Cenote crawling

The Yucatan Peninsula is peppered with little dots of paradise, the cenotes. Jumping into their cool waters after a hot day of exploring became a favourite activity of ours.

I'm still amazed by how unique each cenote is.

Each has its own character: cavern style, crater style, surrounded by mangroves, some as deep and dark as 45 metres, others as shallow and crystalline as 4 metres...

On our last day of exploring before the wedding, Kris and I visited two of them: Dos Ojos ("two eyes") and Casa Cenote.

Kris wanted to scuba dive in the cenote, and Dos Ojos is safe for beginners; I was too claustrophic and decided to wait for him, splashing about and snorkelling in the water instead instead.

We arrived early in the morning, and appeared to have beat the crowds; besides a few divers, the place was still and awaking to the chime of birdsong and swaying trees. The Mr was positively glowing with excitement!

Dos Ojos is a cavern system that connects two cenotes together - three actually, as an underground "bat cave" was discovered after the place was already dubbed Dos Ojos. The two eyes of the cenote are the clearest water I've ever seen, dancing blue and turquoise.

Kris confidently slipped into his gear and, following his dive instructor, was soon lost from sight in the blue waters of the first "eye".

I headed to the second one; it was larger, curved around rock formations and was more interesting to snorkel in.

I was distracted by the sight of beautiful, colourful birds flitting in the dappled sunlight in front of the cenote: motmots with gorgeous plumage, swirling and swooping, occasionally arcing into the ceiling of the cenote to their nests.

The sun was blazing by now, and humidity was peaking, so it was clearly time to jump into the cenote.

I hadn't anticipated that the water would be freezing.

Both the cold and the beauty of the clear, fresh water knocked the breath out of me. Snorkelling around, I could feel my nervousness about fresh water receding. The world above water looked completely different from the silent world under...

Kris witnessed an even more strange and fantastical world during his dive:

My gorgeous, brave explorer! As for myself, while he was out witnessing the strange world of stalagmites and stalagtites by torchlight, having completed a circuit around the cavern, I noticed that some hammocks in the lounging area were free...

There was no need to convince me.

Lulled by the warming sun, the frondescence and birdsong, I settled into a snooze.

Soon to be interrupted by the cavalry...Who convinced me to take another dip in the freezing water.

Look at him go!

We left Dos Ojos completely amazed and Kris can certainly vouch for cenote diving as a must-do activity.

But our cenote adventures were not yet over.

I'd heard about another cenote where salt water intruded: Casa Cenote. We made a pit stop there.

Again, the water was stunning, blue and clear and very cool.

The sun's light filtered through the water, rippling and dancing, whilst mangrove roots and darting fish added to the surreal sight.

I cannot describe how surreal the underwater world was, especially in the mangrove clearings. The cenote goes a little way in, and as people tend to aggregate by the entrance, we had the luxury of exploring it in complete peace.