Where the Jungle meets the Sea

Growing up in a village in Mauritius, the world seemed like a big, magical place - and sometimes inaccessible, except in my dreams. I would daydream about adventures in the steamy rainforests of the Americas and the sparkling blues of the Pacific or the Caribbean.

Never would I have imagined that I would be served many such adventures - that they would come to me. Being invited to the World Ocean Summit in the Riviera Maya was a chance to go back to Mexico.

The Yucatan is a dream come true as it brings the humid, lush green jungle to the shores of the ocean, glinting in every shade of blue. The cenotes, sinkholes of the clearest water imaginable, and the Mayan ruins, some still boasting frescoes of fierce and loving gods, punctuate the Mayan jungle, lending an otherworldly feel to the place.

And the food.

Goodness, the food. Rich, creamy avocados, lime, beans, cactus, tamarind and fruits and horchata meet to give you a culinary experience that's as diverse as it is intense.

But if I have to go back to the Yucatan, it would be for the cenotes. I've never experienced anything like it before. They come in different forms, depths and sizes. Cave cenotes with huge rock formations covering the water; cylindrical sinkholes with birds nesting on the cliffs of the rocks; open-air cenotes surrounded by trees (my favourite!) ranging from depths of 6 to 40+ metres. They're all magical and there are more than 6000 of them in the Yucatan - and only 2500 have been 'discovered'. Some are of course, more popular than others - but I was dismayed to see how packed they were with people.

In any case, I may just have found my favourite cenote so far. It's called... Carwash cenote.

Yup. People used to wash their cars there (but it's actually part of a complex system of connected underground cenotes and pockets. There may even have been chambers where 'ancestors' would light fires.)

We first started by going to Cenote Zacil-Ha which is about 15 minutes from Tulum, and which looks like your very own natural clear blue water private pool.

Don't be fooled by the clarity of the water and size of the cenote - it is actually part of a system which connects to nearby cenotes like Carwash and has a cave chamber which can go to 35 metres deep. I freaked out when I put my head under water and saw the deep, opaque blue - especially as I'm not as comfortable in fresh water as I am in seawater!

^ The picture of elegance...

The water was freezing, exhilarating. My friend Chidiogo taught me to freedive, which unlocked a whole new way of playing in the water.

​​After a while, we decided to try Carwash - less than 5 mins walk away. It was like a bubble of tropical paradise. Fish swimming in limpid, sapphire water surrounded by all manner of trees and bushes and birds and plants.

A platform where you can sit and dip your feet.

Working up the courage to go in...

The water was cold. But once you're in, you can put your head down and look at how the light filters through the glass-like surface and the aquatic garden. The effect is quite trippy.

If you're lucky, you can spot turtles and a baby croc that are rumoured to live in that 'hood. I wasn't quite so lucky, but I was intensely grateful for the moments of stillness, just floating and dipping into the water and looking at the way the light rippled through the underwater plants.