Quintana Roo, Mexico
Hi there my Steemit friends and followers!
Welcome to my D-Tube Wednesday series where I share my videos taken at interesting places that I have visited during my travels.
Today, I will take you to the beautiful underwater world of the Yaxchen Cenote in Tulum, Mexico.
Hidden in the pristine Yucatan jungle in a remote part of Tulum, the Yaxchen Cenote is one of thousands of cenotes found on the Yucatan Peninsula. Cenote is usually defined as a sinkhole that formed naturally after a limestone bedrock above it collapsed so Yaxchen is actually not a typical cenote as it looks more like a lake but when it comes to the underwater world of this place, you will be stunned by its diversity and beauty.
As someone who hates being surrounded by crowds of people, I was also really excited about the solitude of the cenote. Usually, cenotes here in Yucatan are packed with both tourists and locals but this one was completely crowd-free. During some 4 hours that we spent there, we saw very few other people and for the most part, it felt like we had this amazing natural spot just for ourselves.
The water was crystal clear, calm and quite warm for a cenote (cenotes are usually significantly colder than the sea, which makes them very refreshing in the Yucatan heat). I spent most of the time snorkeling because the cenote provides excellent conditions for this sport and as I already mentioned, local aquatic life is really astonishing. There are many species of fish living in the cenote and you can also see large, interestingly colored fresh water crabs hanging around the bottom. Some of Yucatan´s cenotes are also home to crocodiles but (un)fortunately, we did not encounter any in Yaxchen :D
The banks of the cenote are made up by mangroves, vividly green shrubs or small trees that can be found in tropical and subtropical regions all over the world. With their remarkably dense and complex network of (partly underwater) roots, the mangroves provide natural habitat for an incredible variety of animals - from fish, crustaceans and amphibians to turtles, crocodiles and birds.
Here is a short video I took while snorkeling among the Yaxchen mangroves so that you can have a better idea of what it looks like down there :)
I hope you enjoyed the video. If you did, stay tuned for the next episode of my D-Tube Wednesday series. Thank you @dtube for allowing us to share our videos with the Steem community.
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