4Globetrotters

By LineogJesper on March 13, 2016

After our half day at home in Tulum we all needed to get out of the house again (yes, we know we sound a bit hyperactive, but the boys were practically killing each other). We wanted to try snorkeling and swimming in the famous cenotes of Mexico. A cenote is a natural sinkhole from the collapse of bedrock, exposing groundwater. They can be out in the open or inside a cave. Jesper had done a lot of research the previous day trying to find the best (and least crowded) cenotes to go swimming and snorkeling. It is just a totally different experience to explore nature when you are not constantly bumping into other people.

We found the best option for us was to drive 1 hour to Coba, where we could visit 3 cenotes in one day: Choo-Ha, Tamcach-Ha and Multum-Ha, which are all covered cenotes.

Visiting the cenotes was a great experience. It is hard for us to judge which of the three we enjoyed the most since they were quite different and all had their own charm.

Choo-Ha – best for snorkeling

We arrived around 10.15 and did Choo-Ha first. We had it all to ourselves for over an hour and only just before we were going to leave did 4 other people arrive. This cenote features the most beautiful Stalagmites and Stalactites of the three cenotes and you can snorkel down a narrow path from the one entry area to the other. Water is crystal clear and it almost feels like endless visibility.

Tamcach-Ha – best for jumping

We did this one second as it is just 200 meters from Choo-Ha. It was kind of crowded with at least 10-15 people, but not so much that you felt uncomfortable. This cenote is a bit smaller but with a very high ceiling. There are two platforms (one roughly 3-4 meters high and the other about 6-7 meters up.), and you can jump from the small rock in the middle and a wall you can climb to the left. If not for these possibilities it would just be an average cenote with very deep and clear water. But jumping from the various places made this a great experience and fun nature experience. Jesper did two jumps from the highest platform but due to the limited lights and wrong settings on the camera the pictures were not great. Jumping from a high place is one thing but doing it inside a cenote looking down on the clearest water you have ever seen and where you can make out every single detail on the bottom is just a fantastic experience.

The ghost-like figure flying in the air is Jesper jumping, wrong camera setting…

Noah jumped from the wall and the rock in the middle and had lots of fun.

Vitus was freezing so Line went up with him and took both the GoPro and our normal camera with them. That was a shame since as Noah and Jesper were heading out Noah wanted to take a quick glance at the 3-4 meter high jumping platform. Jesper’s response was “will it not be cool when you are bigger and can do jumps like that?” – Noah’s response was “or I could just do it now if you go down and look”. He stood there on the platform for at least 4 minutes trying to convince himself it was a good idea. When he finally made the jump he had the attention of everyone in the cenote and when he got up everyone was clapping, whistling and yelling. Noah was about as proud of himself as you can possibly get and enjoyed his 5 minutes of fame.

Multum-Ha – the largest and deepest – best for free diving

The winding staircase down to Multum-Ha is very long, but not as scary (according to Line) as the one at Tamcach-Ha, since its sides are closed. When we got down there two other families were there, but they soon left and were alone in this huge cathedral-like cave cenote. The water there is very deep, from 6 metres to 17,6 metres but again crystal clear. The cave doesn’t have platforms to jump from, but Noah jumped from the railing and Line jumped off the boardwalk (about 40 centimeters from the water) – the first time she has jumped into water since she was a child. Jesper practiced his deep diving and he and Line took turns snorkeling around this large cenote. Noah jumped and practiced swimming and Vitus just swam around in his puddlejumper (the most ingenious thing we ever bought, by the way).

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