This attraction sold me on Belize. Fortunately, we were able to participate in a tour. Excessive rain in the mountains caused a rapid rise in waters while we were in the cave. River levels are monitored daily and no tours are allowed unless the ok is given. The following few days all river tours in the area were closed. And for good reason. The waters rose fast and while all groups in the ATM cave (there are many tour companies) got out safely, a guide on a river tubing tour died due to getting caught in the flooding. That being said, all the guides from all the tour companies worked together to get everyone out safely. We walked out a very different route from the cave as compared to how we got in. All this to say, don’t be mad if they cancel. It’s for a valid reason. The whole country mourned their loss.

DISCLAIMER: No phones or camera’s are allowed in the ATM cave. All pictures displayed are from our tour company, MayaWalk Tours, whom we highly recommend.

A bus ride from San Ignacio is provided and took about an hour. The tour starts with a walk to the cave. Ideally there are three river crossings. Above shows the first crossing, which is the deepest, but has a rope across to hold if you are uncomfortable. Going in it was no problem. The other two crossings were mild. One was only just above ankle deep.

There’s a lovely pool of water you swim across to enter the cave. On our tour, life jackets were required. A fact I was extremely thankful for later on. It’s a short swim and as someone who can barely keep her head above water on a normal day, even I had no trouble, lifejacket or not. Inside it is cold. You will get cold. As you wade further into the cave you’ll at times slip through short narrow areas. It’s all part of the fun! The cave itself is beautiful with all it’s stalactites and stalagmites on display. It’s breath taking.

Eventually the path leaves the water and you’ll climb up a path leading through old sacrificial areas. Initially there’s pottery from sacrifices and eventually there are the remains of human sacrifices deep within. It’s a sight to behold. The tours are very informative and keep your interest along the way.

Returning to the mouth of the cave we soon realized there was a problem. That shallow ankle deep trickle of a river was now a raging torrent of water. A guide who tried to cross got swept downstream. He was fine, luckily. However, the river was not to be crossed.

Plan B, it turns out, is a jungle walk on an overgrown, seemingly rarely used, emergency trail. The guides hacked our way through. Remember that rain? It made the ground insanely slick and footing questionable as we all passed through. I’d say there were about 50 of us in total. At certain points guides helped push people up slick hillsides to prevent them from sliding into the river. I saw a snake skin and when I asked what type of snake a guide just shook his head. Still not sure what that meant.

This route bypassed two river crossings and got us back to that first crossing. The one with the rope. Here the river was wide, drastically higher than before with a rapid flow downstream. Not ideal for crossing.

There were three options to cross. Option one, canoe’s paddled by local guides. These guides crossed to us with life jackets for those who did not have one. All the children were paddled safely across first. You could see the poor paddlers starting to struggle as they fatigued. One canoe tipped over and caused quite a panic. They were all safely delivered to the other side but the girl who briefly wound up under the canoe seemed pretty traumatized. Option two was to go upriver and swim like crazy to cross. Only strong swimmers allowed. Not me. Option three included grabbing the rope and crossing hand over hand style two at a time. With the warning to hold tight. No problem there, being swept down stream was not on my agenda.

Once safely to the other side we were all shepherded to the parking lot where a very late and very tasty lunch awaited us. Here we could change into dry clothes (all belongings are left locked on the busses) and, if needed, calm down.

I will once again give a shout out to all the guides working together and maintaining a general calm. It must have been stressful. They were truly wonderful, all the guides, from all the various companies. I certainly don’t want to scare anyone off on this tour. The ATM cave was my absolute favorite thing we did in Belize, despite the unanticipated extra excitement. If given the opportunity, I would jump to do it again.