. Our guide did an excellent job with timing, so we could get a good distance from the group. In the caves, all sounds seemed amplified, so it was nice when it was just smaller groups around or no one at all.
The second part of the Cave 2 was also enormous. There were some shallow areas and some speedy areas, where our guide directed us which way to face and to paddle. We had the thinner black tubes, where we had more control of the tube. It was great fun.
Before we knew it, we were out of Cave 2 and on the river. The sun was a welcome sight, primarily for the warmth. It was getting chilly in the water in the caves! The river zig zags back and forth, and we bopped along. I found an entire bottle of water floating by that we carried out. We spotted iguanas in the trees and stayed out of the way of a group of cruise ship kayakers. I cannot imagine taking a kayak – the experience would have flown by in less than 30 mins!
Lunch and the Drive Back to San Ignacio
It made me so happy to change back into warm clothes after our river float. While we changed, our guide set out a picnic lunch. Because it was just the two of us or maybe because we are vegetarian, we had a homemade lunch on one of the picnic tables near the parking lot. It included plates and utensils, drinks (coke or water) and a number of delicious options. We had chips with salsa, rice, pasta salad, plantains, zucchini salad, and chocolate cake for dessert.
After our lunch, I felt quite sleepy. Our guide offered a ride to San Ignacio to two other guides (or maybe they asked). This was a bit awkward because he asked us if that was alright and we didn’t really feel like we could say no. Since we were pretty tired, it worked out fine that we didn’t feel obligated to engage with our guide or learn more things on the drive back.
Belize Cave River Tubing Overall Thoughts
I enjoyed Belize cave river tubing because it’s not something I could do anywhere else in the world. We were luckily on the timing as well because if there is a lot of rain, we would be unable to go into the first cave. It was a lazy, but educational experience. It would have been nice to go on a day that there wasn’t a cruise ship, but our guide kept us nicely separated and we had the first cave practically to ourselves.
The combination of cave time and non-cave time was great and I was happy to see the jungle-like area that we were at from a different angle. I know that at certain parts of the river near San Ignacio, you can cheaply rent a tube and float on your own, but in this case, I really enjoyed having a guide to tell us all about geological, geographic, and historical significance of the area… while also keeping us safe and away from insects, reptiles, or bats. But that is my moderately adventurous comfort zone. Yours might be different!
After our cave tubing, we went straight to our Belize Iguana Tour at the San Igancio Resort Hotel. I recommend pairing the two, if you can catch the last iguana tour of the day.
Where have you done a river tubing before? Let us know in the comments because I would definitely love to do it again!
Happy Travels,
Hanna
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