Cave Diving In The Riviera Maya

 “The World's Best Cave Diving Location”

     If there is one place in the world that offers the “perfect” ingredients for safe and enjoyable cave diving, it is the Caribbean coast of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula.  Located between the marina resort of Puerto Aventuras and the Mayan village of Tulum and further south, a gold mine of underground streams slowly draining into the sea represents the type of underwater caves that appeal the most to both the recreational cave diver and the serious cave explorer seeking new passageways alike.  The ingredients are simple:

• Very soft, porous sedimentary limestone.
• Flat topography close to the sea level.
• An abundance of shallow water drainage.
• An incredible geological history.
• Close proximity of numerous different cave systems.
• Consistent filtered crystal clear water not affected by weather conditions.
• An overall easy/moderate accessibility.

     Cave diving along the Yucatan coast was discovered during the mid 1980s.  I was fortunate enough to be part of the first explorers of the cenotes (meaning “natural well”).  My first visit was in 1982 for open water reef diving at Playa Del Carmen and my first cave diving was in May 1986 as I was part of the team – Parker Turner and Mike Madden – shooting the very first underwater cave video called “The Room of Tears”.  The exploration of the cenotes exploded as more cave systems were found, surveyed and mapped.  It is now estimated that over 2 million feet/611,621 meters - or equivalent to 380 miles - have been explored and surveyed involving hundreds of various cenotes amongst 180 plus cave systems.

      The total number of these liquid blue windows to a very shallow aquifer below is unknown and cannot be determined as a low canopy of dense tropical jungle hides these stairwells to the most awesome wonderland.  So good that most cave divers say this cave diving cannot be beat.  With very few roads or trails established, accessibility is limited and sometimes very difficult.  This insures an endless future of finding more cenotes and new cave systems to explore.  A cave diver's fantasy!

      You do not need a degree in geology to understand the formation of these natural wonders.  Moving water forms caves.  Rainwater drains from the jungle interior and meanders slowly towards to the Caribbean Sea.  The Yucatan peninsula, being very flat, represents an ancient sea atoll containing millions of years of the ocean's sediments which, through time, have formed a multi-layered block of geological history involving coral reefs, sea life remains and the particles of sand and organic debris.

      This fusion clearly shows a historical evolution of the planet's earth's life. Much of it is surprisingly similar to what you see today!  Limestone creates the perfect recipe for the formation of these solution caves.  No other known place on earth can duplicate the perfect formula for such a high concentration of underwater caves within a very flat area with very little soil and an abundant supply of water.  It is the best Swiss cheese a cave diver could ask for.

      What makes these underwater caves so special is the eternal quantity of spectacular decorations.  Nature's powerful talent is forming a panoramic garden of unforgettable beauty.  An endless variety of formations including the complete cave's spectrum of names such as stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, bacon strips, rim pools, halactites, columns, etc.  Fairly recently, in geological time, these caves were given the opportunity to become dry allowing nature's creative talent go do its work.

      The genius of nature's artistic brush reshaping the calcium carbonate of the soft limestone is amazing.  Inside the caves are delicate, intricate designs that bring forth feelings of intense wonder and awe.  With the disappearance of the last Ice Age and the return of the sea level we are familiar with today, the cave become flooded again. The water preserves and cleanses these precious galleries as if kept in a vault for safe keeping.

      The following is a list of most of the known underwater cave systems in the Riviera Maya.