Grand Cenote

Tulum is surrounded by many cenotes. Today I woke up very early to go to Grand Cenote, consideredv one of the most beautiful in this area (and only 5 km from my hostel). I arrived there quite early in the morning, the perfect moment to enjoy this little piece of paradise completely alone. This is the first cenote of this kind I visited. I walked down the stairs and in front of me I could see one of the entrance of the cave. The other one was right behind me. As soon as you see this, you are completely amazed. Again, the water colour was simply amazing. Ray lights penetrate into the water creating a particular colour pattern. But the most spectacular view was from inside the cave, and here I'm sorry but I haven't pictures and I will try my best to describe what I saw. Once you enter into the water, equipped with a snorkel, you can swim inside the cave, between stalactites and stalagmites. These were formed when the cave was dry. Now these formations are preserved by the water, but they can't grow up anymore. Once you get more inside the cave, your eyes get used to darkness and you can observe more details, like the rock formations, the different fishes and turtles that swim in these waters, birds and bats. Then you turn to the entrance, you put your head underwater and you are in a completely different world, much more luminous than what you expect. You can clearly see the sun rays entering into the water and illuminating everything down there. This was one of those days I really wanted an underwater camera. Words aren't enough to describe this beauty. And all of this was only for me! People started arriving one hour later, ruining a little bit the atmosphere. 3 groups came today to dive in the cave. I swam a little bit with them, looking at them entering deeper into the water, and then disappearing from my sight. I had a sense of claustrophobia, but at the same time I was attracted by the idea of diving in a cenote. So who knows.... Maybe in the next days I could do it too....

Believe or not, this water has a terrible taste, I just hope I didn't get anything today, to add to my stomachache, eye infection, cough and catarrh that are debilitating me in the last week...

Just to have an idea about what the cenote looks like from the inside , click on this link :

http://mexicobyimages.com/images/todo/gran-cenote-sac-aktun/big/4.jpg