Riviera Maya (Quintana Roo) · about 7 km from Tulum
Car Wash (Aktun Ha)
- Max depth21 m (69 ft)
- CertificationCavern
- Water temperature≈ 24–25 °C (75–77 °F)estimated, no reports yet
- SpecialOpen water with a cavern guide (CREER 1)
Diving and fills
Dive here with
1 more who guide here
Fills nearby
- ProTec TulumAir, EAN32, O₂ up to 200 bar, trimix on request (booster); Sofnolime 797 always in stock
- Third Dimension DivingEAN32, HP O₂, deco gases and any trimix (booster); Sofnolime 797 and Intersorb; prefilled trimix bailout for rent
- Ko’ox Diving (Tulum)Air, nitrox, O₂ and helium mixes (He about US$2/cf)
What it looks like
Cenote Car Wash Cave Dive #Vlog Cenote Carwash Cenote Car Wash - Cave Section with Paragon Dive Adventures Cenote Cave Diving - Chan Hole - Car Wash
All 4 videos and posts
Videos and posts
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Cenote Car Wash Cave Dive #Vlog Cenote Carwash Cenote Car Wash - Cave Section with Paragon Dive Adventures Cenote Cave Diving - Chan Hole - Car Wash
Search for more onYouTube ↗Instagram ↗Facebook ↗
Other people's footage, not advice: how someone else dives here says nothing about what suits your team. Dive within your training.
The dive
You start in an open basin about 5 m deep with a snorkelling area. Around it runs a cavern loop of about 185 m at 13–15 m depth, with a cavern limit on the north and south sides at about 10 m.
Part of Sistema Carwash. Also in this system: Zacil-Ha (Luke's Hope)
Profile and sections
You start in an open basin about 5 m deep with a snorkelling area. Around it runs a cavern loop of about 185 m at 13–15 m depth, with a cavern limit on the north and south sides at about 10 m. In the cave lie the Room of Tears, Adriana's Room, Cell Block and the Chamber of Ancients; upstream you reach Zacil-Ha, an alternative entrance. A crocodile lives here.
In the Chamber of Ancients (~-26/-30 m) UNAM and INAH researchers found hearths ~10,500 years old in 2020. Sistema Carwash is 3.2 km surveyed, down to -26.5 m (QRSS, Jan 2025). Aktun Ha is Maya for ‘water cave’; the English name comes from the vehicles washed there in the 1970s.
Practical: fee about 250–300 MXN, cameras extra. The algae bloom (Mar–Oct) is no issue in January.
- Depth and profile
- Mostly -10 to -15 m; salt water from about -21 m
- Intro level
- Golden cavern line and the first cave sections.
- Configuration
- All configurations
- DPV: DPV possible
- Pond used for DPV skill drills; cave partly roomy, but downstream is sidemount-only and very silty
Who can dive where
- At least Cavern
- Cavern zone / easier part: at least Intro to cave
- Cavern zone / easier part: at least Open water / no overhead
- Configurations: Backmount / twinset / Sidemount / CCR / Small cylinders / no-mount (speleo sumps)
- Goes down to 21 m (trimix or deco may be needed)
This is how the planner decides who in your team may dive this cave. Rules your own trip adds (organizer, a mail, the AI) show with your trip.
How to get there
On the Tulum–Cobá road; parking a few metres away, concrete path and deck — easy gear handling.
Around Car Wash (Aktun Ha)
Fills3 fill stations · nearest 7 km
ProTec Tulum
Av. Satélite / Calle Tun-Kul, Tulum
Air, EAN32, O₂ up to 200 bar, trimix on request (booster); Sofnolime 797 always in stock
Daily 8–19
Rental of CCR, scooters, sidemount and double cylinders; CCR room for 14 units. ProTec Playa merged into Tulum in 2026. Keys for Xa'ay Ha (Chi Keen) and Doggi/Style (Muyil) are collected here.
Third Dimension Diving
Calle Chemuyil Mz 14 Lt 01, Mayapax, Tulum
EAN32, HP O₂, deco gases and any trimix (booster); Sofnolime 797 and Intersorb; prefilled trimix bailout for rent
Unknown — call
Rental of backmount, sidemount, CCR cylinders, Suex scooters and stages. In Tulum (Mayapax neighbourhood, west of the 307).
Ko’ox Diving (Tulum)
Tulum
Air, nitrox, O₂ and helium mixes (He about US$2/cf)
Daily 7:30–21:00
Fills CCR, stage and double cylinders; cave gear for rent. Card payment accepted. The site also lists a Puerto Aventuras branch (Hwy 307 km 269.5, 7:30–21:00), but it is not on Google Maps — ask whether it exists and fills.
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Other sites6 within 3 km
News
All (5)
Nearby
Articles about cave diving that name a place within 25 km of this site, but no cave by name. They're not necessarily about this site.
- A Diver Found a Skeleton at Least 8,000 Years Old Hidden 26 Feet Underwater in a Flooded Cave in Mexico ↗
- Cave-divers find trapped spearfisher alive after 15 days ↗
- Cave diving is fraught with danger, but the reward is sights like nothing else on Earth ↗
- INAH files legal complaint for diver damage to underwater archaeological site in Tulum cave ↗
- A Diver Found 8,000-Year-Old Human Remains Deep Inside an Underwater Cave ↗
Access and rules change: check what applies locally right before your trip. Source: GDELT Project and the news feeds of diving magazines. Search for more news ↗ Searched automatically, last on 11 Nov 2026.
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