Chikin-Ha Cenotes:
These beautiful fresh water sinkholes in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula have been on my bucket list ever since I stumbled upon them on Pinterest.
Turning that dream into a reality, we stopped off at Chikin-Ha Cenotes on our way to Tulum.
I get pretty enthusiastic about most things, but I cannot emphasise how incredibly fun it was to swim in these amazing fresh water pools.
Everything appears so calm above water level and underneath there’s thousands of fish and other wildlife milling around.
In this area of Mexico there are over 2,000 cenotes so you’ve got plenty of sites to choose from.
We visited the Chikin-Ha Cenotes on our drive from Cancun to Tulum.
The price varies and it is always OK to barter here as they will go in at their highest price and you can negotiate (there are no prices listed on any signs). We agreed on $20 entry for two of us and an unlimited amount of time in the caves.
There are three types of Cenote here. The first was an open swimming area like a large pond.
The second was a semi-open pool where the majority of the swimming area was covered by a cave overhead. This meant it was much darker underwater, but at the same time the eerie feeling was kinda cool. We could see divers deep down swimming in-between the different caves.
The third Cenote was a completely hidden pool. Unfortunately there is no access to this pool, however the caves are a beautiful site and worth exploring.
We also brought our own snorkel gear so we didn’t have to hire any equipment or rely on strict time keeping that inevitably comes with being part of a guided tour.
This turned out to be the best option as we had the cenotes to ourselves for a couple of hours. Soon after a tour group joined us in one of the tiny pools. We stuck to the quit while you’re ahead motto and decided that this, quite obviously, was our cue to move on to the next cenote.
My advice for when exploring the cenotes is:
- Don’t be too fussy with which ones you plan to visit, they’re all beautiful.
- Be prepared to barter with the price if none are listed.
- Bring your own snorkelling gear so you explore the cenotes alone and not have to rely on a guide as this restricts the amount of time you want to spend in the pools.
- Invest in an underwater camera – I use a GoPro Hero 4 and it’s absolutely perfect for my travel adventures.
- Have lots of fun – but respect the animals and wildlife that live in the pools.
Check out my Tulum video here:
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