Dennis Bakhuis

Dive site · cave · The Quintana Roo cenotes

🇲🇽 Cenote Fenomeno

Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico · part of Sistema Sac Actun

A half-collapsed sinkhole with a derelict bridge over it, a Maya vase on the left-hand line and giant ground-sloth bones in a pit on the right.

Dives here
2
Deepest
12.2 m
Water
fresh
First · last
2025
Getting in
Shared turn-off for the Caracol, Chun Ya, Otoch Ha, Outland, La Concha and Fenomeno cenotes: leave MEX 307 at the 54 km mark and follow about 8 km of dirt track. (20.2922, -87.3829)
Also known as
Pedrin Fenomeno

Revision 2 · changed 18 Oct 2026

History
  1. r2 18 Oct 2026 Neutral geo_source · Dennis Bakhuis
  2. 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

59 mCenote Fenomeno↓5.5 m↓12.2 m↓10.1 m280 m↓11.6 m↓9.4 m↓2.4 mCenote White River · 701 m↓12.2 m396 m436 mSidemount restriction↓12.5 m↓9.8 m↓12.2 m262 m↓8.8 mLower level↓18.6 mCenote La Concha232 m↓15.5 m579 m↓17.4 mCenote Vasija · 555 m↓9.8 m↓11.6 mCenote · 539 mSidemount restriction↓17.7 m↓4.3 mCenote↓8.5 m853 m↓13.1 mCenote CelestialCenote Flash · 875 m↓11.9 m↓7.6 mBreakdown Room↓10.7 mThe Corkscrew↓13.1 m402 m210 mThe PitMajor restriction · 223 m643 m↓15.2 m518 m↓14.9 m↓13.7 m↓8.5 mCenote Cuarenta527 m↓8.5 m527 m↓4.9 m↓12.8 m536 m · Breakdown Siphon↓5.2 m↓14.6 m646 m↓14.9 mSidemount restriction750 m808 m↓14.6 m↓14.6 m817 m↓13.7 mSidemount restriction826 mN100 m
  • Entrance
  • T
  • Jump
  • Restriction
  • End of line
  • Shoreline
  • Jump (no line)
  • Unsurveyed
  • Depth
  • Along the line
Stick map · 466 stations · 5074 m of line · max 18.6 m

Traced from the OnlyCenotes maps 'Cenote Fenomeno' v1.0 (upstream, 2024) and 'Fenomeno Downstream' v1.0 (2024), both published on cave-ha.com; neither has a scale bar, so each was scaled from its own 'distance from entrance' labels (feet, fitted along the traced line, about 10 % spread) and the two were joined at the cenote, with the downstream entrance taken as the east side of the same pool. Depths are the map's underlined feet converted to metres; end labels are the map's penetration from Fenomeno in metres. Dotted lines are lower-level passages. The vase and the sloth-bone pit that cave-ha describes are not marked on the map and are left out. Upstream reaches Cenote La Concha (232 m), Vasija, Celestial, Flash and White River (701 m); downstream reaches Cenote Cuarenta and the Breakdown Siphon. Positions are approximate.

Reached from the 54 km mark on the Cancún–Tulum federal road, then about 8 km of dirt track into the jungle. The entrance is a half-collapsed sinkhole with a dilapidated bridge across it, which is not reassuring and is also the best landmark on the track.

The permanent line drops to 10 m and runs about 1 600 m. Two things on it are worth the trip: an ancient vase sitting on the left-hand passage, and the bones of a megatherium — a giant ground sloth — lying in a 17 m pit off the right-hand passage. Both are where they fell, in a cave that was dry when they got there.

Connects to La Concha on the left, and reaches White River at about 1 200 m.

Two dives, 26 February 2025, to 12.2 m.

Dived here with

Kim

Nearby sites

2 dives at Cenote Fenomeno

  1. 26 Feb 2025 with Kim cave date26 Feb 2025 depth12.2 m time41 min water25 °C
  2. 26 Feb 2025 with Kim cave date26 Feb 2025 depth12.2 m time43 min water25 °C

Sources

  • First-hand observation (Dennis Bakhuis)