Cenote Sac Aua

Useful Information

Location:	97744 Dzalbay, Yuc. From Valladoid 295 north, turn right on 180D, turn left to Yalcoba then Dzalbay. In the village at the north end signposted. (20.8412199, -88.0510391)
Open:	All year daily 8-16:40. [2025]
Fee:	Adults MXN 150. [2025]
Classification:	Cenote
Light:	n/a
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Cenote Sac Aua, 97744 Dzalbay, Yucatán, Cell: +52-985-113-5112.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

Description

Cenote Sac Aua is also written Cenote Sac-Aua or Cenote Sac Awa. Its also sometimes called The Cenote of the Maidens, because there is a local lore that the site was used for maiden sacrifices. There is also a legend about an underground connection with a nearby ancient Mayan temple. It is located north of the small village Dzalbay, at the end of the village there is a gate, and a private road starts. Soon a car park and ticket office is reached. From here it’s a 500 m/10 minutes hike to the doline, they also rent bicycles if you are in a hurry. This cenote is rather unknown, mostly visited by the locals.

And it has a rather unique geometry, it’s a huge, collapsed cave chamber with a dry floor in the center, which they call the island. There is a lake in the form of a circle along the walls around this island. The origin seems obvious: the collapse ceiling in the center of the chamber formed a pile of debris in the center, right below the opening. This is quite common, and so the actual question is, why are all the other cenotes different? The answer is the underground cave system with its massive cave river, which transports the debris away, and so most cenotes have no island. It seems in this case the cave river was too shallow and thus not strong enough to transport the debris away.

The lake in the cenote has a water depth of 1 to 12 m, the chamber has a diameter of 90 m. Most people visit the cenote on a boat, there are kayaks for rent. It has several side passages with a dry floor and numerous speleothems as well as archaeological remains.