We did the cave tubing at Jaguar Paw in June, 2003, and it was one of the most unique travel experiences I have ever had! You will love it. We wore old tennis shoes because we had heard we would need them for the jungle walk, but we did NOT and wish we had had Teva's or watersocks. You might check and make sure that you are not going on a day when a cruise ship is in port as I have heard the caves are VERY crowded on those days. Be sure to eat a termite from one of the trees on the jungle walk! Yes, I am serious! Our guide did, so I tried one too! Enjoy.

Phyllis - You can arrange transportation to Belize yourself, or call Roberto; I'm sure he has connections. We spent the week on AC, but spent the last two days of our trip in Belize City, so we just flew their from AC. Roberto picked us up at the hotel and even stopped at the grocery, or wherever we wanted. He really was an awesome tour guide. He spent so much time explaining things to us about the culture and the environment; I learned SOOO much from him. We didn't just walk through the rain forrest, we constantly stopped, studied, and learned about the different plant/animal species. Roberto was like a walking encyclopedia. He was very patient and accommodating as well! We tasted sugar cane, and some other things that I've never heard of, but were very tasty! He also took us on a Maya Ruins trip; also awesome! You absolutely will not regret choosing him as your guide. We stopped after the cave tubing trip and ate at Amigo's - great food. We did not do the zoo, but Roberto can do that as well. One peice of advise - try to do the trip on a Sunday; that's when the cruise ships depart, so it's not as crowded. We went on a Sunday and saw only SIX other people the whole time! Hope you have a WONDERFUL time!!!

We leave on Tuesday for our first trip, and we all can't wait!!! I have a 6 year old and 9 year old, is the cave tubing ok for our little one? Is anyone worried about the mosquitos? Or is DEET enough. Thanks for the info, I love this board.

AFotoGirl - Just curious about the airfare price from SP to Belize City. $24 US - Is this round trip and who is it through? I guess I'm just comparing it to the price to get from BC to SP when we first get there and I thought it was around $100 round-trip. Thanks for the info. We went to AC last year and did not have time to go cave tubing, but would like to when we go back in May!

$28.50 one way from SP to the municipal airport in BZ City.

Thanks Barbara!! You're always such a help!

luvphins...I assume that you'll be flying in/out of Belize City. Maybe you take advantage of two options....

Fly back to Belize City a day early and stay in a hotel for the night (I can give you the name of a pretty nice hotel for $100/nite). That way you won't have to pay to get back to AC...and then BACK to BC again, to catch your flight home. If you did decide to stay in BC over night, then you would have time to cave tube and go the the zoo one day; then see some Maya ruins the next day, before you catch your flight. That's what I did and it worked out perfect (we had a departing flight out of BC at 3:30). Left for the ruins at about 8-ish and got back to pick up luggage and and head to the airport at 1:30. Definitely try to cave tube on Sunday and flight out on Monday, if you do it this way. The caves are dead on Sundays and nobody was at the ruins on Monday.

OR..

You could schedule your flight home, from BC for a little later, and just leave after cave tubing; have the tour guide take you back to the airport. You can leave your bags in the van while you cave tube. It's totally safe and secure there. And there are individual, completely private showers and changing rooms right there at the parking lot (no mirrors though..haha).

Juli - your kids should be fine, as long as they can swim and are not afraid of the water or dark caves. You'll get head lamp bands for your heads, but it can still get dark in a few small areas of the caves. The water, for the most part is shallow and it is low right now so you shouldn't have any worries; just don't let the 6-year old get too far from you as there are areas of really shallow water where one can drag the rocks and hurt one's bum. : ) Also, there are two spots (depending on how far you walk and how many caves you tube)where you'll run into some VERY mild rapids, and your 6 yr. old probably won't be able to keep his tube from hitting the rock wall, but if you have a good guide (Roberto that I mentioned above, is AWESOME) then your guide will know exactly what to do and when!

And yes...100% Deet is fine. We wanted to walk to the the fifth cave (I think most people walk to the third cave) and once we got past the third cave the mosquitos really got heavy. But...with the deet we were absolutely fine. The walk to the fifth cave is a little harder then the first three, but still a great walk, and very do-able and worthwhile!

PS Juli - be prepared to carry two intertubes through the rain forest. I have a feeling your 6-yr old will not want to carry a tube for the entire walk. You know how they get..."Mom...this is heavy....Mom...I'm tired". HaHa...spoken from oh-so recent experiences with my 5-yr old! ; )

I read somewhere that the only day there are no cruise ships in port was Sunday. Anybody know for sure?