Famous Divers: Cliff Divers
For many people the name Acapulco conjures up images of the clavadistas, or cliff-divers, brave local men who make their living by tempting death. The spectacle of these men swan-diving some 130 feet into La Quebrada, literally "gorge," and then splashing into 12 feet of rough surf is a sight not to be missed.
It seems this practice of cliff diving began with local fishermen, who were known to dive from high up on the rocky cliffs in order to propel themselves deep enough into the water to free snagged fishing lines. With the advent of tourism in the 1930s, the divers discovered that their sensational diving could earn them tips. And by the 960s they were featuring regularly in films set in tropical regions.
Before the dive, the divers pray at a small shrine on the cliffs. The divers must time their jumps to coordinate with the wave and tide action below to ensure that they're landing in the maximum amount of water. The dive begins with a beautiful, horizontal takeoff in order to clear the uneven cliff face, and is followed by a plummet past the unforgiving boulders. After surfacing, hopefully without broken bones or dislocated limbs, the divers scale the steep rocky cliffs back to the top. Amazingly, there are even night dives, when the young men descend into the water holding flaming torches!
This is not a long-term occupation for most divers. New, young divers are trained continually to be accepted into what has become an elite association of daredevils. Perhaps the most astonishing feature is that there have been no reported deaths associated with the dives since the 1920s.
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