Cenote Kankirixche

We went exploring yesterday, looking for Cenote Kankirixche.  I'm almost reluctant to write about this as it's still a little secret, difficult to find without clear directions, completely unmarked and free.

Chris, Kathy and Sylvia swimming in Cenote Kankirixche

We were returning from visiting Uxmal, travelling north through Muna, towards Merida.  There is a cross road with Hacienda Ochil on the west and the road goes to the town of Abala to the east. Taking the road into Abala, drive straight through the town.  Measuring your distance from the last cross street as you exit the east side of town, drive 6 km. east.

As you drive along, there are occasional power lines heading off to your left (north) with small, service roadways following them.  At the 6km mark, you will see much larger, metal, power transmission towers taking the electrical lines north.  Turn left on the small roadway just past these lines and drive for 2.0km to reach the cenote.  It is a very narrow, single lane dirt and rock track so it's slow going but kept well-cleared.  We actually did meet one car coming towards us but we managed to find a spot to squeeze our car to the side enough that they were able to creep by us.

You will come to a fork in the road at about 1.5 km; follow the road as it curves to the left and crosses under the power lines.  It continues curving around left until it ends at the cenote at 2.0km.

You can click on this Google Earth map  to see exactly where the cenote is located.

The girls at the edge of the cenote entrance, behind the Alamo tree

There is nothing immediately visible there except for a small clearing and a large Alamo tree.

As you walk around the tree you will see the hole in the ground and some rickety wooden steps going down into the earth.  The stairway turned out to be reasonably sturdy and ended at a small wooden platform just above the water.

The stairway down into Cenote Kankirixche

Looking up from the platform, bottom of stairs

It is a beautiful, wide open cenote, clear and shallow where you enter along one side, getting much deeper across the other side, suitable for snorkeling or scuba.  The sun lights up a small area of water creating an incredible deep glow throughout the pool and reflecting off the ceiling high above.  There are huge stalactites above and stalagmites in the water and vines and Alamo tree roots hanging down.

The road entering the clearing by the cenote

There was only one car already there when we arrived, with a couple just finishing their swim.


The water was very comfortable at about 28c, warmer than the ocean's current 24c.  We were alone while we swam in the cenote for about half an hour and we had just finished changing out of our bathing suits by our car  to leave when another car arrived.  Perfect timing!  :)

Although the road in to Cenote Kankirixche is very narrow and rough, it is well worth it as this is definitely one of the nicest cenotes I have been to.