Blue Hole ~ Santa Rosa, New Mexico

“Water is life, and clean water means health.”

~ Audrey Hepburn

Off Route 66 in Santa Rosa, New Mexico is a bell-shaped lake of crystal-clear water that’s 81 feet deep AND has underground tunnels!!

Those tunnels are filled with water, meet up with six other lakes in the area, and go to neighboring states …

Santa Rosa is known as the “City of Natural Lakes” because of these seven lakes.

When we pulled up it was still early, about 8 am, and the water was cold!

As far as I could tell there wasn’t much to do aside from the blue hole but according to the Santa Rosa website there are a ton of fun things to do in the area.

FUN FACTS:

• The water is a cool 61 degrees all year long.
  • This might sound like a good thing and I’m sure it is in the summer, but let me tell you, 61 degrees in the winter is not warm.  I thought it might be kinda warm but it’s not, it’s cold, like cold cold.
• The water recirculates about every six hours.
  • I couldn’t find a scientific explanation for why this happens but I’m assuming it’s because the water is constantly flowing.
• I plug my nose before I jump in the water.
  • I’m not sure when I started doing this, but now I can’t stop so laugh all you want, I’m a nose plugger.

For all you divers out there, this is apparently a great place to dive. 

Because Santa Rosa has an elevation of 4,600 feet above sea level, diving to the bottom of this lake is like going to a depth of 100 feet in the ocean and I’m not a diver but that sounds impressive. 

Also, the Blue Hole Dive Center offers training; from basic training in open water to more advanced Dive Master training for anyone looking.

This is a beautiful destination and I recommend everyone check it out but the area needs to be respected and safety needs to be a priority.

Until next time 

P.S. Before you leave be sure to check out my post on Clayton Lake State Park, another beautiful New Mexico location.