The best cenote for diving near Cancun

While in the Yucatan area in Mexico you will be overwhelmed by the choices of awesome cenotes to go scuba diving in. If you only have a limited time, this article will give you some information to pick the best cenote for diving.

The best cenote for diving

I went diving in The Pit and Dos Ojos for 130 USD. It’s an expensive diving area but the experience is worth it. There are many dive schools offering cenote trips and you will find one that suits you if you walk along the main road in Tulum. I was lucky to have found a French guy who met a French insteuctor and he took only the two of us to The Pit and Dos Ojos.

Scuba diving in The Pit

The Pit was our first dive as it is a deep dive and only open to Advanced divers. To get to the cenote you have to climb down (and then back up) a steep wodden stairway (with the heavy equipment) but we were rewarded with being the only ones in the cenote except for a group of divers that was already under the surface. It was amazing to later see them 30 m away from us in the dark blue water. The water is incredibly clear and just gets a darker shade of blue the deeper you go.

It looks nice when the sun rays enter through the water from the top. We saw interesting stalactite formations, the colors on the wall of a former waterfall and a skull and bones of a monkey.

At 30 meters depth there should be a white fog due to the salt and fresh water meeting and in the middle of it there is a tree (without leaves). It looked nice although the fog was only slightly visible on that day. But the water texture did become a bit different, as if it was mixed with oil.

As it could be kind of dark in the caverns you are obliged to have a flashlight on all the cenote dives. Sometimes, we covered the light and just enjoyed the true colors from the cenote changing from the surface to the blackness below us (The Pit is about 130 m deep).
As we surfaced again, we were met by a few bets and then ate our fresh fruit lunch in the sunshine.

Scuba Diving at Dos Ojos

This dive was even better than The Pit and should not be missed! We did the Barbie Line. It has its name due to a barbie they drowned at the turning point of the under water line. She ended up in the mouth of a plastic crocodile.
At the beginning of the dive we were with many other divers as well as the snorkellers. However, I think they all made the Bat Cave line since afterward we were completely alone on the dive. We saw lots of nice formations but the nicest thing is to see the sunlight from above. It really shows all the different shades of blue. The whole time you follow a thread below the surface. Probably better as you might lose yourself in one of thr caverns otherwise.

Dreamgate

Diving at Dreamgate would have been our third choice. It’s supposed to be stunning as well with all its formations. However, it’s a cavern dive completely in the dark. I don’t think I’d have liked it as much as Dos Ojos. The Pit and Dos Ojos could be pretty dark at times as well. Yet they were definitely the best cenotes for scuba diving for me.

Read the post about the best cenotes in Mexico here.

Where was the most special place you ever went scuba diving?