Cliff Divers
 

I was there to see these guys a few years back. Crazy small, shallow area that they dive into. Well worth seeing it if in Acapulco.

The cab ride to the viewing area was a real eye-opener.

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I know some divers but that are not always named Cliff.

I know some Cliffs that are not always named Divers.
Cliff Clavin could have done it. :D

I took diving class for PE in high school. The short/low board was all I could handle.

I could never do what these cliff divers do.

I could do it. Once.

I used to love going to a swimming pool, and especially if there was a diving board. I'd do flips and back flips and 1.5 flips and all sort of stuff.

I remember in college our dorm pool had a 3m board, so ~10'. I tried both diving head first and jumping in feet first. Both suck. Getting smacked on the head by the water hurt, and on one occasion I must have been at a funny angle because it tried to bend my body a way it didn't want to bend. That was the end of that. Even feet first, feet flat, the bottom of the feet hurt. Feet pointed, your junk gets slammed by the water.

Nope, low board for me.

I was on the diving team in college. I wiped out from the 3 meter board...hard. Never went back. 41 meters? Nope. I thought 120 feet into water was like hitting cement?

I'd be holding my junk while going feet first at 41 meters.
Either that or a cannonball while praying.

No way could I go head first.

We ate at the restaurant that overlooks the cove where they dive, and watched them dive at night by fire light! They would make a huge fire with wadded up newspaper and time the waves and dive when when the waves were coming in. We met one diver on the beach who was running one of the para sail boats. Nice guy who dove at night and worked the beach during the day.

and they must climb the rock face barefoot!

We were there during the middle of the day. The divers came over to the viewing area to answer questions.
The thing that impressed me was that all the divers looked to be related or from the same area.
They were all barrel-chested and high shouldered. Just unique features.

another viewer told me that there is a route on the back-side of the cliff that is easy to get to the diving area.

The climbing of the cliff is for the viewers...which is cool.

This is a better view of the diving.

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Little miss muffet day on a tuffet?

Back when I was young and thought nothing could harm me I loved to dive off stupid high cliffs. Used to dive from the highest point at Waimea Falls before it became tourist attract and now they don't allow it. Dove off the bridge at 7 sacred pools on Maui which is now illegal (for good reason). One and a half off Black Rock at Kaanapali (but it's not that high). Diving into fresh water is much less of an impact than salt. In my late 30's I dove off a 90 foot cliff and my neck hurt a bit for a few years, that cured me.

^^^ Why/what the diff between fresh and salt water?

WTF you talkin bout, Willis?

I'll take your word for it since you've done both, but my intuition says you're full of it. :D

When I was a kid we watched those on The Wide World of Sports.

^^^ These might be the grandkids now diving!

Very possible. I am talking about being a kid in the 60s and 70s. I do recall thinking how crazy a guy would have to be to do it.

I saw them 60 years ago and I still remember it today. It was, and still is, a event to see.

+1

When I was a kid I watched Elvis make that dive.

He was quite trim in those days!

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Salt water is denser. From 60' it feels like you're hitting a sidewalk. Head first you straight arm with two fists and follow that hole with your forehead. And you don't go vertical until the last second. A back flop could be disastrous. Oh to be young and stupid again

I did not know that was a factor.
Another reason for me to never try it. :)

Expert cliff divers!

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I jumped off some bridges in my younger years, and no alcohol was involved.

^^^ Head first??

My mom was a competitive diver when she was young and probably could have done any of those dives but she stuck to diving boards and pools. I never had the talent or the courage, a couple of bad landings really cured me of the desire.

When I was about 14, I went rock climbing at Taylor’s Falls on the St. Croix river, (MN/WI border), and a teenager died from a miscalculated cliff dive. We stood there and watched them pull him out of the water, he had a hole in his head the size of a softball. Made a lasting impression.

Yea, we may not make it if we tried again.

Elmore Leonard wrote some fiction about one of those guys who dives from a high ladder into a very small pool. And that was just the backstory!


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The dangerous part of the Acapulco divers is that the gorge that they dive into varies in depth with the diff waves that fill it. It's constantly changing.

They time their dive as to when it is deep enough.


Watching from the viewing platform...there is no room for error on the jump timing.

I would've thought the dangerous part is dragging their huge balls on the rocks, or tripping over them when they climb back up.

^^^ That too...lol