Boat Rides, Cave-tubing and Zip-lines! Oh, my!
This is going to be a fun filled day! A long day, but F-U-N! We rise early to meet our boat for the hour long ride over to the mainland. Normally, this would be a relaxing experience. But, the winds are howling this morning and the white caps are rolling. Our guide, Allan, says he’ll hug the islands for a wind break as we go. OK, maybe this won’t be so bad. We’d have about 10-15 minutes of teeth jarring, butt bruising waves then about 5 minutes of calm. At first, we hang on for dear life and try to enjoy the scenery as it buzzes past. Then, when the calm hits, we try to adjust our clothes and hats back in their proper position. After about 30 minutes you don’t do anything but HANG ON. It reminds Randy, Peggy and me of growing up on Possum Kingdom Lake and trying our best not to fall overboard while our father is driving the boat. Didn’t matter, calm or white caps 4 ft tall, he drove full throttle. I can still hear my mom……………..”@#* $$#@*#, Lucky! Slow the #$@&* %^$#@@ DOWN!” Ah, good times. Now, during our cruise to the mainland the little boat is getting a little…abused. After a while it decides it’s taken all it’s going to and WHAM! the canopy breaks, falls forward and slams in to, you guessed it, ME! Right on my widdle head! Ouch! Now, most of you know I already have “issues” with my widdle head. I don’t need some cranky dinghy taking it’s frustrations out on me. After close examination we find I’m not bleeding (oh, good), and place an ice cold bottle of water on my little bump. Now, remember what I said about the teeth jarring, butt bruising ride?……YOU try to hold a slippery, hard bottle of water against your head and not give yourself a concussion! Jeez. why does this stuff always happen to me? Well, we finally get to the mainland, looking a little windblown and bruised. Hey, that’s not supposed to happen until after the tubing and zipping. I hope this isn’t some kind of omen. After a short ride inland, we arrive at our destination. After everything that’s happened so far, that cool water is going to feel great! HAAAAA! Little did we know. First, you have to “take a leisurely stroll through the jungle” (their words, not mine) to get to the start of the cave system. Now, when I think caves, I think going down to a hole in the ground, find the stream, sit my butt in my little tubey thingy, relax and enjoy. And, you know me well enough by now, in my mind I’m picturing tubing like we do in Texas down on the Comal. You know, what I’m talking about. 1-2 tubes designated just for the BEER!! Right? Wrong. First, there were no leisurely strolls!!!! It was hiking! Up and down, up and down! And dangit, STAIRS!!!!! Really? Our guide, Ric, stops every so often to point out trees and tell us about the Mayan culture. Really I think he’s just trying to let Mark and me catch up to our little ragtag group. The scenery was beautiful and the history was fascinating but, enough already! I want to tube! Oh, and another interesting little factoid…..you have to carry your tube during this “leisurely stroll through the jungle”. At one point I was seriously considering stuffing myself into the center of my tube and rolling back down the hill. But, finally we get to the cave opening. It was beautiful! Only thing that would’ve made it better….BEER! Just think about all the caverns you’ve visited. All the stalactites and stalagmites, the crystal formations…..its just like that but you’re on a tube in a river. Beautiful! Now, after our ride we have to walk back to the compound, not far (thank goodness) and turn in our tubes. We meet back at the van and down a couple of beers or for the daintier of the crew, Rum Punch. Now, after our Rum Punch experience last year in Jamaica, (ref:DWBH) we’re all a little hesitant to try the punch. But, it was wonderful! And cold! Yumm, it can strip my dinghy anytime! We decide to go ahead and do the zip line tour before lunch because about 4 cruise ships docked this morning and they’ll all be headed our way shortly. Thats a lot of buses! So, we head to over to get geared up and beered up for our last leg of todays adventure. Now, I love zip lining, I really do. It’s just all the climbing you have to do in the beginning to get up in to the trees. There were a couple of times my siblings and I didn’t think we were going to make it. Mark was the smart one today. He decided to stay back at the compound with the Rum Punch and let us crazies swing through the trees. Maybe I should’ve stayed with Mark. *Mental note* Zip Lining might not be for me.* But, we did zip! It’s amazing being up there in the tree tops, doing your best Tarzan yell and trying to not slam in to any trees. Most of us succeeded. Paul, however did a little yelling and slamming that would’ve made Tarzan blush. For some reason, his braking glove just wasn’t doing the job. More than once he slammed in to the trees. Our little braking guy (maybe 90 lbs) got a little nervous when he saw Paul screaming through the trees towards him. Thankfully, Paul escaped without any serious injuries. He hit pretty hard a couple of times and wrenched his back and neck but no broken bones or cuts! Thank Goodness! Our little braker guy didn’t sustain any physical injuries but psychological injuries could be extensive. Whew, what a day. After lunch we pile back in the van and head for our little boat. Oh no. This is going to hurt. After another, shall we say ‘rough ride’ we get back to the villa. We all drag ourselves to the bar in search of some sort of numbing agent and collapse to reflect on the days adventures………………………………………………..A Day of Fun!
Boat Rides, Cave-tubing and Zip-lines……Oh, OUCH!
