Cenote Calavera

Cenote Esqueleto - Temple of Doom - Skull Cave

Useful Information

Location:	2 km from Tulum towards Cobá.
Open:	no restrictions. [2008]
Fee:	free. [2008]
Classification:	Cenote
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Cenote Calavera.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

Description

This cenote has many names, Cenote Calavera (Skull Cave) or Cenote Esqueleto (Skeleton Cave). It is even called Temple of Doom sometimes. The reason is the same for all names: the combination of three holes, a big one with about 10 m in diameter and two small ones with about 1.50 m in diameter look like a skull. This famous motive, used by comics and movies like Raider of the Lost Ark or the Phantom, is here reality. All three openings lead to the same cave, with the water level about 3.5 m below. Visitors of sports enjoy a jump and dive from the rim. Other use the ladder, which is the only improvement of the cenote and the only way to leave it after the jump.

Actually this cenote is not very well suited for bathing. But it is popular with divers, as it allows access to the halocline, the border between salt and sweet water. Salt water is heavier than sweet water, so it does not easily mix and flows just below the sweet water inwards while the sweet water slowly flows towards sea. And as both liquids have slightly different optical properties, it looks actually like an underwater water surface.