Cenotes Dos Ojos

The biggest attraction to Tulum are the famous natural wonders called the Cenotes. They are underground limestone river systems that have occational openings on the surface that create perfect caves amongst dense forest. The area in the Yucatan doesn't have above-ground rivers, so these Cenotes were the indigenous peoples only source of fresh water, and thus have been important spiritual, religious and political places for thousands of years.

This is an example of a Cenote in the Yucatan Penninsula.

 They are honestly one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. We went with the company Halocline for a two dive package to Dos Ojos (Two Eyes) Cenotes, about 20 Mexican minutes north of Tulum ($185 - kak expensive). The cost was worth it. I felt like David Attenbourough had just descovered this natural phenomenon for the first time. We entered the national park, and walked about 500m to the entrance of the caves.

Entrance to the Cave at Dos Ojos.

How beautiful is that! But unless I was with a guide, there isbn;t a chance I would jump into this openeing where you cannot see what's hiding under the dark cave.

 A bit concered about how I'm going to handle being underwater inside a cave. As we aren't qualified to go Cave diving, this was a cavern dive, where a source of light is alwas visible somewhere in the cave, sothat if needed we could swim to an openeing in stead of sleeping with the fishes.

This is the view from underwater, with the sunlight highlighting the water.

 I've never experienced such fantastic visibility - it was like air! We could see as far as the light could touch. The water was fresh, cool and crystal clear. We followed our guide keeping our tourches on, along the 'Barbie line'. The sunlight penetrating through the small openings highlight the blue waters and it's breath-taking. My mind was completely calm being underwater, what an experience!

Barbie line, the name of the dive at Dos Ojos, where Barbie isn't the luckiest of ladies.

Always a teeny bit of light is visible during the dive.

We had another dive - 'Bat Cave', where we experienced a small Halocline! Awesome! (Halocline is the term referring to the layer where the dense saltwater meets the lighter fresh water, which creates a distinctive layer separating the two - like oil and water separates). It wasn't as clear as in the BBC documentaries we have seen, but there was a stage where the visiblity turned from crystal clear to oily smudge. Cool! We had a nice guy with us with an underwater camera and he was nice enough to give us the pics. If you ever go to Mexico, don't miss out on the Cenotes, they are spectacular and worth every cent!

Chrissie following our dive master in the Bat Cave.