Cenote Carwash – The gate of cave diving

Cenote Carwash – The gate of cave diving

1 tank

Difficulty: easy

Maximum depth:

Features: black cave formations, lily pad garden

Car Wash (or Aktun Ha, meaning water cave in Mayan) was one of the first cenotes that cave divers explored. The name originated from taxi drivers who used to go to this cenote to wash their cars.

The open water part of this cenote is like a small lagoon. It has a beautiful underwater garden that houses fish, turtles, and even a small crocodile. The cavern dive we operate here starts in the garden area and then proceeds into the cavern. The speleothemes in this cavern are black, stained by the tannic acid that once passed trough this system. The cavern is large, and the most beautiful part of the dive is perhaps the view of the light when moving back out into the garden from the cavern. Fallen trees can be seen silhouetted against the bright entrance. To finish, we do the safety stop while looking around the garden and at its various inhabitants.

This is an easy cavern dive, and the cavern spaces are very large. The way in seems dark, but the sunlight is always visible. There is a thin sediment at the bottom of the cavern, but since the cavern is very large, there is no need to swim near the sediment. Diving in one of the beginner caverns (like Dos Ojos and Gran Cenote) is recommended before visiting Car Wash, but this cenote does not require special skills.

List of the Cenotes near Tulum

All of these cenotes are part of our guided eco tours both for snorkeling and scuba diving

• Cenote Dos Ojos
• Cenote Casa Cenote
• Cenote Carwash
• Cenote Gran Cenote
• Cenote Calavera
• Cenote Dreamgate
• Cenote Angelita
• Cenote The Pit