Cliff Divers
NileGuide Expert Says:
This world-famous show (born in the 1930s) helped put Acapulco on the map and is one of the world's longest lasting tourist spectacles. It takes place every day of the year, unless (very rare) the weather is so rainy that it obscures visibility. The night time show provides a thrill for young and old, seeing the lithe young divers march down carrying torches and dive from the heights also with torches and sometimes to a backdrop of flame on the rocks opposite.
Address:
Plazoleta La Quebrada, y Av. López Mateos, Col. Centro
393=0 Acapulco, Mexico
Phone:
(744) 483 1400
NileGuide Expert tip:
If you wander about here at about 9 a.m. you may be lucky enough to see the divers - whose tradition tends to run in families from the Traditional area of town - train and practice, and on weekends their children often play in the channel. For the lunchtime show wear sunblock and a hat as the reflection of heat from the rocks is ferocious. After the show you are welcome to hang about for photos with the divers but please tip generously as they earn very little for risking their lives.
Description:
Five times a day professional cliff divers from Acapulco thrill the public with a spectacular event, swimming across the narrow La Quebrada channel, scaling the 28-meter cliffs and then taking turns to dive from different rocky points. The show can be seen at a price (including either dinner or two drinks) from the terraces of the Hotel Mirador or for a much cheaper contribution (often including a soft drink or a beer) from the steps which snake down towards a platform just beneath the diving spot, managed by the Cliff Divers themselves. The first show is at 1pm, while the next four are at 7, 8, 9 and 10 with torchlight and other fiery antics. Before leaping into the abyss the divers pray to the Virgin of Guadalupe at one of two shrines built in her honor at the top.
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