Cenote Minotauro: A tenebrous cave system
While cave diving in Cenote Minotauro, you will have the opportunity to visit several Cenotes Estrella, Escalera, Piedra, and Winz. This cave system is almost 8 800m/30 000 ft.
Cenote Minotauro is an easy place to reach. It is located just a 10-minute drive from Puerto Aventuras, Quintana Roo. Drive down Highway 307, and around X Pu Ha, you will find your way to the dirt road leading to the Cenote. You soon arrive in a parking lot with tables at the right height! And new bathrooms.
Opening hours: 7:00 am to 5:00 pm from Sunday to Monday
Entrance fee: 300 Pesos.
The parking area is very close to the stairs that take you to the Cenote. Then you can walk into the water. It makes entering and exiting very easy for backmount divers. And for Side Mount divers, there is plenty of room to get ready. And everybody can comfortably do their predive safety check.
Divers will meet occasional swimmers enjoying refreshingly swim in these beautiful crystal-clear waters. The open water area is great for S-drill and performing all underwater checks.
Minotauro is a dark cave In the freshwater side, with a halocline that gives way to a bright white cave when you encounter seawater. It has many jumps and routes you can follow, fully decorated or not, with restrictions and exits to the other cenotes.
The upstream section of the cave is mostly accessible to all dive configurations, including CCR. The guideline starts in the open water, so there is no need to install a primary reel, and it can easily be spotted thanks to the big fat red arrow.
The halocline starts at 12 meters, and you can start floating at the top of the river and enjoy playing with the lighting and different colors. The saltwater is a little warmer and feels very nice. Swimming between waters feels like being between two worlds on the same planet.
The maximum depth is 15 meters, and the average depth is about 9 meters.
The guideline of the downstream section of the cave starts further into the cave and requires the use of the primary reel. In most caves, the downstream section is much smaller and siltier and should be visited in Side mount only to avoid major damage in the low ceiling sections.
You must be careful not to touch any part of the cave because of its delicate cave formations. In Minotauro, the east side is shallower, so there is no halocline here. That means that passages are decorated with dark brown speleothems, stalactites, stalagmites, columns, flowstones… It’s a very technical and fun way.
The maximum depth is 6 meters, and the average depth is about 4 meters.
In this cave, the flow is quite complex and not limited to the downstream and upstream sections. There is also a section of the cave called “El Oriente.” To be precise…
There are many amazing routes diveable in a back mount configuration. However, diving in side mount is nice as the configuration gives access to many more passages. This system goes up and down, reaches the halocline, remains fairly shallow, and is a great place for long dives. In Side Mount configuration, it is much more enjoyable, probably more precise, and easier to avoid damage to the cave.
A great map of Minotauro by Alessandro Reato gives all the sense of following Ariadne’s line, as this place is really a labyrinth. The system and dive circuits can seem confusing as you start to know the cave system, but it is all gorgeous. Ask us for a map of Cenote Minotauro.
Enjoy your dives and make sure you are trained to that level. Do not hesitate to contact us for some cave training or cave diving out of the beaten path.
