Glass-clear water
Clear to the bottom.
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One of Mexico's best-known cenotes; a cenote is a natural sinkhole that forms when the roof of a limestone cave collapses, exposing the groundwater below. Gran Cenote is part of an underwater cave network among the longest in the world. You go down a wooden stairway to a round basin open to the sky, its water so glass-clear the bottom looks close though it is far. From the basin you snorkel under a rock arch into other parts of the cave, seeing stalactites and stalagmites underwater and light falling in beams between the rocks. Small turtles swim calmly among the visitors, with little fish, and bats flit in the shaded parts of the cave. Certified divers enter the deeper passages with guides. Showering before you go in is compulsory and sunscreen is banned to protect the water. Life vests are compulsory for weaker swimmers. Arrive at opening, as it gets busy from mid-morning and the number of swimmers is limited.
Clear to the bottom.
Swimming among visitors.
Stalactites and light beams.
Tulum-Coba road, about 5 km from Tulum town
A natural sinkhole formed when a limestone cave roof collapses and exposes the groundwater. The Yucatán Peninsula has thousands of them, and the Maya held them sacred.