Cliff Divers
I had no idea what to expect when we were taken to see the famous cliff divers of Acapulco. I thought perhaps there was another cliff opposite where they dive, and that we stand on this cliff behind a fence. Instead, we were led through a store, then down some stairs and onto a multi level terrace with tables and chairs. We were offered a choice of water, pop or beer on our way in, part of our tour package. I had brought my own water and Teddy declined, so we hurried to get a good spot.
When we were gathered in the Princess Theatre prior to our departure by bus, there were hundreds of us going on tour and I figured we didn’t have a hope in hell of seeing anything if we all ended up bunched at the viewpoint. However, they very cleverly staggered the buses and we had a great view.
The divers dive from various levels. Most dove from about 80 feet, very impressive, and one dove from 100’. At the 80’ mark, sometimes two would dive at once, mostly doing a swan dive but also sometimes doing a flip in the air. At the bottom, they swim back to the side from which they dove and then climb up the rock face, barefoot. They usually take a short break, maybe 5 minutes, and then do it all over again. Today there were about 8 or 10 divers and once they had all climbed to the top, they took turns diving down so we got quite the show. After they all finished, we headed out and weren’t surprised at all to be greeted by all the divers, waiting at the exit of the store with a huge plastic bag of dollars that they had collected from the tourists. The money goes into a kitty and is shared by all the divers, even those who are retired. One of the retired divers has gone blind from the repeated diving. Others end us with broken ribs or arms, not because they hit anything, but because of the stress of diving so often from these heights.
When we were gathered in the Princess Theatre prior to our departure by bus, there were hundreds of us going on tour and I figured we didn’t have a hope in hell of seeing anything if we all ended up bunched at the viewpoint. However, they very cleverly staggered the buses and we had a great view.
The divers dive from various levels. Most dove from about 80 feet, very impressive, and one dove from 100’. At the 80’ mark, sometimes two would dive at once, mostly doing a swan dive but also sometimes doing a flip in the air. At the bottom, they swim back to the side from which they dove and then climb up the rock face, barefoot. They usually take a short break, maybe 5 minutes, and then do it all over again. Today there were about 8 or 10 divers and once they had all climbed to the top, they took turns diving down so we got quite the show. After they all finished, we headed out and weren’t surprised at all to be greeted by all the divers, waiting at the exit of the store with a huge plastic bag of dollars that they had collected from the tourists. The money goes into a kitty and is shared by all the divers, even those who are retired. One of the retired divers has gone blind from the repeated diving. Others end us with broken ribs or arms, not because they hit anything, but because of the stress of diving so often from these heights.
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