The Cave of the Swallows - Xulo

The Cave of the Swallows – Xulo

Text and photos: Audrey Cudel

Some call it the cenote Uku Cuzam or the Cave of the Swallows, in Spanish it is la Cueva de las Golondrinas and this is what it is written on the wooden road sign that you can see after passing the village of Muyil. But who met the kind and brave man that used to watch after the garden of the cave until he passed away in 2014, would simply name it after him: "Xulo" (dzulo).

Among a variety of cenotes explored so far in the Quintana Roo State of Mexico and dived extensively now by a growing population of cave divers,Xulo’s singularity comes from the outstandingbeauty and diversity of passages that will not leave any cave diver indifferent.

Xulo is one of four cenotes of the Caterpillar Cave System and was discovered about seven years ago. The system is considered small by Mexican standards, although as many as 13,500 meters of its passages have been explored and surveyed so far.

As you pass the entrance gate, you will be welcomed by the family who maintains the grounds and is now extending them with more facilities, forecasting mass tourism in the south of Tulum in the following years. They did the same in the south of Playa Del Carmen not so long ago. The owners enjoy surprising visitors by switching on the generator to light the bulbs that they have installed in the dry cave section of the cenote’s entrance.

The magic really begins after a few steps down when kneeling in the shallow, pristine water surrounded by pure white stalactites. After going head down, a short way, you enter the first clear, large and delicate room, full of speleothems. It resembles the interior of a cathedral. Continuing, you reach the second section, where the sulphur has left layers of yellow and black marks on the cave formations. Submerged roots have invaded the gas pocket that leads to the first minor restriction. The reward awaits you on the other side, where you will find a gigantic room haunted by what could be named after Giacometti’s sculpture “Walking Men”.

The route then splits into two very contrasting passages. The first deeper one leads to a 27 meters long channel, where we can observe a total change of scenery. Speleothems made of unsteady white limestone seem to be skeletons. The second one, a complex circuit leading to the cenote Caterpillar, has become my favourite among all the cave dives I have been doing on the Riviera Maya for six years.

I met "el señor Xulo" in 2013, a year before he passed away and myfirst dives there led me to contact with Alvaro Roldan, one of theexplorers of the cave, who was as passionate sharing his knowledge as I was mesmerized discovering more of it. Two years later, while attempting to traverse one Caterpillar passage I passed through a major restriction and broke a stalactite. It was a great challenge to pass through that passage and I learnt two lessons at that occasion:

● one should not assume that man has been where the permanent line is passing,

● there is no greater personal challenge than conservation of the cave.

Later, Xulo was the place I chose to lead my first cave survey experiences to get to know the place even better. Since than I dived in the same circuit many times and what used to be a labyrinth of restrictions seems to get larger. Unfortunately, the impact of more traffic in the cave has been growing. What will be left of the Cave of the Swallows in seven years from now?

According to the legend and for sailors, a swallow symbolizes courage, experience and value, navigating long distances and retuning to one’s home port. It is also said that if a sailor drowns, swallows will carry his soul to Heaven. I like to seek in each cave some sailor’s spirit and find in Xulo my home port to return to.