Cancun Vacation and Information Center

If you are planning a trip to places on or near the Yucatan Peninsula, like Riviera Maya, Cancun, Cozumel, Playa Del Carmen, or Isla Mujeres, make sure you visit the rare natural marvels that locals call “cenotes.” Cenotes are openings on the Earth’s surface where underground waters are accessible. These sinkholes with exposed rock borders proliferate in the region. It is rare to find these remarkable natural attractions anywhere else on the planet. The Yucatan Peninsula is home to vast network of subterranean rivers and flooded caverns. Occasionally, these subterranean waterways reach the surface where they can provide a mysterious and wondrous freshwater oasis in the middle of the jungle wilderness. Some of these cenotes appear as languid pools on the surface. Other cenotes require visitors to enter a cave in order to access the water. Some cenotes, because of their proximity to the sea, have stratified layers of freshwater and saltwater. In such cenotes, the layers of water remain stratified because of the density of the saltwater. Scuba divers can visually witness the change from freshwater to saltwater as they cross the amazing halocline layer which creates an astounding visual refraction that needs to be seen firsthand to be believed. On this website, you will find cenote and cave diving tours that you can reserve for your Mexican vacation. Scuba divers travelling to this region not only have the chance to explore the wondrous habitats of the Meso-American reef system in the Caribbean Sea, but also the good fortune to discover the rare and mysterious subterranean world of the Yucatan’s cenotes. Cenotes are not only for scuba divers. We also offer swimming and snorkeling tours of both underground rivers and placid surface pools. In the cavern-type cenotes, visitors can witness breathtaking limestone formations, including stalactites and stalagmites.

Cenotes were once important locations for ancient indigenous residents of the Yucatan like the Toltec and Mayan peoples. Some of the most famous cenote locales are located near archaeological sites like the Sacred Cenote of Chichen Itza and Dos Ojos at Tulum.