April 2025
Just before I started my new job we hopped down to Mexico very briefly with friends and got some beach time and Cenote diving in!
If you aren’t familiar, a cenote is a pit that was formed over many thousands of years that filled with water and resulted in networks of caverns. If you want to read more about the Cenotes particular to the Yucatan peninsula where we were, check out this link! Some are primarily fresh water while others have a combination of both salt and freshwater. This can cause a halocline where the two salinities meet up. This was my first time experiencing a halocline!
We chose to dive with The Cenote Guy since we were unfamiliar with the need-to-knows of this type of diving. Up until this point, my partner and I have lots of experience with a variety of open water diving in day and nighttime settings but knew that once networked tunnels and changes in salinity were involved, we needed someone with experience. Our guide Alexi was truly a subject matter expert and one of the best dive masters we have ever had. He helped us appreciate the still, ethereal nature of diving cenotes through his attitude alone before we even got into the water.
We typically bring all of our own dive gear out of comfort and familiarity but chose to bring only BCDs and masks this time around since we were doing limited dives and in a very short time span. I did bring my own wetsuit as well as I am a petite person and struggle to find things that fit me well. Everything else that we rented from The Cenote Guy was high quality and well fitted. I also get cold very easily when diving, even in tropical water dives, so my strong suggestion to anyone who also gets cold is to plan for a thicker wetsuit when diving cenotes for the first time. The lack of sunlight and enclosed cavernous environment makes for a significantly chillier experience. I did not warm up from moving, because the pace was even slower than other diving we have done. The slower pace is not optional in a lot of areas due to navigating tunnels, and formations in the dark. Obviously, excellent buoyancy control is necessary for cenote and cavern diving so keep this in mind if you are thinking about this type of diving.
Photo utilized from The Pit Cenote – Cenote Tours Cave Diving Mexico
This leads me to the overall spooky experience of the dives! Descending from a partially lighted sinkhole feature into darkness where stalagmites and stalactites seem to suddenly swallow you up was a new and wild feeling. It has been several years since a dive has involuntarily caused my heart rate to rise and forced me to take stock of my mental calm. Self-preservation instincts rattled me for a bit on our first dive as I took in the reality of being surrounded under water. I remember thinking over and over “You cannot go up. Even if you wanted to, you cannot go up, there is no fast easy way out of this.” I am not usually a claustrophobic or easily panicked person, so this was surprising. After some efforts to carefully regulate my breathing, focusing on how incredible it was, and reminding myself of my competency this subsided. I was able to relax into the experience. Thank goodness! If I was unable to get a grip on that feeling I would have asked to call the dive or decline to go on the next dive for safety. There is no shame in deciding a dive isn’t for you! I think diving cenotes can be a very hit or miss experience for people now that I have done it.
Once I was absorbing the experience without the stress I was enthralled with the spooky dark tunnels that seemed to lead to the abyss, the massive formations and how deceptive the depths were. At times it felt as though we were in shallow water because the tunnel ground was close to our bodies, but my dive computer said otherwise. It was cool and eerie to not have a current as you are moseying through, and almost no marine life. Diving already feels like experiencing a different world for me, this took that feeling to another level.
Our first dive was in Batcave (Dos Ojos), which we were pleased to find was aptly named. After descending the first sinkhole and then navigating tunnels for a while, we ascended into water with streaks of turquoise light and eventually surfaced. Upon surfacing we found ourselves in a dome with a small opening that provided light and little bats everywhere overhead. Alexi encouraged taking the time to appreciate the tranquility, allowing silence and watching the bats. This was one of my favorite parts of these dives and I was so excited to get to watch the bats zip around and hang in their groups upside down in the cave.
My other favorite part of this diving experience was on our second dive in El Pit where I experienced a halocline for the first time. It was highly disorienting. I loved every moment of it because I had Alexi right in front of me and kept laughing through my regulator. It felt incredibly odd. As we descended in depth a distinct layer of what looked like haze or clouds rose below us. As we moved into it, it looked like being surrounded by white oil that blurs your vision. I could not see or gage anything besides the halocline at that point. As we finally moved below it, we looked up and could see the same layer above and could detect the difference in salinity and adjusted our BCDs. I can understand why the Cenotes were associated with windows to the underworld! Also, on this dive Alexi showed us a small cave where pottery still lies, attributed to ancient Mayan civilization.
After diving we were exhilarated but physically pretty wiped out, so it was a perfect evening to get food and spend time on the beach. I thought about the dives throughout the rest of the trip. My partner and I sporadically looked at each other and would express how interesting that was and how grateful we were for a new experience. I even dreamt of being in the cenotes again on the first night! If you have ever thought about diving cenotes and have yet to actually make it happen, let this be your sign to go for it!
Stay tuned for my next post about this trip which includes reef safe product recommendations and go-pro footage of our dives!
