• Cenote guide book
• Cenote Dive Center
• Abyss Dive Shop

Ground Water

Mexico might be surrounded by water, but some of the most glorious aquatic places to explore aren’t on the coasts — they’re literally underfoot.

Limestone sinkholes, called cenotes (pronounced say-NOH-tays), dot Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, forming underground rivers and partially covered caves. Cenotes is the Mayan word for “sacred waters.”

Crystal clear and often hidden out of sight, cenotes are eerily beautiful bodies of water filled with tropical fish and meandering tunnels. During Mayan times, cenotes were either sources of drinking water, spots for bathing, or areas designated for sacrificial ceremonies (let’s just hope they remembered which were designated for which purpose). They were also used by the Mayans to travel from place to place underground. Today, they’re visited by tourists and locals alike for swimming, snorkeling, or scuba diving. Sacrifices are no longer made (except, perhaps, for an occasional rogue snorkel).

Tulum, a laid-back town just over 75 miles from Cancún, is surrounded by an exquisite collection of cenotes, including the easy-to-miss cenote Calavera, which is surrounded by jungle. You’ll know you’ve found it when a tall and skinny guy named Philippe pops out of nowhere to ask you for a $3 admission fee. For the thrill you’ll get from entering in on the rope swing that hangs above the Calavera, Philippe could probably name any price.

South of Tulum is the cenote Cristal, where advanced scuba divers swim through a nearly mile-long tunnel (guide books offer maps to navigate these confusing areas). Tours of Cristal and other caves and caverns are operated by Tulum’s Cenote Dive Center, which was started nearly a decade a go by David Tomlinson and Per Dovland.

The Canadian Tomlinson and the Norwegian Dovland, who also run the Abyss Dive Shop in Playa del Carmen, met in the mid-1990s at a gas station when they both were traversing Mexico in VW vans. Neither expected to stay in the country for very long, but that changed when they fell in love with the cenotes. They’ve been operating diving tours ever since. (Tours are often chaperoned by Carlos, Tomlinson’s water-loving border collie.)

“Every customer says they’ve never done anything so cool or so unique in their lives. It’s the clearest water you’ve ever seen,” says Tomlinson.

One of his favorite dives is 26 miles west of Tulum near the ruin of Cobá, where two cavernous cenotes can be visited: Tamach and Cho Ha. Both cenotes have spiral wooden stairs that descend into humid warm chambers where artificial light illuminates millions of hanging stalactites (nicknamed “titas”) from the caves’ ceilings. The water appears a magnificent aqua blue because of the white limestone beneath.

“In my mind,” says Tomlinson, “the diving in these cenotes is the closest to space travel you can get.”

 

Posted on July 03, 2006