5/5 Naomi W. 7 months ago on Google
I
thought
this
experience
was
incredible.
I
will
be
writing
with
hopes
of
helping
other
people
who
have
claustrophobic
tendencies,
and
who
may
have
some
reservations
about
choosing
this
adventure.
After
hearing
about
this
experience
from
numerous
people
during
our
6
month
stay
here
in
Belize,
it
was
placed
on
our
"must
do"
list.
Once
we
booked
the
trip
with
the
tour
guide
company,
I
began
pouring
over
the
reviews
for
evidence
as
to
what
may
trigger
one
of
my
(somewhat
rare
and
unpredictable)
panic
attacks.
I
have
overcome
numerous
obstacles
in
my
lifetime.
I
am
52
years
old,
and
enjoy
scuba
diving,
rock
climbing
(multi-pitch
sport),
mountain
biking,
snowboarding,
climbing
14er
peaks,
and
even
jumping
out
of
an
airplane.
In
other
words,
I
am
no
stranger
to
adventuring.
I
have
had
panic
attacks
in
very
specific
places-wedged
too
tightly
in
the
back
seat
of
a
car,
crammed
into
a
packed
elevator,
free-climbing
one
of
the
flatirons
in
Boulder,
CO
(really
bad
spot
to
have
an
attack
btw).
The
ATM
Cave
experience
was
not
one
of
them.
I
had
some
anxiety
leading
up
to
our
trip,
which
is
basically
fear
of
the
unknown,
and
trying
to
gauge
how
people
were
quantifying
the
frequently
mentioned
"most
adventurous
experience
of
my
entire
life"
(it
wasn't
for
us).
For
someone
with
claustrophobia,
the
areas
that
could
be
potentially
problematic
are
in
the
beginning
of
the
cave
(fortunately).
To
be
clear,
there
is
more
than
one
way
through
this
section,
and
we
took
the
"easier"
way
going
out,
and
the
"harder"
way
as
we
were
nearing
the
exit
toward
the
end
of
the
tour.
The
majority
of
the
cave
is
very
spacious.
It
was
only
in
those
areas
near
the
entrance
of
the
cave
that
I
felt
nervous-and
hoped
it
would
not
continue
like
that
for
long
(it
didn't).
I
grew
up
a
swimmer,
and
though
you
definitely
walk
in
a
lot
of
water,
there
really
isn't
any
actual
swimming
once
you
pass
the
entrance
of
the
cave,
where
you
swim
several
feet
to
a
boulder.
If
you
are
short
in
stature,
or
don't
like
putting
your
feet
on
the
ground
in
the
water,
sure,
you
can
swim
a
little
bit.
Most
of
the
time,
however,
you
are
just
wading
through
the
water.
The
stream
was
comforting
to
me,
I
appreciated
that
it
was
there
pretty
much
the
entire
time.
I
did
tell
our
guide
that
I
was
a
bit
nervous
before
we
started
our
tour,
particularly
about
the
tight
spaces,
and
therefore
was
a
bit
surprised
when,
toward
the
end
of
the
tour,
he
led
us
through
the
tighter
(harder)
passageway,
and
had
us
turn
our
lights
off
(he
did
this
periodically
to
demonstrate
something
with
his
own
light-often
shadow
play
on
the
walls
as
the
Mayans
may
have
seen
it-really
cool),
and
then
he
disappeared,
playing
a
trick
on
us.
Fortunately,
I
had
already
made
my
mind
up
that
I
was
safe,
and
fine,
and
therefore
was
only
a
bit
surprised
that
he
would
do
that
when
someone
expressed
that
they
were
nervous
(not
cool).
It
was
pitch
black,
cannot
see
your
hand
in
front
of
your
face
dark,
when
you
turn
your
headlamps
off.
The
bouldering
was
understandably
easy
for
my
partner
and
I,
given
our
experience
with
climbing,
but
we
did
see
other
people
struggle
with
it
a
little
bit.
My
advice
would
be
to
sit
down
in
areas
that
appear
scary
because
it
looks
to
be
too
big
to
safely
step
down
to.
The
age
old
"sit
and
scoot"
works
pretty
well
throughout
this
cave.
We
went
at
a
time
when
the
tourism
is
extremely
low
(September),
and
were
among
only
a
small
handful
of
other
groups.
I
may
have
had
more
difficulty
had
the
cave
been
packed
with
a
lot
more
people.
They
do
limit
the
number
of
participants
to
125
total
each
day,
but
the
idea
of
having
to
wait
my
turn
for
long
periods
of
time
may
have
induced
some
anxiety-I
like
to
have
a
means
to
"escape"
quickly
in
order
to
feel
most
comfortable.
I
do
get
cold
fairly
easily,
and
wore
a
long
sleeved
rash
guard
and
yoga
tights,
and
did
feel
a
little
chilly
at
times.
I
had
on
running
shoes,
which
were
perfectly
fine,
you
do
not
need
to
buy
special
shoes
for
this
adventure.
It
is
super
fun,
and
definitely
worthy
of
pushing
personal
boundaries!
