Cenote Diving – Enjoy Cavern Diving in the Amazing Cenotes

Dos Ojos Cenotes offers among the best cavern dives in the world. Dos Ojos in Spanish means “two eyes” and was named after the two cenotes right next to each other, looking like two large eyes. Both cenotes are connected by a huge cavern where you can observe massive columns. The cave diving exploration of the Dos Ojos system originally started there. Dos Ojos underwater cave is so amazing that it has been featured in big productions:

• IMAX movie “Journey into Amazing Caves” in 2002
• BBC/Discovery Channel series “Planet Earth” in 2006
• Parts of “The Cave” movie was filmed there in 2005

Starting from Dos Ojos, you can do two cavern dives. Both start and finish at the same place but are completely different.  

Barbie Line

It is a circuit of 500 meters (1,600 feet) long. You will reach the second eye through the cavern and dive under the ceiling along its surface, showing daylight and the nearby surface. This highly decorated place with massive brownish formations will allow you to swim between huge columns and stalactites.

Bat Cave

It feels almost like cave diving. The dive is darker as it mostly goes around an air dome, the bat cave, with very little daylight penetration. This dive is also highly decorated with much thinner, more subtle, and fragile speleothems.  

Discover Dos Ojos Park

Closed for diving at the moment :'( But… we love this place so much that we recommend you take a snorkel tour there, it is worth it!!

Also known as Cenote Tank Ha, Something different! A simple dive full of surprises. It is an open cenote surrounded by mangroves.

Casa Cenote connects one of the longest underwater Cave Systems in the world with the ocean. Located a few kilometers north of Tulum, while diving into the cavern in Casa Cenote, you will truly get the feeling of diving underneath the jungle.

The Cenote is shaped like a horseshoe in the middle of the mangrove. The dive follows one side under the roots to protect from the current. Yes, there can be current there! Navigate through passages and fissures in the limestone and then return through the beautiful tunnels under the mangrove.

Due to the connection with the ocean, you will dive in brackish water and meet fresh and saltwater fish. If you are on a lucky day, be patient and open your eyes for cormorants fishing. There is nothing like seeing a bird underwater in the middle of a mangrove.

This cenote is perfect for novice divers and will allow you to see more life than other cenotes. It also has a very nice halocline and beautiful light effects. The maximum depth is 8m/30 feet.

More advanced divers will appreciate the variety and contrast of this unique cenote.

Although its nickname – Cenote Temple of Doom – sounds threatening, it’s just referring to the three holes in the top of the cenote that create the image of a skull.   At just over 15m/50 feet, it’s relatively shallow, and the ambiance is outstanding and full of surprises.  You enter with a 3m/10 ft high giant step. You will come across a stunning halocline with bluish saltwater that highly contrasts with the slightly tannic fresh water. The shallow part is highly decorated with fascinating layers of speleothems.

This site is very popular with swimmers, snorkelers, and divers. This large cenote features beautiful lily plants and hosts many turtles. Caver divers will visit the large cavern, which is very shallow and highly decorated with white speleothems that look like melted candles, for certified cavern divers only. Please get in touch with us for your cavern diver training.

This cenote has the best of everything! The open water area is like an aquarium, and the cavern area is spectacular.

Cenote Carwash is located on Coba Road, 15 minutes from Tulum. The Cenote is just a few meters from the road and has effortless access. For that reason, taxi drivers used to wash their cars there. Carwash presents a large and shallow open water pool with two entrances (upstream and downstream) to the cave system. The Cavern general takes place on the upstream side, which is way bigger and more decorated. Carwash now has a permanent Cavern Line, but a few years ago, your guide had to install one using a primary reel, a mandatory skill that any trained cavern and cave divers should master.

During the summer months, an alga blooms at the surface of the cenote. It can be a few meters thick and considerably reduces the visibility. That layer can be quite warm and filter the sunlight, but once you pass below it, the water is crystal clear and feels much cooler. Below the algae layer, the light takes a surprising and amazing greenish color.

You will always enjoy the cavern’s atmosphere during your cavern dive. The dead trees at the entrance create a beautiful forest that gives photographers a great subject and composition.

At the furthest point of the cavern, where a clear sign points out the beginning of the cave, you will observe many brownish cave formations.

Open water is also of great interest. The basin has many beautiful, fragile, and colorful water lilies. You will see many turtles, and don’t forget to look around for the crocodile as you return to the open water. Carwash is also a popular training site for full cave diving training.

Angelita means “little angel” in Spanish. It is an atypical Cenote dive in Tulum and a once-in-a-lifetime underwater experience. Situated 17 km south of Tulum.

After a 5-minute walk through the jungle, you reach this circular-shaped Cenote that goes straight down to more than 60m/200ft.

After descending the clear freshwater, you will reach the mystical hydrogen sulfate layer at around 30m/90 ft.  It resembles a huge cloud surrounding an island with dead trunks and branches.

Those of you who feel comfortable will cross the cloud. The cloud is like a heavy fog with low visibility and is a bit smelly. Then, once you are below the cloud, the visibility is perfect again, but it is completely dark, giving the feeling of being in a forest at night. After a few minutes, we go back up and start ascending in circles along the walls.

There are few stalactites, but the few are huge and are here to remind us of those times when the water level was much lower. Angelita is a dive for the experienced diver because of its depth.

It is also a great training site for Technical Diving.

Deep Dark Diving loves taking their Deco Procedures, Extended Range, and Trimix students at depth on the graduation dive after completing the course. The conditions are perfect for safely enjoying a Deep Dive. Plan a multilevel dive with a maximum depth of 45m/135ft or 55-60 m/165- 180 ft, stay some time at depth, below the cloud, ascend to 28-30m/90-100 ft, right above the could stay some time and execute the decompression plan. It is a unique experience for any technical diver.

Check our blog post by our friend and colleague Peio from No Limit Mexico to learn about cenote Maravilla.