The Red Bull Cliff Diving 2012 Final was held at Wadi Shab, September 27th, and it was a fabulous excuse to head back to this beautiful oasis in the middle of the desert. (As if one needs an excuse to return here! 🙂 )
A lot of people were curious as to how they would get everyone across the water filled wadi. Normally locals ferry you across in small boats for a small fee. Here was the solution!
Gates opened at 9:30am this morning. This was the scene approaching the dive area after 9:45am. It was a 10-15 minute walk from the bridge for most spectators or a 5 minute drive for friends/media. Look at all the people up high in the cliffs.  Some of the people there must have mountain goat climbing skills!
This was the site. Notice the stairs that lead up to the VIP section on the left and the diving board WAY up on the right cliff. 27 meters up to be exact.
Looking back towards the wadi entrance
How did they get up there!?
It’s not that clear in this photo but the VIP section is directly across the wadi and water. Notice the typical chairs laid out for special dignitaries.
A better look at the VIP/media area.  Notice the white tent from which there was a constant stream of free Red Bull and water (and some kind of appetizers).
They had 5 or 6 Omani girls (of which you see 4 here) dressed up for photo opps with tourists, I guess. This was an official tourism event, so nice touch!
We mustn’t forget the cute Omani boys! 🙂
And of course wherever there is a Red Bull event, you can expect to see Red Bull ladies.
The warm-up dives started shortly after 11:30am.
Orlando Duque from Columbia in mid-air
And the crowd goes wild! Well, at least the ones on this rock…
Does this pic look like an optical illusion to you? It does to me even though it hasn’t been manipulated in any way (as if I’d know how to do that anyway, ha!).
This was pretty cool when they were introducing the divers one by one and they were all dressed up as local Omanis! 🙂
Would you dive from such a height?!
Be sure to check in later this week for pics and videos from the actual competition. If you missed out on the event, no worries. Come on by and enjoy the event through my lense! You’ll feel like you were there with me in the VIP area and didn’t miss a thing! 🙂
In the meantime, enjoy this 50 second video of 2 separate dives I captured on my Blackberry Bold 9790 and put together using Youtube Editor:
Andy in Oman 