I had a chance to dive in two really nice cenotes yesterday. Unfortunately my GoPro battery had some problems and I couldn’t film the dives. So I’ve used stock photos and videos from the internet to give me a reminder of the experience.
Jardin of Eden
Eden is one of the most accessible and beautiful cenotes in the area. It has a huge open water area and there are swimmers, snorklers and a ton of divers. Since it has such a large open area, a lot of dive companies use that part for classes. It’s where I did my first two days of training for my rescue diver course.
For diving, Eden has a large cave system that experienced cave divers use. The regular cenote part of the dive is beautiful. One of the best parts is passing through a pronounced halocline (layers of fresh and salt water) where it can go from crystal clear to visibility of less than a meter and back again in a few minutes. There’s also great light effects throughout the dive as you pass through areas where there are small openings from above.
After the pictures, there’s a nice two minute video that gives a great feeling for the dive.
Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal on the other hand is only for divers. It has a very small opening, so there’s really no area for swimmers or snorkelers. The dive itself has a lot of small crevices, continual increases and decreases in elevation, some really beautiful limestone formations, another cool halocline layer and a really nice open area about two-thirds in the dive where you can surface and enjoy the large opening that’s accessible from above by a long rope ladder.
Again, there’s a nice one minute video at the bottom that does a nice job reliving the experience.
