Riviera Maya Cenotes · Mexico · Cenote · Cave & cavern · Freshwater
Cenote Aktun Ha
Lily pads on the surface, decorated cavern underneath
Photo: Eduardo Manchon · CC BY-SA 3.0
Named for the taxi drivers who used to wash their cars in it, Aktun Ha sits just off the Cobá road out of Tulum and opens as a wide jungle pool before the rock closes over. The pool end is lily pads and small fish in a couple of metres; the cavern behind it is well decorated and works down to a halocline at about 15 m.
Also known as Car Wash, Cenote Car Wash.
Where it is and how deep
20.2742° N, 87.4863° WPublished position for this site.
The dive
The dive starts in the open pool, which is a genuinely different environment from the cavern behind it: aquatic plants and lily pads on the surface, shoals of tiny fish underneath, small freshwater turtles in the shallows and crustaceans and insects working the plant stems. Many guides run the first few minutes here deliberately, because the light and the plant life do not appear again once you are under rock.
From the pool the route follows the line into spacious, well-decorated cavern passage, with stalactites, stalagmites, columns and flowstone through most of it. The passages are wide enough that a group can hold formation without brushing anything, which is part of why the site is used for early cavern dives rather than a tight system.
The halocline sits at roughly 15 m and is the deepest part of the guided profile. Passing into it turns the view oily and indistinct for a moment before it settles, and the temperature changes with it. Beyond the cavern line the system carries on for kilometres, which is cave diving and not part of this dive.
Marine life and season
- Freshwater fish
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good |
Season follows Riviera Maya Cenotes: Cenote water temperature holds steady all year; Dos Ojos gets busier in the December–April peak season while most other cenotes stay quiet.
Photos from Cenote Aktun Ha
Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE · CC BY-SA 2.0
Questions divers ask
Why is it called Car Wash?+
Taxi drivers used to wash their cars in the pool because the access from the road was so easy. No car washing takes place there now, but the nickname stuck and most operators still list the site under it.
How deep is Cenote Car Wash?+
The guided cavern dive reaches about 15 m, which is where the halocline sits. The open pool at the start is only a couple of metres deep.
Sources
- Aktun Ha — Cenote Diving in Tulum — Seth Dive Mexico
- Cenote Car Wash (Aktun Ha) — Scubago
Photo credits
- Fine tree roots hanging through pale blue water in a cenote by Eduardo Manchon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Small mangrove molly fish in shallow tannic water over leaf litter by Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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