Riviera Maya (Quintana Roo) · about 7 km from Tulum
Vaca Ha
- Max depth27 m (89 ft)
- CertificationFull cave
- Water temperature≈ 24–25 °C (75–77 °F)estimated, no reports yet
- SpecialSidemount
Diving and fills
Dive here with
Fills nearby
- Third Dimension DivingEAN32, HP O₂, deco gases and any trimix (booster); Sofnolime 797 and Intersorb; prefilled trimix bailout for rent
- ProTec TulumAir, EAN32, O₂ up to 200 bar, trimix on request (booster); Sofnolime 797 always in stock
- Ko’ox Diving (Tulum)Air, nitrox, O₂ and helium mixes (He about US$2/cf)
What it looks like
Cave diving Mexico - Cenote Vaca Ha Cenote Vaca Ha 23 April 2023 Cenote Vaca Ha Cave Dive in Cenotes "Vaca Ha & Alamo", 3 & 4 Dec. Tulum, Mexico
All 4 videos and posts
Videos and posts
From other divers, via YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. They only load when you click; after that, Google's or Meta's privacy rules apply.
Cave diving Mexico - Cenote Vaca Ha Cenote Vaca Ha 23 April 2023 Cenote Vaca Ha Cave Dive in Cenotes "Vaca Ha & Alamo", 3 & 4 Dec. Tulum, Mexico
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Other people's footage, not advice: how someone else dives here says nothing about what suits your team. Dive within your training.
The dive
The first 180 m of Vaca Ha are full of columns, followed by fracture passages. A cow skeleton lies at the 6 m stop. There is little flow, and the water is clear from late Oct to early April.
1 earlier accident or incident has been reported at this cave. Read what happened ↓
Profile and sections
The first 180 m of Vaca Ha are full of columns, followed by fracture passages. A cow skeleton lies at the 6 m stop. There is little flow, and the water is clear from late Oct to early April.
Vaca Ha is a linear system (2.6 km), connected to Toucha Ha/Sistema Zapote in 2005. The name Vaca-Ha (Spanish/Maya) means ‘cow water’.
Practical: fee unknown (ask).
- Depth and profile
- Average about -21/-22 m, max about -27 m; halocline about -19 m
- Configuration
- Backmount, sidemount and DPV are used; there is at least one restriction where cylinders must come off (no-mount) — sidemount recommended
- DPV: DPV possible (estimate)
- 2.6 km linear cave, huge hallway after a small start, but a body-tight restriction on a jump; no DPV reports found
Who can dive where
- At least Full cave
- Configurations: Backmount / twinset / Sidemount / CCR / Small cylinders / no-mount (speleo sumps)
- Goes down to 27 m (trimix or deco may be needed)
- Experienced divers only
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
Tulum–Cobá road; parking for 2–3 cars, no facilities. The entrance is a ~4 m puddle at the edge of a swamp; shared entrance with Kim Ha and Tortuga.
Around Vaca Ha
Fills3 fill stations · nearest 6 km
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).
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.
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.
The links to Booking.com are affiliate links: if you book through one, DiveTripPlanner earns a small commission. You pay the same.
Other sites6 within 3 km
News
All (6)
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 ↗
Accidents and incidents
What happened at this cave before, with the sources. No names are given; read it as a lesson for your own planning.
- Fatality (July 2020): very experienced solo sidemount diver (470 cave dives) with DPV and stage ran out of gas at a no-mount restriction 215 m from the entrance during survey/exploration; first jump without a spool, silty low-vis section. No solo diving, no exploration without a plan.
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.
More of the latest in Riviera Maya (Quintana Roo, Mexico): conditions, closures and news →Going to the Riviera Maya with your team?
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