Intro, The World’s Best Recreational Cave Diving

If there is one place in the world that offers the "perfect" ingredients for safe and enjoyablecave diving, it is the Caribbean coast of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. Located between Cancun to the Mayan village of Tulum and further south exists a gold mine of underground streams slowly draining into the sea. These characteristics include the best combination to create the type of underwater caves that appeal the most to both the recreational "tour" cave diver and the serious explorer seeking new passageways alike.

These ingredients are simple:

1. Very soft, porous sedimentary limestone.
2. Flat topography close to sea level.
3. An abundance of shallow water drainage.
4. An incredible geological history.
5. Close proximity of numerous different cave systems.
6. Consistent filtered crystal clear water not affected by weather conditions.
7. An overall easy/moderate accessibility.

Cave diving was discovered along the Yucatan coast during the mid-1980's when cave divers began diving the cenotes (meaning "natural well"). I was one of the few lucky ones to be part of the first explorers of this incredible cave diving region. The exploration of the cenotes exploded as more cave systems were found, surveyed and mapped. Each year, new cenotes became known adding more caves to a constantly growing list. It is now estimated that over 2,191,000 feet (361,066 meters) or 226 miles (361 kilometers) of underwater cave passages have been explored and surveyed involving hundreds of various cenotes amongst 150 plus cave systems.

The total number of these liquid blue windows to a very shallow aquifer below is unknown and cannot be determined as a low canopy of dense tropical jungle hides these stairwells to the most awesome wonderland. So good...most cave divers will say this cave diving cannot be beat. With very few roads or trails established, accessibility is limited and sometimes very difficult. This insures an endless future of finding more cenotes and new cave systems to explore. A cave diver's fantasy! You do not need a college degree in geology to understand the formation of these natural wonders. Moving water forms caves. Rainwater drains from the jungle interior and logically meanders slowly towards to the Caribbean Sea. The Yucatan peninsula, being very flat, represents an ancient sea atoll containing millions of years of the ocean's sediments which, through time, formed a multi-layered block of geological history involving coral reefs, sea life remains and the particles of sand and organic debris.

This fusion clearly shows a historical evolution of the planet earth's life. Much of it surprisingly similar to what we see today! Limestone creates the perfect recipe for the formation of these solution caves. No other known place on earth can duplicate the perfect formula for such a high concentration of underwater caves within a very flat area with very little soil and an abundant supply of water. It is the best swiss cheese a cave diver could ask for! What makes these underwater caves so "special" is the eternal quantity of spectacular decorations. Nature's powerful talent is forming a panoramic garden of unforgettable beauty. An endless variety of formations including the complete cave’s spectrum of names such as stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, bacon strips, rim pools, halagtites, columns, etc..

Fairly recently,in geological time, these caves were given the opportunity to become dry allowing nature's creative talent go do its work. The genius of nature's artistic brush reshapes the calcium carbonate of the soft limestone is amazing. Inside the caves are delicate, intricate designs that brings forth feelings of intense wonder and awe. With the disappearance of the last Ice Age and the return of the sea level we are familiar with today, the caves became flooded again. The water preserves and cleanses these precious galleries as if kept in a vault for safe keeping.