Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Cliff Diving, Mexico
Contributed by Jill Bowen
Fancy a quick dip in the sea…and I mean quick!
Bur first, what’s your usual method of entry? Like me, slowly inching your way, and therefore prolonging the ‘pain’ of cold water reaching your ‘sensitive’ bits! Or do you charge in, launching yourself into the waves? Or maybe you perform a graceful artistic dive off a jetty?
OK all you wimps, why not see how ‘real men’ enter the water!
On 11th December every year - the day preceding the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe an evening mass is held in honour of Mexico’s patron saint. I expect that a few prayers are said not only for the saint, but a few of the worshippers will also being praying for themselves! These are some of the best professional freestyle cliff divers in the world, participating the next day in a spectacle that thrills spectators with their abilities.
These foolhardy divers demonstrate their skills worldwide in competitions and demonstrations throughout the year. This event takes place at the La Quebrada cliff, which is acclaimed both for it’s natural beauty as well as its height, 34 metres (1020feet). The divers all perform a ritual prior to their participation. In turn they go down the stairs, through the cliff’s sharp rocks, cross the water at the bottom, then up through the rocks the other side. There they find their diving platform ‘La Plancha’, a large rock located 110 feet above the sea. Here they prepare themselves with stretching exercises before kneeling in prayer in front of the statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Preparations over they prepare to dive.
With a bit of luck their prayers will have been heard, and, oh boy do they need them to have been listened to!!
The divers have to hurl themselves 30 feet horizontally to avoid the rocks jutting out from the cliffs. The water can be as shallow as 11 feet; therefore the jump must be timed with an approaching wave, the minimum safety level is 13 feet – so they need a swell from the incoming wave of 2 feet, their timing is crucial. Their bodies hit the water at 55 miles per hour; to avoid shattered limbs the water has to be entered at just the right angle, with fists clenched to prevent broken hands and fingers, and to protect eyes from serious damage the top of the head – never the face – must hit the water first!
Dives range from the simple to the hair-raising, some of them involving torches of fire. Visualise the famous ‘Ocean of Fire’, when the sea is lit with petrol, making a circle of flames; the diver has to enter exactly in the centre of this burning ring or risk being burned to a cinder.
The cliff divers have been thrilling their audiences since 1934 with their death-deifying demonstration. Visit Acapulco in December for a holiday and witness this amazing event. If you are a thrill seeker yourself why not try bungee jumping from the 150-foot (50 metre) tower located on the Condesa beach!!
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