ATV Explorer - Playa del Carmen

You will visit beautiful caves and cenotes on your ATV Explorer Jungle Tours in Playa del Carmen. The eastern half of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, is home to thousands of caves and natural springs called cenotes. The ancient Mayans considered them sacred entrances to the spiritual world. No visit to this region would be complete without a trip to one of these palm-lined, crystal-clear, freshwater pools.
The Yucatan peninsula was originally under the ocean, and the region's limestone foundation is fossilized coral beds and ocean floor. There are no above ground rivers in this area, all of the ground water sinks through the porous limestone and travels to the sea in underground rivers. Parts of the limestone weakened over time and collapsed, leaving sinkholes filled with water. Locally around Playa del Carmen these pools are called cenotes.
During the ice ages, portions of the underground rivers dried up and water dripping through the limestone left mineral deposits in beautiful formations. Decorations - stalactites and stalagmites - formed in the caves and caverns, and were covered with water when the rivers began flowing once again.
The Maya used the cenotes for water - both for drinking and irrigation - and in religious ceremonies. Some of their cities were built around cenotes or wells dug down to the ground water. Divers have explored the cenote at Chichen Itza and have found offerings the ancient Maya made to the gods. Among them copper and gold necklaces, pottery, jade beads, and skeletons of both sexes and all ages.
ATV Explorer Jungle Tours takes you swimming in one of the most beautiful cenotes near Playa del Carmen. The water is clean, sheltered from the sun by sheltering cavern roof. It is so clear that the stalagmites on the bottom look like they are just under the surface, when the truth is they are more than 60 feet down!
A highlight of the jungle tour is a trip into an ancient cave. This cave used to be a cenote, but dried up centuries ago. Near the entrance is a burial site of an ancient Maya priest.