Santa Rosa, New Mexico

About 2 hours from ABQ we stopped in Santa Rosa (on the recommendation of several people) solely to check out the Blue Hole. The BH is a natural fresh water pool with crystal clear, freezing cold, and extremely deep water. People swim, jump off the rocks/wall, and scuba dive here, in addition to picnicking and hanging out. Despite the rainy/overcast weather, there were about 50 people hanging out/swimming and several scuba divers in the water.

After watching a few people dive off the rocks (esp an old guy who loved it), I changed clothes and walked up the mini hill and stood about 15-20 feet above the water. The dudes sitting off to the right (covered in prison tats, smoking cigarettes aggressively), where LVL was positioned to take pics, requested a “swan dive, bro,” and I was happy to oblige, albeit pretty awkwardly. The dive got my adrenaline pumping and the freezing cold water took my breath away. So worth it.