Riviera Maya (Quintana Roo) · about 9 km from Tulum
Yax Chen (Ox Bel Ha)
- CertificationFull cave
- Water temperature≈ 24–25 °C (75–77 °F)estimated, no reports yet
- SpecialDPV-suitable
Diving and fills
Dive here with
Fills nearby
- Ko’ox Diving (Tulum)Air, nitrox, O₂ and helium mixes (He about US$2/cf)
- 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
What it looks like
All 1 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.
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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
Yax Chen has a very different vibe from the Tulum caves: undecorated, with lots of light through the ceiling, variable visibility and bacterial slime on the line.
Part of Sistema Ox Bel Ha. Also in this system: Mayan Blue (Escondido), Naharon (Cristal), Jailhouse (Las Palmas), Corazón del Paraíso, Odyssey (Ox Bel Ha)
Profile and sections
Yax Chen has a very different vibe from the Tulum caves: undecorated, with lots of light through the ceiling, variable visibility and bacterial slime on the line. After rain there is a tannic layer. With a DPV you surface in mangrove pools full of tarpon.
This entrance to Ox Bel Ha lies just before the system drains into the sea, and was the base of the 2022–2023 exploration (GUE team, 10 km of new passage). Yaxchen is Maya for ‘blue or green well’. Sistema Ox Bel Ha (Maya: ‘three paths of water’): 496.8 km surveyed, down to -57.3 m (QRSS, Jan 2025).
Practical: certified cave divers only.
- Depth and profile
- Entrance pond about -5 to -7 m; cave lines shallow, average about -12 m; halocline present (depth unknown)
- Configuration
- Backmount and sidemount are used (exploration teams); DPV handy; very silt-sensitive bottom
- DPV: DPV-suitable
- Subway-sized tunnels; scooters widely used (DPV courses, GUE exploration) to reach the mangrove cenotes further in. Silt-sensitive floor
Who can dive where
- At least Full cave
- Configurations: Backmount / twinset / Sidemount / CCR / Small cylinders / no-mount (speleo sumps)
- 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
Via the Tulum–Boca Paila coast road (Sian Ka'an), about 10 km south of the centre; pin: opencaves.info. Mangrove area. Access and fee unknown — through a local dive centre.
Around Yax Chen (Ox Bel Ha)
Fills3 fill stations · nearest 9 km
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.
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.
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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.
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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