I had a chance yesterday to dive in an amazing cenote called Zapote (named after local trees that grow in the area). It was one of the most unique dives I’ve ever experienced.
Since it was too dark to use my GoPro, I’ve used stock pictures from the internet to provide a sense of what it was like.
The cenote itself is a beautiful deep sinkhole you enter by descending a series of stairs.
Once you’re in the water you descend a narrow round tube for about 90 feet before it opens up into an amazing cavelike structure.
In this cave there are incredible bell like structures called Hells Bells. They are actually microorganisms that started forming 4,500 years ago that consume carbon dioxide. There are a couple of other cenotes that have a few of these, but there is no place in the world that have them in the size and extent of Zapote.
I dove with three very experienced dive instructors (I was definitely the least experienced diver in this group). One is one of the top cave divers in Mexico who is also a biologist. He actually created a culture of these creatures outside the cenote and then implanted them into the cenote. He pointed out to us these small buds he had growing during our dive.
Below is also a short video that provides an additional sense of how unique this dive is.