Cliff divers at Acapulco

---

Geo: 16.978, -100.212

It is sunny most of the year round here in Acapulco. There are 3 bays, the main one being Acapulco Bay which is lined with long sandy beaches and marinas. The Bay of Marques has the houses of the rich and famous built on the cliffs overlooking the bay. At one time Frank Sinatra, John Wayne and Elizabeth Taylor all had houses here. Salvador Dali had his honeymoon here and loved the place as also did Johnny Weissmuller who played the original Tarzan. He loved it so much he lived and died here. There are many of the old films which have some shots which were filmed here such as the "Monster of the Black Lagoon", "Rambo" and "The African Queen".Nowadays it has become built up with modern hotels , bars and restaurants and what was originally a small fishing village is now a major tourist industry.Our tour took us all along the coast to see the views of all the bays. There was the inevitable stop at a jewellery store where we took the free beer but didn't buy anything.Finally we went back along the coast to the bay where the Cliff Divers do their thing. Before we saw them we were treated to a small show of dance, one by a rather impressive Fire Dancer and also some more traditional Mexican dancing.Finally what we were here for. The rocks go steeply to the sea from a height of 136 feet. The waves are coming in and out so the divers have to time their dive when the waves have come in and there is the maximum amount of water in the bay. Furthermore they have to swim in the bay out to the rocks and climb up to the top from where they are going to dive. There are some blue shrines at the top where they say a prayer beforehand for a safe dive. There have been accidents such a broken limbs but apparently no fatalities. It still looks extremely scary. These guys start diving from a very early age and gradually get higher and higher. They cannot actually see the spot in the sea into which they will drop so they have to launch themselves out as far as possible away from the rock face. We saw 7 of these men doing rolls in mid air before all landing safely in the sea- very impressive.

---

Photos

Divers at the top of the cliff
Note the blue shrines behind where they say a prayer before diving

Spot the diver
He is on the bottom left in the shadow in front of the small pointed rock

Comments

[trish duggan]

Tiz.... Your first blog did not generate...please resend ! Hope you having wonderful time ..seems so luv txxxx