For generations, brave young men from Acapulco have hurled themselves off the majestic cliffs towering over the Pacific Ocean. Cliff divers´astonishing performance swiftly became Acapulco´s main attraction with over five million annual visitors.
The main finesse of the dive is that the jump must be made considering the wind, time between leaving the cliff and hitting the water and the tide. Timing is crucial for the divers. If the water level is not deep enough, the diver will not have the 4-5 meters needed to clear the dangerous rocky bottom. In a free fall of about 50 mph, the risk of injury is condiderably high.
The dives usually take place in the afternoons and evenings. During the night, divers often hold torches while diving. When the show is finished the divers walk to the top of the stairs and accept tips.
The dives differ in levels of difficulty, in some cases a spectacular show is formed in a duo or trio dive. Divers keep themselves in a very good shape by everyday practising. Even if some of them very young, they are greatly experienced, which is the main reason of no fatalities occurence despite of all the dangers.
Acapulco cliff diving was regularly featured on weekend sports television programming in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s when the USA High Diving Team competed with the La Quebrada Cliff Divers annually during the Acapulco Christmas Festival. The 2002 Guinness Book of World Records lists this as "the highest regularly performed headfirst dives" in the world.
Source: Wikipedia , La Quebrada FB profile , Grayline.com Video: Youtube.com Text: Thomas
