Sleeping Sharks Cave

Sleeping Sharks Cave lies in the reef system known as Los Cuevones, east of Isla Mujeres on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. The site became known after a local fisherman discovered sharks resting motionless inside the cave, a find that drew diver and conservationist Ramón Bravo, scientists Eugenie Clark and Shelton Applegate, and eventually Jacques Cousteau's film crew in 1970. Bravo's ashes were later placed in the cave, marked by a bronze plaque at the entrance. The VERIFIED DATA for this listing gives a maximum depth of 10 metres over a cave bottom, rated as a beginner dive, with barracuda confirmed on site. Divers have also reported angelfish, sergeant majors, bluehead wrasse, nurse and reef sharks, schoolmaster snapper, and West Indian fuzzy chitons here, though sightings vary from visit to visit. The cave's reputation rests as much on its history and the debated science of why sharks rest still inside it as on guaranteed encounters.