Cancún

We had selected entirely different set of Cenotes to choose from but then we spoke to Lydia, the owner of the in house restaurant at Xscapetulum hotel where we we're staying and she suggested some other places and Cenotes as well which she thought weren't very touristy and that she preferred. She suggested Kaanloom lagoon, Caleta Tankah, Casa tortugas. Well, the general rule is to go by what a little call tells you and that we did. We decided to go to Caleta Tankah and Casa tortugas that day.

We left from hotel at around 10.15 AM. Reached Caleta Tankah in around half an hour after filling gas. Caleta Tankah is actually a beach club on the side of a beach and has two Cenotes it's premises. One Cenote is connected to the sea now as probably it used to be right at the edge and the partitioning wall would have collapsed in due course of time. The water is Crystal clear and you get to see beautiful beautiful marine life right on what seems like an extension of the beach but actually is a the Cenote. It is not deeper than 4-5 feet at any point and on the right side , it's Rocky. The Rocky side has many more fishes and even bigger ones and if you swim through to that side, the kind of cave from where the fresh water of Cenote comes can also be seen. I don't can't swim so I never venture into deep waters for snorkeling and have to be content with whatever I am able to see at 4-5 feet depth of water, Here was my best snorkeling experience ever till date.

We then went to Casa Tortuga which is not very far from Caleta Tankah. The entry fee is 400 pesos paying which we get to see and swim through 3 Cenotes and would be accompanied by a guide as well who would explain about the Cenotes. We went inside, changed clothes. We were collected into a group of 7-8 people and joined by Leo, our guide who took us to the Cenotes one by one.

The 3 cenotes have their own names - Wisho, Caracol and Tres Zapotes.

Wisho is completely inside a cave, and is at a level deeper than the ground level as compared to the other two. We went like 40 steps down , removed our footwear and people just plunged and seam through into darkness. I , on the other hand, who can't swim, was obliged by Leo. He just asked me to hold on to a life jacket and float. He held the other end of life jacket, swam and dragged me along. The water was cold and it was funny to do it but nevertheless, I got to see the wonderful Cenotes, so I shoved the embarrassment into an unreachable corner of my mind and just enjoyed looking at the marvelous stalactites on the roof of the cave. It was pitch dark inside, so leo had a flash light with him and he showed us how deep the water was, a bat family which had made the cave their home, the bat poop called guan and the pointy stalactites on the roof.

The second Cenote, Caracol, has some part exposed and majority of it is inside a limestone cave. The entry and exit gates of sorts are next to each other. We entered through one swam inside looked around, took a U- turn at one point and exited to the same point through another gate. Caracol Cenote, I felt, had lower cave roof or one can say , the lever of water is higher in this one so you gotta sort of duck at different places where stalactites are poking down.

The third Cenote we went to, Tres Zapotes is the biggest one and is completely open to swim in. It resembles a deep canal one can say and while swimming on the left hand side you can see the big rock under which are the caves which would have an extension of the Cenote but they are completely full of water so you can't swim there.Read more