This is the most famous of the cenotes near Tulum and a real gold mine for its owner, who happily cashes in on the many tourists who visit it. Come early or in late afternoon, and you’ll have it mostly for yourself.
The old ladders have been replaced by more trusty wooden stairs and a big platform allows easy entry and exit into the cool crystal clear fresh water. I’ve seen some daredevil swimmers jump in from the top, but a giant step entry from 6m high is definitely not a good idea. The water isn’t quite deep enough and your precious life-support gear, not to mention your soft body, might not appreciate the impact.
Sac Aktun’s walls are almost white, as its Mayan name implies and they reflect a lot of light. The main cavern area allows snorkelers to swim in pretty far, which also means the surface and free air is never too far away for cavern divers, who can enjoy the wonderful feeling of diving between big drooping stalactites, take a peek into beautifully decorated side rooms and get an insight of what cave diving is all about here in Yucatan. For a true taste, Dos Ojos, further up north, is highly recommended. Grand cenote also boasts a big cavern area on one of its sides, where the ceiling slopes down and meets the floor at about 12m.
With an average depth of 7m and a maximum depth not exceeding 14m, the Sac Aktun system allows for long cave dives indeed, without immediate need for extra stage tanks, except for truly extended dives into the far reaches of this seemingly endless cave system, connecting several cenotes, in which case you’ll also need several jump reels and an excellent visual memory. The main line ends at cenote Ho Tul, but not the cave.
The usual little cenote fish are abundant in Grand cenote too, as well as the lazily meandering catfish. Turtles can be spotted in the open water area among the plants or even dozing between the stalactites, but are rather weary of too much attention, so give them a break.
