Grand Cenote

Grand Cenote sits a few kilometers outside Tulum on the road to Coba, in the Yucatan Peninsula's cenote belt riddled with limestone sinkholes and flooded caves. The site is known for exceptionally clear, calm freshwater and dramatic limestone formations, stalactites and stalagmites, visible in the cavern zones near the entrance. It's a beginner dive with no current, great visibility, and a maximum depth of around 10 metres over a cave bottom, and sea turtles are regularly seen in the open, sunlit sections along with small fish. The cave system beyond the light zone extends much further and is reserved for those with cave certification, given the overhead environment and risk of silt-outs, while open water divers can do a guided cavern dive within the accessible shallow areas.

Confirmed by our research team, reported by independent divers, or observed nearby via iNaturalist — each entry is labelled with its source.

• Sea turtleSea turtleConfirmed present · 2 independent sources
• Southern StingrayHypanus americanusReported here · unconfirmed
• Green Sea TurtleChelonia mydasReported here · unconfirmed
• Atlantic Sergeant MajorAbudefduf saxatilisReported here · unconfirmed