Description
Open Daily. The entrance fee for divers is 5 USD. There are no toilets or changing facilities. There is a parking area but no tables to set up dive equipment. Very easy access. No permanent Cavern Line. Maximum depth 8m/26ft. Halocline depth varies. Casa Cenote is located on Highway 307 40km/25miles south of Puerto Aventuras.
![]() From the turn off you follow a dirt road 2km/1.25miles towards the ocean which then turns to the north as it parallels the beach. Casa Cenote is on the left of the beach road, right beside it and directly opposite the beach front restaurant of the same name.
Casa Cenote is the ocean exit for much of the freshwater flowing through the Nohoch Nah Chich section of Sistema Sac Actun the world’s 2nd longest underwater cave system. It is a shallow, elongated cenote that winds like a small river through the mangroves making it a great diving and snorkeling site. Casa Cenote is unique in that although at the moment it is still a cenote separated from the ocean by a short land bridge that land bridge is slowly disappearing. Eventually Casa cenote will evolve to become a Caletta, the Yucatecan name for an inleted coastal spring, similar to Xcaret or Xel Ha with direct open water access to the ocean. When you dive Casa cenote you will see that it is a strange mixture of two worlds with both fresh and saltwater ecosystems with their respective fauna and flora. You will see Blue Swimming Crabs, Green Moray Eels, Juvenile Barracuda and Tarpon as well as all the normal freshwater cenote denizens. As the cenote winds its way back into the jungle through the mangroves to either side there are multiple swim throughs that a diver can explore, venturing through various mangrove tunnels and rocky overhangs almost as if you are diving into the jungle itself. The direction and strength of current in Casa Cenote varies depending on the tidal cycle, weather conditions and amount of rainfall. If you stand on the beach in front of the restaurant and look towards the line of reef 30m/100ft offshore you can usually see a “boil” of freshwater at the surface as it exits a vent in the reef from a depth of 3m/10ft. It is actually possible for Cave divers to make the short ocean exit starting from Casa Cenote emerging from the vent to surface in front of the restaurant which can be quite a surprise for the diners! The Halocline depth varies considerably as well and multiple haloclines are often visible at different depths in the water column which can trap different colored silts and sediments giving each layer a distinctive coloration like a psychedelic cocktail. With such changeable conditions no two dives in Casa Cenote are ever alike. It has an almost alien or otherworldly feel and has often been likened to a Salvador Dali picture or an underwater Gaudi garden. Key Data
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