Cave tour by canoe

From Iain: On Monday we went on a tour to Barton Creek Cave, traveling about a kilometre and a half underground by canoe.  Sierra was a little nervous about going in a cave, but was reassured by the fact that we were traveling by canoe (rather than by foot or swimming or by inner-tube as in some of the other nearby caves).  Our guide, John, was also really good and deliberately toned down his descriptions of Mayan sacrificial rites in the caves so as not to overly alarm Sierra.  She ended up being so brave that once we'd gone as far as we could by canoe, we all jumped out of our canoes and into the water to do a little exploring by foot:

Tanya, Iain, Sierra, and Bethany in Barton Creek Cave

Apparently, Bethany and I came very close to putting our hands on a giant centipede while climbing up out of the water onto a part of the cave that wasn't submerged.  Although both Tanya and John saw the centipede they decided to keep quiet to avoid unnecessarily alarming us (and spooking Sierra who was just about to follow us).  We then all went for a brief swim (the water was a tad chilly so far underground) before heading back in the canoes.