Cave Tubing Caves Branch

Enter an exciting realm where rivers disappear into the underworld as you float on inner tubes with only your headlamp and professional guide to lead the way. Glide past entrances from above, filtering mists of jungle light, as you float through underground river caves sparkling with mica-studded stalactites and stalagmites, and filled with 1,000-year-old pottery shards, statues of fertility gods and Mayan footprints. Continue past an underground waterfall leading into the "Crystal Cathedral", a spiritual place used by the ancient Maya.

Caves Branch is one of several subterranean sites that were carved out of the limestone foothills in the Maya Mountains by the Caves Branch River. The expert guide will discuss archaeological investigations into the cave. Discoveries found in the caves indicate that the ancient Maya utilized the site for several hundred years. Between 300 and 900 AD, they made regular pilgrimages to the site to beseech their gods to nourish their fields, to provide bountiful crops, plentiful game and to request stability in their volatile world.