Cenotes Maya
Do you know what a cenote is? We'll tell you!
A cenote is a giant pool of water underground. This water, filtered from rivers and streams, is sweet and full of life.
Diving in a cenote is a unique experience, especially if you go with experts who guide you through the best underwater spots.
Life under the water of a cenote is completely different from our beautiful Caribbean Sea, but don't be fooled! It's full of colors, plays of light, animals and plants to discover... Are you going to miss it?
Which Cenote del Yucatán do you start with?
Do you want to know more about cenotes?
We'll tell you everything!
Cenotes were very important in Mayan culture, as they represented the doors or the path to the underworld, where gods, ancestors and powerful beings lived.
In the cenotes, rituals were celebrated to contact and speak with the gods, with offerings in exchange for feats that only they could accomplish, such as the ritual of the god Chaac, god of rain.
The word Cenote comes from the Mayan word “tz'onot” and literally means water cavern.
Currently we have three main types of Cenote: open, closed and a mix between the two.
Cenotes closed
The closed cenotes are the youngest of the three types, as they retain their roof and are considered to be in a cave.
There is no visibility in these cenotes, but in order to open them to the world and teach how to take care of them, spotlights and lights are installed with great care, to invite people to visit them and want to be part of this magnificent experience.
Open cenotes
Open cenotes are usually easy to recognize, as they are formed by a collapse of their "roof", leaving a pit, usually with round walls, filled with water and reflections of the sun, reflections very characteristic of this type of Cenote.
There are other types of open cenotes, a little more difficult to recognize, since they could pass for lagoons or small lakes, but their nature is the same as that of all the Cenotes. This second type of Cenote is usually surrounded by nature, as in the case of Cenote Manatí, giving us all a spectacle of nature in all its splendor.
Semi-open cenotes
This last type of Cenote could be described as a mixture of the two previous ones. The cave where the cenote rested has had a roof detachment, but not completely, allowing light to enter, but without uncovering it completely.