Cave Tubing with Frenchie!

Day four of our cruise brought us to Belize City. This was the first time I had been on a cruise and the ship didn't dock on a port, but rather dropped their anchor and brought the passengers to the port by smaller boat. The ship docked at sea:
And moving away from the ship, towards the port:

After an hour-long bus ride, we arrived at Caves Branch Archaeological Reserve, picked up our tubes, vests and helmets and hiked to the caves.

Once we got to the caves, we lined up our tubes and hooked on to one another by locking arms and feet; very similar to similar to snow-tubing. Joe and I were side-by-side with very nice fifty-somethings behind us (notice the well-used Crocs!) and in front of us -- Frenchie and his wife!

And yes, I realize we look very Chilean-cave-miner-ish with our helmets.

Once in the caves, our guide took our group (locked arms, feet and all) and pulled us through the caves. Our fancy waterproof digital camera didn't work so well; but here are a few photos from inside the caves:
























At one point during the tour, the man in front of Joe (we called him Frenchie throughout the cruise), just completely gave up on locking arms and feet. I have to admit it was a little uncomfortable and surprisingly required using your abdominal muscles (who woulda thought?!?), but I powered through. But not Frenchie. He just threw in the towel! (At the time, we thought it was the funniest thing -- but as I write this, not so much.)



And just like that, the cave tour was over. Once we got our, our guide asked if we wanted to continue as a group (locked arms and feet) to the end or if we wanted to paddle down the river ourselves. After our experience with Frenchie not being a team player, we all opted to paddle individually.

What you don't see here, is me trying to paddle down the river. You know why? Because I couldn't. Everyone else, totally fine just using their hands to move along the water. Me? Nothing. I used my hands and I found myself going nowhere. I am completely useless in the water apparently. So, Joe being the loving husband that he is, just dragged me along.


And just like that, it was over. I'm sure there was more, but writing about it several months later is tough!

Next up: Costa Maya!