Photograph by Christian Murillo
If you end up this summer time—as many Atlantans do—along with your backside submerged within the Chattahoochee River and the remainder of you trapped in a slowly deflating inside tube, you will probably drift previous a diving rock sooner or later in your journey. The granite pier juts out like a jagged chin some 25 ft above the water; It’s simply accessible from the river, making it a well-liked vacation spot for floaters engaged in the summertime custom of taking pictures hooch.
Leaping off Diving Rock has been a ceremony of passage for generations of Georgians, together with Jimmy Carter, who jumped whereas serving as governor in 1972.
Mom Nature could also be certain to create an natural diving board, however the reality is, diving rock, being a pure characteristic, just isn’t designed with security in thoughts. Of the 28 individuals who have died within the river since 2012, 16 have died whereas close to rocks, nearly all younger individuals.
“It is not leaping off a rock,” stated Chattahoochee River Nationwide Recreation Space Superintendent Anne Honeas. “All of the deaths we have had there have been from diving rocks or individuals swimming.” The water dashing into the Chattahoochee from beneath Lake Lanier is deceptively deep and chilly, he explains, and might trigger speedy modifications in water ranges from close by Buford Dam along with pure currents. Weak swimmers can panic and drown, however hypothermia can also be a critical threat, and in at the very least two circumstances, those that drowned had been robust swimmers who died making an attempt to avoid wasting others. A swimmer in misery can even endanger family and friends who attempt to rescue them, Honias stated.
The Park Service doesn’t ban individuals from diving rocks. “Visiting a nationwide park at all times has some threat,” Honious stated. “It is identical to the individuals who encounter a buffalo in Yellowstone.” As a substitute, they targeted on safety. In relation to the water, life jackets are—to not put too advantageous some extent on it—a life saver: a examine of leisure boating accidents discovered that life jackets lowered deaths by 80 %. By state regulation, kids underneath 13 should put on a life jacket on Georgia waterways, whereas older recreationists will need to have one with them. Nationwide Park Service regulation enforcement rangers patrol the park’s 48 miles and difficulty tickets to nonconformists, whether or not they’re floating in state-of-the-art fiberglass kayaks or old-school literal inside tubes. Rangers cannot be in every single place, so the fines—normally round $180—are steep sufficient to extend environmental respect for the regulation. The Nationwide Park Service has a life jacket loaner station at Diving Rock Seaside, sponsored by the Chattahoochee Nationwide Park Conservancy.
An elevated deal with security may fit: Nobody died close to diving rock in 2023, and the Nationwide Park Service expects this summer time to be equally disagreeable. Along with carrying a life jacket, Hoonious encourages all hooch shooters to comply with security suggestions: do not float alone, do not deliver glasses, put on sunscreen, keep hydrated and ensure everybody is aware of the place to exit the water.
Did the gentleman leap off the diving rock? no “It is not one thing I really feel snug doing,” she says. He likes kayaking, and plans to go fishing this yr—one other Chattahoochee pastime favored by Gov. Jimmy Carter.
This text appeared in our August 2024 difficulty.
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