Santa Barbara Cenotes
Each day this week it gets hotter and hotter, but after the sun goes down, the evenings cool off quickly. This requires you either stay in the air conditioned house all day, or go find water, preferably with shade. So today, we head to the highly recommended cenotes (sin-o-tays) of Santa Barbara. The journey is only an hour from our condo - we load up our snorkel gear, towels, and water, and off we go.
Wow, we found a truly magical place. It is Monday and there are only a handful of visitors - everyone is either recovering from family day, or they have gone back to work. Either way, the less crowded makes the experience much nicer.
There are 3 cenotes at this site and each are unique in their own way. I have lots of pictures, which as usual, don’t do them justice. Let’s get started…
The cenotes are about half a mile back into the jungle from the main entrance so they have a unique and effective transport system… horse and trolly (or you could ride a silly bicycle). Of course we took the trolly, why wouldn’t we? Notice the yellow ropes around the top, these were our seatbelts. Our driver hooked up the horse and clackitty, clackitty - off we went. We were surprised how quickly the horse moved - it was a pretty good pace - but we didn’t blame him, he wanted to get back to the shade as well. The seatbelts came in handy on the turns.
First stop - Cascabel. This cenote was a cave and the smallest of the three. You head down the stairs, which were very sturdy, watch that you don’t hit your head on the tree roots, and it opens into this amazing cavern where the water was absolutely crystal blue and so beautiful. The stairs continue to descend to a platform in the center of the cenote so you could swim all around it.
Life vests are required and while we didn’t like it at first, we learned how important they are. There is a current in each cenote that can sometimes become stronger than normal. If you get caught in a strong current without a lifevest, it can suck you under and there will be no finding you. We had to admit to ourselves it was nice to have the vests and just float. If you were still, you could feel the current gently pull you around.
Second stop - Chacsinkin. Each cenote was within a short walking distance of each other so you could easily move between them. This was also an underground cave but much larger than the first with another set of stairs to a large platform. In the underground cenotes, lights have been installed and there is some ambient light from the entrance but it only takes a minute for your eyes to adjust and it is beautiful. The stalactites were abundant but it was also sad as you could see where some of the large ones were cut to make way for the platform and to protect the swimmers.
Each cenote had a lifeguard, which was nice, until they had to remind someone to put their life vest back on (kf). That was when we learned about the currents and were grateful.
In this cenote, we found small fish, or should I say they found us. I was standing on the stairs waiting to get in and started feeling the little nibbling at my feet and lower legs. I recognized the sensation from a previous experience we had where fish cleaned our feet, but wasn’t expecting this here so it startled me. Sure enough, there were tons of them, most no larger than an inch. So I stood quietly enjoying the experience when a larger fish (about 6 inches) appeared and I wasn’t sure he would only take a nibble. Time to move on.
It was nice to have our mask, snorkels, and lights so we could see the bottom. Most of it was sand and rocks but it was always cool to find the cave source of the water.
The last and the mostest - Xooch. This was the largest of the three and was a very large hole in the ground, open at the top. Access was down many steps, almost 80 to be exact and yes, I counted them. In honor of Chuck, we stood at the top and asked ‘if we go down there, do we have to come back up?’ The tunnel was spectacular in and of itself. It reminded me of what I would expect when Jesus rose from the dead and emerged from the burial tomb.
The tunnel came right out to the waters edge where there was a platform and you could just jump in. Again, the water was spectacular, so blue and cool. Because this cenote was open, there were signs of animal life around, including bats nests. The plant life and roots from the trees drop into the cenote to gain sustenance. It was absolutely magical. After a long swim we caught our ride back, clackitty, clackitty, to the main lodge for lunch - so fun.
Cost for this event was $300 pesos ($15 usd) per person, which included lunch.