Video materials courtesy of our guests AltaiDIVE club

Cenote Dreamgate

photo by Igor Pereverzev

Cenote Dreamgate is open daily. There is a set of minimal amenities here: a toilet, a locker room, a couple of tables for assembling equipment. Parking is located on the edge of the cenote, entry into the cenote is via steep metal steps to a large wooden platform standing on the water. Equipment can be lowered using ropes and blocks. There are 2 stationary cavern lines here – upstream and downstream. The maximum depth is 7 meters.

Cenote Dreamgate is where most of the BBC Planet Earth documentary series “The Caves” was filmed, as well as the BBC Natural World documentary “Secrets of the Mayan Underworld”.

Dreamgate cenote is located 1 km south of Dos Ojos cenote on highway 307, right in the jungle, 4 km away from the highway.

In Dreamgate cenote you can do 2 completely different dives. The cavern line that leads upstream starts at the edge of theplatform. The cavern zone here is not very large, and it is necessary to explore it slowly, carefully controlling your buoyancy and not swimming close to the stalactites. The cavern is a real miracle of nature, richly decorated with various fragile, glass like formations. In many places you can see “soda straw formations” – “straw stalactites”. This is the initial phase of stalactite formation. At this stage, they are extremely fragile, and can break even from air bubbles. So the diver’s task is not to deviate from the running end and view them from a safe distance. There is a small air pocket here and many stalactites come down from the ceiling and are reflected in it like in a mirror.

photo by Alexey Pupyshev

The downstream cavern line is much longer. Frankly speaking, diving in this direction requires excellent buoyancy from the divers – it is much darker here, there is a lot of silt and suspension, ready to rise from any careless movement. The guide is laid around a small “chimney” – an air pocket through which you can enter or exit if necessary. The exit through this air pocket can only be visible underwater at noon, so this dive gives the divers a clear idea of ​​how real caves are looks like.
Here you can see huge tree roots drifting on the surface of the air pocket, albino cave fish, many beautiful stalagmites. This dive is very beautiful, but not for those who are afraid of the dark!

The minimum level of diving certification for the cavern lines in Dreamgate cenote AOWD + perfect buoyancy.