{"id":9642,"date":"2017-02-20T17:47:56","date_gmt":"2017-02-21T01:47:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sidecarphoto.co\/?post_type=lv_listing&p=9642"},"modified":"2026-05-15T23:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T06:28:15","slug":"gran-cenote-tulum","status":"publish","type":"location","link":"https:\/\/sidecarphoto.co\/blog\/posts\/location\/gran-cenote-tulum\/","title":{"rendered":"Gran Cenote, Tulum"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Gran Cenote, Tulum is an awesome underwater cave where you can snorkel with turtles. I’d never heard of cenotes until I visited Tulum. And I’d never snorkeled before either. So this place was novel for multiple reasons.<\/p>\n

My husband and I were at our hostel and looking for something to do. It had been raining a lot all day so we weren’t sure if the cenotes were a good thing to do in the rain, but the other travelers assured us it would be fun. So we grabbed a taxi and headed out.<\/p>\n

You pay a fee to enter and then you can rent lifejackets, snorkel gear and then you go down a set of wooden stairs into the cenote.<\/p>\n

The Nitty Gritty<\/h2>\n

[table id=14 \/]<\/p>\n

Gran Cenote<\/h2>\n

The Gran Cenote is an opening into a network of underwater caves called Sac Actun. We didn’t know this at the time but the Sac Actun system of caves is really incredible.<\/p>\n

It’s really beautiful to snorkel in, and many people also go full on scuba diving in the cenotes<\/a>. We saw some of them as we snorkeled.<\/p>\n

This map shows just the part of it that includes the Gran Cenote.<\/p>\n

\"Gran<\/p>\n

But the whole cave system is almost 200mi long, which makes it the second longest in the world.<\/p>\n

In 2014, in a deep pit within Sac Actun called Hoyo Negro<\/em>, explorers\u00a0found the oldest, most complete human skeleton in the New World<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If that weren’t enough, they also found a mastodon,\u00a0saber-toothed cats and giant ground sloths – all of which are extinct.<\/p>\n

How awesomely Indiana Jones is that!<\/p>\n

Lucky Break<\/h2>\n

So normally pouring rain on your vacation isn’t considered good luck. But because of the rain, the cenote was very empty when we got there, and the rain had just stopped.<\/p>\n

From reviews, we’d heard it’s usually pretty crowded but there were just 2-3 other people and we had the place almost to ourselves for a bit.<\/p>\n

The Gran Cenote is surrounded by beautiful greenery and a few steles<\/em> (or stone plaques).<\/p>\n

\"Gran

Exposure<\/div>
1\/400s ƒ\/5.6 @ ISO 400<\/div>
Focal Length<\/div>
24mm<\/div><\/div>
Camera<\/div>
Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi<\/div>
Date & Time<\/div>
September 26, 2015, 12:13 pm<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

The surroundings aren’t large\u00a0enough to spend a lot of time on so we headed straight to the cenote itself, which is down some wooden stairs.<\/p>\n

\"Sac

Exposure<\/div>
1\/100s ƒ\/5.6 @ ISO 400<\/div>
Focal Length<\/div>
18mm<\/div><\/div>
Camera<\/div>
Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi<\/div>
Date & Time<\/div>
September 26, 2015, 11:51 am<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

To capture the really beautiful greens, it can help to have a [easyazon_link identifier=”B001G7PMFY” locale=”US” tag=”sidecarphoto-20″]polarizer[\/easyazon_link]. The polarizer will cut reflections from the leaves giving you a lot more green to work with.<\/p>\n

I like to use this\u00a0[easyazon_link identifier=”B001G7PMFY” locale=”US” tag=”sidecarphoto-20″]Hoya HD circular polarizer[\/easyazon_link] as it doesn’t reduce the light by too many stops.<\/p>\n

Clear Waters<\/p>\n

The first thing you notice is how clear the water is. Remember, it had been raining just a little bit earlier in the day but the water was still crystal-clear.<\/p>\n

See below where\u00a0the last set of stairs descends into the water? You can see where the post appears to bend – that’s where the water starts, but you can barely tell!<\/p>\n

\"Gran

Exposure<\/div>
1\/13s ƒ\/5.6 @ ISO 400<\/div>
Focal Length<\/div>
18mm<\/div><\/div>
Camera<\/div>
Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi<\/div>
Date & Time<\/div>
September 26, 2015, 11:55 am<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

The water was not deep here but at some points, it was deep enough that some people had scuba tanks and flashlights.<\/p>\n

Just a word to non-swimmers out there. I don’t swim well and had a life jacket on. I still had an amazing time and didn’t want to get out of the water.<\/p>\n

So if you can’t swim well, just be sure to get a life jacket and you should be okay.<\/p>\n

Underwater Shooting<\/h2>\n

If I had known earlier we were going to do this, I would definitely have bought a [easyazon_link identifier=”B01M14ATO0″ locale=”US” tag=”sidecarphoto-20″]GoPro[\/easyazon_link] to get some photos underwater.<\/p>\n

In fact, I really regret not having an underwater camera of some sort, so I’m letting you know you should definitely consider getting one.<\/p>\n

After returning I did some research and found there aren’t a ton of options that don’t break the bank. Here are the two main options :<\/p>\n