Dive site · cave · The Quintana Roo cenotes

🇲🇽 Cenote Corazón del Paraíso (Chuup Ich)

Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico · part of Sistema Ox Bel Ha

Tannin-black fresh water over brilliant white salt, with the halocline at sixteen metres making the division absolute.

Dives here
3
Deepest
17.7 m
Water
fresh · halocline at 16 m
First · last
2026
Getting in
Turn off MEX 307 here; the site is about 1.4 km further on an unpaved track. (20.1915, -87.5194)
Also known as
Corazon · Corazon del Paraiso

Revision 1 · changed 10 Oct 2026

History
  1. r1 10 Oct 2026 Imported from the personal log · Dennis Bakhuis

Site data © divelog-sites contributors (ODbL), descriptions and maps CC BY-SA 4.0 · 53edcaf

1 map

30 m23 m23 m23 m25 m34 m36 m34 m23 m31 m37 m28 m32 m41 m32 m32 m26 m26 m29 m25 m24 m30 m36 m24 m27 m28 m31 m26 m27 m24 m24 m29 m30 m29 m36 m23 m34 m27 m30 m27 m24 m23 m27 m29 m41 m41 m33 m33 m37 m26 m25 m39 m32 mCenote Corazón del ParaísoGoalPostUpstreamContinuesLast T · stage dive↓10.7 mAugCContinuesDownstreamN50 m
  • Entrance
  • T
  • Jump
  • End of line
  • Shoreline
  • Jump (no line)
  • Depth
  • Along the line
Stick map · 100 stations · 2321 m of line · max 10.7 m

Approximate stick map of Cenote Corazón del Paraíso (Chuup Ich), traced from a dive-centre whiteboard briefing sketch the owner photographed; no published line survey was found (the ProTec resurvey article has no map), so this is a schematic, not a survey. The sketch has no scale or north arrow: the scale (0.4 m per sketch pixel, about 250 m upstream penetration) is an assumption chosen to fit the 25-53 minute dives, north is assumed up, and every position and distance is approximate. The heart is the cenote pool; the line to the north on the sketch is taken to be upstream (dark, 12-15 m, some flow, the last T is a stage dive per the owner's notes) and the line to the south downstream (fixed line, dark and silty). "Goal", "Post", "Aug" and "C" are the markers written on the sketch; the 35' on the upstream loop is read as depth in feet (10.7 m). Halocline at about 16 m.

Heart of paradise, also known as Chuup Ich. Connected to Sistema Ox Bel Ha by Bil Phillips and Steve Bogaerts between 2001 and 2003.

The cave's character comes from the marshland above it. Tannins leaching off it stain the fresh water dark brown-black, so the upper part of the cave is a tea-coloured gloom. The halocline sits at about 16 m, and the salt water below it is brilliantly clear and reflects white off pale limestone. Dropping through the boundary takes you from one cave to what looks like a different one.

Three dives on 12 February 2026, to 17.7 m.

Dived here with

Nearby sites

3 dives at Cenote Corazón del Paraíso (Chuup Ich)

Water temperature by month

Mean water temperature in °C; an empty month had no dives.

Mean water temperature per month at Cenote Corazón del Paraíso (Chuup Ich)
MonthMeanDives
Januaryno dives0
February25.0 °C3
Marchno dives0
Aprilno dives0
Mayno dives0
Juneno dives0
Julyno dives0
Augustno dives0
Septemberno dives0
Octoberno dives0
Novemberno dives0
Decemberno dives0
  1. test dive 12 Feb 2026 · with Hanna cave date12 Feb 2026 depth11.4 m time25 min water25 °C
  2. 12 Feb 2026 with Arend, Erik cave date12 Feb 2026 depth17.7 m time26 min water25 °C
  3. 12 Feb 2026 with Arend, Erik cave date12 Feb 2026 depth15.7 m time53 min water25 °C

Sources

  • First-hand observation (Dennis Bakhuis)