Hammarroth

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Mexico Sidemount Diving

Exploring the narrow passages of cenote Xulo

About a 30-minute drive south of Tulum on the Yucatan penninsula in Mexico, we find Xulo - a very decorative underwater cave with both large tunnels, big enough to fit a bus, and narrow passages you have to squeeze through.
In 2022 I did a dive here with award-winning photographer Mekan. It's his images you see in this story. I came back in 2025 and the videos you'll see are from then.
There is a lot of equipment to prepare. We take it nice and easy until it's time to put on the wetsuit.
It might not look so hot in the photos but it's about 35 degrees Celcius. Once the wetsuit is on we move into the cave and the water as quickly as possible.
Cookies and line arrows are used to mark decisions on the cave line.
It's hard to describe the feeling of going from the heat and all the equipment preperations to gliding through the entrance of the cave.
The head clears from any thoughts concerning the topside world. It's the most effective method of meditation I'm aware of.
If I remember the story correctly, Xulo means 'cool'. The cenote was discovered by I diver entering a different hole in the jungle. After a few hours of exploring he found cenote 'Uku Cusam'. As he popped his head up out the water, he found a very stern looking man with a machete.
However, it turned out that this man was very friendly and 'cool', which is where the name Xulo comes from. Ever since then it has been a popular dive site.
The cave line is always close by. It's very unlikely, especially in this cave, but things can happen that reduce visibility to zero very quickly.
When we want to explore other passages we tie in our own line using one of the cookies we carry with us.
In dry cave you have hours, or even days, to find your way back, but underwater you often have less than an hour. That is why we always make sure to have a continous line back to the surface.
Like many other kids I dreamt of becoming an astronaut but as I took up diving those dreams disappeared.
There is nothing in space that is cooler than this.
As we go deeper into the cave, the cave changes character. From very decorative smooth features, to rough jagged limestone.
Just before reaching the end-of-line, we have used up one third of our total gas supply. This means we turn around so that we have two thirds to use on the way back.
Since we've been going off into a side tunnel as well, we have plenty of time to make it safely back along the main caveline.
Although the maximum depth we reached was about 24 meters, the average depth of the dive is only 6 meters, which means we can stay down for a long time.

To see more of Mekan's amazing photography, check out his website: Mekan Photography

Jan 12, 2022