Secret Tulum Cenote
Cenotes are one of my favorite features of the Yucatan Peninsula. Remember Gilligan's Island, the show about some castaways on a tropical island? Well, I think that's where I acquired my fascination with tropical climes. This American TV series ran for only 3 years in the 1960's, but ran in syndication throughout the 70's and 80's. For a little girl in often snowy Michigan, this tropical paradise seemed like heaven on earth and that's how I feel about Mexico, and cenotes in particular.
Cenotes seem to embody all the beauty of a tropical paradise; crystal clear waters, a jewel in the middle of the jungle decorated on the edges with heavy green vegetation, birds flitting about, fish swimming just below the surface, sunlight glittering on the water. And really, what more could you ask for?
No visit to Mexico is complete without a trip to a cenote to take a dip in the cool, clear waters. This year Jonathan and I went looking for a cenote we had visited a year back, and came upon this beauty instead.
Now, getting to this tropical beauty was no mean feat. We were just wandering down the coastal road in Tulum, walking off our breakfast and heading south in the direction of Punta Allen, trying to remember where that cenote was that we had found the year before. We came upon this sign and I felt sure this was what we were looking for but I'm often certain, and sometimes mistaken. As Jonathan likes to affectionately say, I am often, "supremely confident but invariably wrong." I, of course, disagree!
Once we decided that we would explore this cenote, we still had some obstacles to overcome. For starters, we had to negotiate a construction site. Building goes very slowly in Mexico, as most things are done by hand.
After picking our way through the construction site, we then came upon this pathway, which was a bit tricky, to say the least.
As I had fell through a dock a few days before, I was a bit nervous walking through the mangroves on the path of pylons.
Jonathan had no trouble traversing the path, of course.
Our next obstacle course was a wonky boardwalk, reminiscent of the one I fell through a few days before. Ugh!
The water was crystal clear, with lots of little fish swimming about.
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Cenotes seem to embody all the beauty of a tropical paradise; crystal clear waters, a jewel in the middle of the jungle decorated on the edges with heavy green vegetation, birds flitting about, fish swimming just below the surface, sunlight glittering on the water. And really, what more could you ask for?
No visit to Mexico is complete without a trip to a cenote to take a dip in the cool, clear waters. This year Jonathan and I went looking for a cenote we had visited a year back, and came upon this beauty instead.
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| Cenote in Tulum |
Below is an aerial view of the location, as best as I can tell.
Once we decided that we would explore this cenote, we still had some obstacles to overcome. For starters, we had to negotiate a construction site. Building goes very slowly in Mexico, as most things are done by hand.
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| The workers kindly took our payment and escorted us to the cenote. |
After picking our way through the construction site, we then came upon this pathway, which was a bit tricky, to say the least.
As I had fell through a dock a few days before, I was a bit nervous walking through the mangroves on the path of pylons.
Jonathan had no trouble traversing the path, of course.
Our next obstacle course was a wonky boardwalk, reminiscent of the one I fell through a few days before. Ugh!
In the end, it was well worth all the obstacles to get to this amazing oasis in the beautiful Mexican jungle.
The water was crystal clear, with lots of little fish swimming about.
The location was so remote, and I didn't have my bathing suit, so a dip au natural seemed perfectly safe, until a family of German tourists showed up! Note to self, carry swimsuit in bag at all times!
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