Around the World Days 311-313 | Cancun Cenote & Cozumel Island Diving 3-Day Trip. A Fantastic World Spreading Beneath the Water!

📅 Date: 2026/8/7-9
📍 Current Location: Cancun, Mexico
🌏 Around the World: 46 countries in total
💪 Physical Condition: Excellent

Good morning again. This is Borutaman, currently traveling around the world.

The number one reason I came to Cancun this time.

It is for the "Cenote Diving" that divers around the world dream of.

It is a place where you can have a one-of-a-kind experience, completely different from ocean diving, "floating through an underwater world of freshwater caves."

When I got my license in Dahab, Egypt, my mentor Kenji-san also told me, "Cancun is an absolute must!" so I had decided in my heart that this was a spot I absolutely could not miss.

First of all, what is a "Cenote"?

A Cenote is a natural well (spring) formed when groundwater collects in sinkholes in limestone areas, which are commonly found on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

It originates from the Mayan word "Dzonot" (sacred well), and its greatest features are the beautiful water surface that boasts overwhelming transparency and the complexly spreading underwater cave systems.

Formation Mechanism

1. Rainwater and groundwater erode limestone over many years, forming underground water veins.

2. The ceiling of the cave collapses under its own weight.

3. Born when the exposed underground water vein appears on the surface.

4 Overwhelming Charms of Cenote Diving

1. 1. "Otherworldly Transparency" where you can see 100 meters ahead

   1. High-purity groundwater naturally filtered through limestone over tens of thousands of years. Because there is extremely little suspended matter, the transparency reaches 50 to over 100 meters. You can experience a strange sensation, as ifyou are floating in the air where no water exists.

2. 2. "Curtain of Light" shining into the water

   1. Sunlight shining through the opening in the ceiling becomes multiple pillars of light in the clear blue water. When you look up from a few meters deep, a sacred and fantastic landscape of shimmering light rays spreads out. (*The morning on a sunny day is the best time to go!)

3. Ancient Sculptural Beauty: "Underwater Stalactites"

   1. Stalactites and stalagmites formed when this area was once land are now submerged underwater. The experience of passing between giant stalactites while maintaining neutral buoyancy is filled witha sense of adventure as if exploring an underground labyrinth.

4. The "Halocline" Woven by Fresh and Salt Water

   1. When you dive deep into a cenote, a boundary layer (halocline) appears wherethe "fresh water" above and the "salt water" below meet. Due to the difference in salinity (difference in refractive index), the water shimmers like oil, and you can experience a very unique visual phenomenon where your vision blurs into a mosaic pattern.

Doesn't just reading about this make you excited?

Ocean diving is wonderful, but this is a new experience unique to caves. I have always loved exploring unknown areas like mountains and caves, so my expectations were high, thinking,"I have to do this unimaginable cave diving!".

I recommend using "Playa del Carmen" as your base, not Cancun!

This time, to fully experience these four attractions, I needed to carefully select spots and shops. Therefore, to eliminate any language anxiety and fully enjoy the experience, I decided to look for a diving shop with Japanese staff.

By the way, if you are looking for a diving shop, I overwhelmingly recommend usingPlaya del Carmenas your base rather than Cancun city!

• The atmosphere of the town is very nice

• Accommodation costs are cheaper than in Cancun, making it suitable for long-term stays

Miki-san, the guide who took care of me this time

There are about three major shops for Japanese speakers in Playa del Carmen, but the one I used this time wasMiki-san, a Japanese instructor who provides a completely private service.

She is a reliable person who has experience as an instructor in Miyakojima and has a career of about 5 years in Mexico. She is well-versed in the ocean as well as cenote caves, and her love for diving is so passionate that she even dives privately on her days off!

The best points of this shop

• Complete Japanese support by a Japanese instructor

• Completely private tour(The spots you want to visit and time adjustments are quite flexible! She flexibly accommodated my request to change the meeting time to 8:30 to match my hotel breakfast)

• Fast and smooth response(Reservations can be made directly via Instagram DM)

• Full Package (Includes full equipment rental, entrance fees for each cenote, and tips from the start)

• Includes free GoPro rental!

Detailed 3-Day Diving Log

[Day 1: Cenote Tour]

• Cenote Dos Ojos (Bat Cave Route)

  • 9:48 - 10:38 (50min) / Max 8.0m / Avg 5.5m

• Cenote The Pit

  • 11:56 - 12:37 (41min) / Max 20.5m / Avg 12.3m

• Cenote Nicte-Ha

  • 14:11 - 14:52 (42min) / Max 5.5m / Avg 3.5m

[Day 2: Cozumel Island & Shipwreck]

• Cozumel Island Santa Rosa

  • 9:39 - 10:24 (45min) / Max 23.3m / Avg 13.7m

• Cozumel Island Shipwreck C-53

  • 10:28 - 12:13 (45min) / Max 21.8m / Avg 13.3m

[Day 3: Deep Cenote Exploration]

• Cenote Angelita

  • 10:50 - 11:30 (40min) / Max 30.2m / Avg 15.8m

• Cenote Car Wash

  • 12:50 - 13:30 (40min) / Max 14.7m / Avg 8.6m

(Memorandum) Sea creatures I met on Cozumel Island

On the second day in Cozumel, I met many endemic species unique to the Caribbean Sea and impressive fish!

• Gray Angelfish

• Queen Angelfish

• French Angelfish

• Yellowhead Jawfish

• Horse-eye Jack

• Permit

• Caribbean Spiny Lobster

• Great Barracuda

• Brown Garden Eel

• Smooth Trunkfish

• Yellow Arrow Crab

• Southern Stingray

Real impressions after actually diving

To conclude, if you have even the slightest interest in diving, I can state with certainty that this is a place you must visit!!

I was deeply moved by the scale of the caves, which you can never experience in Japan, and the clarity that stretches on forever. The curtain of light spreading overhead is a view I will surely never forget for the rest of my life.

Also, the cloud of hydrogen sulfide drifting underwater that I saw at Angelita looked just like a scene from a sci-fi movie, and personally, it got me incredibly excited!

Including a sea dive (Cozumel Island) on the second day was also a great decision. The colorful fish unique to the Caribbean Sea and my first-ever shipwreck dive had a sense of exploration that was incredibly fun.

Overall, I felt that a 3-day itinerary was the best. Every spot shows a completely different face, so I never got bored even for a moment until the very end.

Personally, I liked Cancun even more than Dahab or Zanzibar, where I have dived before! I truly understood why it is world-famous for diving after actually diving there myself. It is a place I definitely want to return to.

Recommended local gourmet in Playa del Carmen

I will also introduce two excellent restaurants I visited between dives!

1. El Fogón

A long-established restaurant that it is no exaggeration to call the most famous in town. It is loved by both travelers and locals, and it has the three virtues of being cheap, delicious, and fast.

The tacos are of course excellent, but my personal highly recommended menu item is the Torta (Mexican-style sandwich)! It is very filling, the bread itself is delicious, and it is great that you can add your own toppings to customize it to your liking.

2. El Compa

This is the one and only place to go if you want to eat tacos!

My top recommendation here is the QUESABIRRIA!

• Quesa = cheese (queso)

• Birria = a dish where beef or goat meat is simmered for a long time with spices and chili peppers

It's the ultimate combination of exquisite stewed meat, melting cheese, and tacos. I compared over 10 different tacos during my stay in Mexico, and this was definitely number one!

*However, be careful with the salsa sauce on the table. It's seriously spicy, to the point where you don't even need to add it (lol). When I went for the second time, I got carried away and added too much, and ended up with a bad stomach... (lol).

3. Mariscos y Clamatos El Doctorcito

A local Mexican restaurant that Miki, the instructor, told me about. The ceviche here was incredibly delicious!

On to the next stage!

I've fully enjoyed the best diving and gourmet experience in Playa del Carmen, so for the next two days starting tomorrow, I'll be taking a break from being a traveler.

I'm moving to a luxury resort area in Cancun to relax and unwind for the first time with an "all-inclusive" stay! I'm so excited...!

See you later!

Making traveling around the world more accessible.