Blog Challenge Day 3: Exciting Adventure

No one will ever call me a dare devil, or even a risk-taker for that matter. I slept with a night light until I was at least 13. My first plane ride at age 10 was spent holding the barf bag for 4 hours and a family trip to the Frio River still gives me nightmares. So, to tell people I went cave tubing in Belize always raises a few eyebrows.

In 2004, I went on a cruise with a couple of friends from work and cave tubing was one of our excursions. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I was not exactly excited. However, I had decided before the trip that I would just go with the flow and not let my fears stop me.

One bright morning, we docked in Belize and took a 30 minute speed boat ride to Belize Port and then took an hour long bus trip to the jungle. My stomach was in knots, but some people on the bus had done this excursion before and assured me that it was not all that bad. When we arrived, we were given a black inner-tube and a light to wear around our heads. It's never a good thing when its bright outside and someone hands you a headlight before you head out into a rain forest...or whatever type of tropical craziness we were immersed in.

So, with tubes over our shoulders, lights on our heads and water shoes on our feet, we trekked a good mile to the mouth of the cave...just in time to see some bats flutter off. Perfect.

As nervous as I was, I had to soak in where we were. Surrounded by every natural element imaginable; from rock formations to trees bearing the most exotic fruits. Our guide instructed us to get in the water and take a seat in our tubes. Lights on...we

eased in to the cave.

It was pitch black and filled with the sounds of creatures we never actually got to see. I do not recall how deep the water was, but we were oblivious to our surroundings due mainly to the fact that we could not see much and the fact that I just did not want to drown. Near the end of the cave there was a small whirlpool of water and naturally, I was the one who got pulled into it.

Thinking back on it now...I'm not exactly sure what the point was...but I did it. Floated through a long dark cave in the middle of Belize. But the best part of it all is when you exit the cave and you're in the middle of a wide river surrounded by the sights and smells of the trees and their fruits.

My words do not give this trip justice nor do the pictures, but it was exciting nonetheless. It was not as exhilarating as a sky dive, but it was definitely an adventure I will never forget.