Woman Drops Her iPhone Into a Sinkhole — It Captured a Magical World Thriving Underwater

Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula is dotted with thousands of freshwater caverns, also called “cenotes,” that were formed naturally by collapsing limestone. Of these, some of the most mysterious cenotes are located in the walled beach town of Tulum, which ancient Mayans called their home around 3,000 years ago. On a vacation, Lina Nassiri (@linassiri_) was in Tulum and accidentally dropped her iPhone in a cenote. She must have experienced what these Mayans did when they said that these cenotes are home to the rain god Chaak and a portal to Xibalba, the divine underwater world.

While Nassiri lost sight of her iPhone, the phone kept recording what appeared in the crystalline aquamarine waters of the well. The footage of this recording has crossed 68 million views on Nassiri’s TikTok “digital diary” and is still counting. The video begins with Nassiri, dressed in a swimsuit and a blue life jacket, attempting to record herself jumping in the cenote. According to CBS News, she was carrying a "waterproof iPhone case" with her as she took the tropical plunge, diving 10 meters (32.8 feet) deep. While she jumped, her phone slipped from her hands, flinging into mid-air and eventually, plummeting down into the water. 

At first, the footage revealed the mouth of the cenote fringed with plants that reflected in the crystal-clear turquoise waters bubbling in daylight. On the floor appeared the silhouette of a diver surrounded by bushels of rocky outcrops and corals that latched on to the cenote’s bottom. Soon enough, a bulbous-eyed green fish, most likely a tilapia, entered the screen. Its spotted oval body glistened in yellow, green, and gold tones as light from the camera reflected. Its fan-like and truncate fins, located at the sides of its head, quivered gently with the water current. 

In another few moments, a full-fledged shoal of these fishes glided into the footage, resembling surreal underwater aliens. They gathered around the camera as if expressing curiosity towards the foreign object. “My phone belongs to them now,” Nassiri wrote in the video overlay. People marveled at the fascinating creatures that highlighted this underwater episode, even though Nassiri may never get her iPhone back. "At least you got the best video of your life," wrote @gian. @ellinaa09 said the footage was “so poetic.” On Instagram, where Nassiri re-posted the video, @call_me_mrasad commented, “Outstanding masterpiece.” @301yung said, “Dope accident!” @saaaaaaah_dik wrote, “Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SpongeBob SquarePants?”

@lostlittlekitkitty asked her about the waterproof phone case she was carrying while she jumped in the cenote. "I had a waterproof case, but with the water pressure and everything, I just lost it, and it went down." She continued, "I was like, Oh my God, I lost my phone, where is my phone? I was really scared," Nassiri later shared with CNN. She added that a lifeguard dove into the water and retrieved her phone, but by this time, it was still filming. She later watched the footage and "saw the little fish," and “thought it was so funny."

You can follow Lina Nassiri (@linassiri_) on TikTok and Instagram (@linanassiri) for fitness and lifestyle content.