Kinda the Same, but With Swimming!

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Words by Dalene Heck / Photography by Pete Heck

We’ve kinda seen this before.

Large pools stacked and feeding into those below via small cascades broken through barriers of vegetation.

Crystal clear water, large fish gliding fairly undisturbed.

Replace forest with tropical jungle, and have a single-directional formation versus a veritable maze, but overall, the similarities between Semuc Champey and Plitvice Lakes are Croatia are significant.

Plitvice Lakes Croatia
Plitvice Lakes, Croatia
Semuc Champey - Aerial view

Semuc Champey is more open to interactivity with the small amount of tourists that visit the area. The waterfall below reaches into caves underground, which are available to be toured by candlelight. Caves = bats = Dalene not interested.

Waterfalls at Semuc Champey

We just enjoyed the view above ground instead.

Semuc Champey Pools

Semuc Champey Panoramic

Semuc Champey Crystal Pools

Serenity at Semuc Champey

The best part (and one big advantage that Semuc Champey has over Plitvice), is that we could swim in it!

And after the sweaty climb up to the look-out point, we took full advantage.

Swimming Semuc Champey

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28 Comments

  1. Ahhh I wanted to swim in the Plitvice lakes so badly! I did trip and fall, but I don’t think they would have taken that as an excuse. Great pics!

    1. All I could think about the whole time we were at Plitvice was wanting to kayak in the bigger lakes! (It was cold, so we didn’t think much of swimming then). 🙂

  2. Isn’t the lookout view over Semuc incredible?

    In the main swimming area, there are actually little mini-caves under the overhangs that you can get to if you swim underwater a bit.

    A bit claustrophobic, but fun too.

    1. The view was stunning! Worth all the sweatiness to get there. 🙂

      Yeah, I ain’t good with claustrophobia either. I’m quite okay with staying above ground.

    1. It was AHMAZING. Oh, and the water had all those little fish that eat the dead skin off your feet too! Although I was too chicken to let them do that to me.

  3. Truly beautiful. Umm where are they? Maybe I am skimming the text too fast, but I can’t figure out what country these falls are in. I assume Guatemala, but is that right?

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