The Perils of Diving Off Of a Cliff
In my neverending quest to remain young (at least at heart), I decided to try cliff diving two summers ago at Elora Quarry. The public diving cliff here is about 15 feet above the water, and judging from the line of ten year olds to thirty somethings it is quite the attraction for young residents of Elora and the nearby town of Fergus, plus visitors like myself.
The quarry has larger cliffs than the one the park lets you dive off. I would estimate that jumping from the edge of the quarry it is about a 45 foot freefall into the waters below. On my first trip to the Elora Gorge several risk takers decided to do this, much to the frustration of the park attendants who had to wait for them to swim to shore so they could promptly be escorted out of the park.
As a librarian I'm not one to defy authority, so while it seemed tempting to do this before leaving, I decided to respect the authority of the Grand River Conservation Area.
Later that same summer I found myself doing backcountry camping with a group of four friends. While canoeing we saw people diving off of a cliff about 30 feet high. It looked a little dangerous as there was a tiny overhang with some rocks near the edge of the water below.
I climbed up to the top with two of my friends and could feel the breeze as I stared down into the water. After several gut checks and a running start I executed my first dive quite well. It was a thrill I won't soon forget.
Of course, I had to try it one more time! This time before me I saw someone casually jump off without a running start. I decided that if they could do it, I could do it.
I mean if someone jumps off a cliff you would do it too right?
In the second or two it took to hit the water I knew something went wrong. I felt myself arch backwards a bit and the subsequent splash was not overly smooth. Swimming up to the surface, I found myself winded and gasping as I doggy paddled to shore. I felt like I had pulled a muscle in my back. When I climbed back up on the rocks my friends noted that I missed the rocks below by less than one meter.
I was extremely fortunate as this was the last day we were camping. I was lucky to have my friends around as I was useless around camp and wasn't much of a help carrying things on the way back, although my back did feel a little better by the time we left.
This hasn't stopped me from jumping off cliffs, but I won't go near anything that high again! It is still a great thrill to do a 10 foot jump and it feels much safer. When doing any activity, I have learned the lesson that it is wise to consider the potential thrill versus the risk. Anything that puts your life or health in considerable danger probably isn't worth doing.
There is an element of danger in any sport (even paddle boating, click the link to read about a more frightening summer adventure of mine) so before participating in something you feel might require a 9-1-1 call remember to consult your paren'ts and ask yourself whether you would be smarter to not jump/dive/ollie/speed/swing, etc. in the first place!
11 thoughts on “The Perils of Diving Off Of a Cliff”
personally I’m really scared of heights, not phobia or anything just fear i guess, so i wouldn’t even dare to think about it, forget trying to jump off. Actually even looking down would make me dizzy!! D:
I would like to try this, but of course, when it is safer.
I remember two years ago when my paren’ts refused to let me try cliff diving on a trip to British Columbia. I was so upset, but in hindsight they probably did the right thing.
I remember in 2010 my friends and I went to Cuba one time. We went on a tour and we had some time to ourselves so we found an awesome cliff. It first started out as a ‘haha we’re totally going to jump that’ to a I dare you to jump kinda thing. At first no one decided to jump until one of my friends, being the idiot he is, jumped and screamed YOLOLOLOLOLOL. We decided what the hell so we jumped. Looking back at it, it was probably the most exciting thing we have done while we were there.
Cliff jumping seems like an invigorating experience, not sure if I’d ever have the courage to actually do it myself though haha. Maybe someday.
Same here! I’m not really afraid of heights itself, just the chance that I might fall, even if it’s a meter off the ground. I guess you could say I’m crazily paranoid. Plus, I hate the rushing feeling when you jump/fall. That’s why I never go on roller coasters. I even get motion sickness when swinging too high.
That must be awesome, of course, I would never jump personally.
I love these crazy stories! I would never do this for fun as I have a fear of heights and deep waters. I mean, even if I’m in the pool, I can’t go where I can’t touch the bottom 😛
I don’t think I would do this…I love water but am afraid of heights. Just thinking of all that can’to wrong is not even worth it.
I would love to do this sometime!!!!! what a thrill. Thing is you have to be safe about it, because nothing is worth your life at the end of the day.
I couldn’t agree more! Since I have no formal diving training, I’ve scaled back my summertime cliff diving attempts to a much more manageable 10-15 feet (although there is still some risk jumping from this high, it is probably 1/10th as dangerous as diving from about 30 feet or so like I did before)