Cancun Birthday Trip#3: Xplore: Underground Caves

Tom and Rob ready to "Xplore"

Part three of our adventures in Cancun included spending a day in a natural recreational park called Xplor.
  This adventure included THREE things that Tom has always wanted to do, and THREE FEARS of Rob's that he had to overcome. You'll find out what they are in a minute.

      XPLOR has underground caves where you can take a paddleboat  and another cave where you can swim through them. We took the zipline run that included 7 zip lines with a waterslide in the middle, and the last zip line ends into a lake that goes into a cave opening. There's also an amphibious vehicle route through the jungle and tight caves, and an underground river surrounded by stalactites and stalagmites; where we took a raft ride paddling with our hands while wondering at the rock formation process created by nature millions of years ago. Website: http://www.xplor.travel/ - and a meal is included! 
  The caves date back to the age of the dinosaurs and there were some dinosaur skeletons set up in a couple of the caves (one was a duck-billed dinosaur and another a pterodactyl).

The duck-billed dinosaur skeleton in one of the caves

TOM'S WANTS, ROB'S FEARS:We covered them all in one day at the park.
Tom's wants: 1) zip lining 2) water slide 3) exploring caves
 Rob's fears: 1) heights 2) open stairs (that led up to the zip line towers) 3) having my head go underwater (which happened TWICE-on the water slide and at the end of the zip line in the cave pool.

Stalactites and stalagmites

Entrance to Xplore

WHAT IS A STALACTITE? - A stalactite  means "to drip" and is a type of formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or manmade structures such as bridges and mines. Basically water runs through limestone, a porous rock (or lava, ice or concrete) and the minerals drip, harden and form into a pointed structure.
WHAT IS A STALAGMITE? - A type of rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings.

end of the zip line trail... in a watery cave!

Although we did the zip lining adventure first, I'll share that tomorrow, because we got a supernatural sign from our late dog Sprite at a good time for Rob.

UNDERGROUND PADDLING - The second adventure of the day included getting on a plastic raft with hand paddles and paddling through 2 miles of twisting, turning caves filled with stalactites and stalagmites.
  The paddling was shoulder intensive and a good workout. Fortunately, we had experience paddling from our vacation in Puerto Rico when we did the kayak thing and we were pretty coordinated (much more than several others, thankfully).

couple rafting in the caves

Our helmet numbers

  The routes were pretty well-lit and we opted for the longest way. It was really enjoyable, although if anyone has claustrophobia they would certainly not have a good time doing it. We, however, found it peaceful and relaxing.


NEXT: AMPHIBIOUS VEHICLES AND KARMA IN ACTION!