Cliff Divers, Acapulco

Just outside the town of Acapulco on the hillside sits the La Perla Restaurant at the El Mirador Acapulco Hotel. The buffet is decent, but the view is why you have come here. Below sits a cliff, with four brave men, lining up to dive into the churning ocean water below. These Clavadistas of La Quebrada put on a diving show 5 times a day: 12:45 pm, 7:30 pm, 8:30 pm, 9:30 pm, and 10:30 pm.

The dive is into a narrow, rocky channel and they must time the dive with the incoming waves to have enough water to leap into without hitting the bottom. They make it look easy, but it is very scary. muy macho, these fellows. It all takes place at the El Mirador Acapulco Hotel/La Perla.

The divers perform at 1 pm and at 7 pm. Taxi are plentiful and reasonable. They can take you to the viewing balconies and it costs only 3.5 USD (which comes with a Pepsi) to see the cliff divers from the balconies. Doing it in style, would be to have lunch at the Mirador Hotel La Perla Restaurant. Take your pick.

No first time trip to Acapulco would be complete without taking in the famous Cliff Divers Show. Entry fee was about $3.50/each and included one bottled drink. We went to the early evening show at 7:30PM. There are two others, at 8:30 and 9:30PM, as well as one afternoon show at 12:15PM.

This was the reason that I went to Acapulco. These crazy guys jump from the cliffs at 136 feet and plunge into the water that is only 9 1/2 feet deep. That's fricken crazy! My favorite part is that they pray to this shrine on the cliffs before they dive. This is really quite amazing because they don't just dive, but they do spins and flips as well. One guy did flips with flaming torches all the way to the sea. I thought that diving itself was impressive. See this.

The "Clavadistas" are the guys that jump from those huge cliffs in Acapulco. They are the symbol of the city.
Their presentations happens the whole day long, from 10:00am (I guess) until 9:00 pm.
I do recommend watching their jumps AT NIGHT since they jump holding a torch. It's very interesting although you can't see them actually entering the water, but you realise it happens when the fire of the torch is extinguished!
If you want t good place to watch it, you may need to pay a little, speacially to watch it from restaurants, but if you want to watch it for free, you may just move a little further from the cliff, you'll see the clavadista entering the water just perfectly.
Since I was on a budget, I didn't even bother about asking the price to watch it from a closer place.

But be warned: the whole thing takes like 5 minutes only!

To see the cliff divers was one of the rasons I decided to make a stop in Acapulco. They are one of the main atractions in Acapulco.
So, one of the first things I checked in Acapulco were the times when clavadistas performe. The first show was at 11.30 the other 4 later in the evening, staring at 19.30 and later. I've been told that show is spectacular during sunset, but I had to catch my bus so I want to see the first show. Normaly 3-4 divers perform, but this time 5 of them appeared. First: they were late, secondly: they were total show-offs, walking around like gods, thirdly: it took them very long to get ready to start the show, which was over very quickly. You'll notice that before they jump, divers pray in front of one of the two small shrines.

The show didn't impress me that much. Sure, it takes lots of courage and skills to jump and I give them respect for that. But it's nothing special. If you want to see the show and don't want to pay for the ticket (although it isn't that expensive - 15 pesos), you can get a good view from the other side of the cliff.

I have been to this event many times and it still amazes me. If you like sit at the La Perla for drinks while you watch the divers. The diving begins at 7:30pm and I think ends at 10:30pm with diving with torches. After each dive the divers will come up thru the crowd to collect tips. They are great divers. World famous. Usually the 7:30pm is about the time sunset is happening. It is gorgeous. Must see for Acapulco

You can not miss the traditional cliffdivers of Acapulco. "La Quebrada"
Various shows are given through the day but the show in the evening is the best one.
"la quebrada are the cliffs from where the daring cliff divers of La Quebrada risk their lives every night. The divers climb to a height of 30 meters, pray at the altar of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and dive off the cliff at the precise moment when the tide brings in the large waves!

Of course no trip to Acapulco would be compete with witnessing the famous cliff divers. We took a taxi from the strip to the far south end of the city and then up a steep hill to the hotel and scenic lookout drive. The scene is breathtaking. Huge high cliffs and crashing white ocean spray at the bases. The ocean is deep blue and a bit rough that day. This truly is a must see!

Definitely a must-see, a tourist-trap, and opportunity to meet other travelers all wrapped up in one. The activity is self-explanatory: there are divers off cliffs here. The make what is potentially very dangerous look very easy. Apparently over time, their spinal cords shorten or become crushed because of the pressure their bodies encounter when they dive into the in-roaring waves from such heights. The cliff diving is one must-see activity that Acapulco is known for at least in the tourism aspect.