Solar Eclipse Is Backdrop for Breathtaking Dives (Photos)

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Diving with the eclipse

On Aug. 21, cliff divers in McMinnville, Oregon dove into a water tank against the backdrop of the solar eclipse.

(Image credit: Dustin Snipes/Red Bull Content Pool)

The way up

solar eclipse divers

(Image credit: Dustin Snipes/Red Bull Content Pool)

The divers prepared for their descent in the exact conditions they'd hoped for: clear skies.

Eclipsing the eclipse

solar eclipse divers

(Image credit: Dustin Snipes/Red Bull Content Pool)

Helena Merten from Australia can be seen diving here during the partial eclipse.

Pushing the moon

solar eclipse divers

(Image credit: Dustin Snipes/Red Bull Content Pool)

Each diver performed a different dive to show a variety of shapes and elements of the sport, one of Merten's fellow divers Dave Colturi told Live Science.

Leap of faith

solar eclipse divers

(Image credit: Dustin Snipes/Red Bull Content Pool)

The platform was 65.5 feet (20 meters) above the 30,000-gallon (114,000 liters) tank. Ordinarily, cliff divers descend into open water, so positioning themselves to land in a relatively small, shallow tank was a challenge.

Plunging pike

solar eclipse divers

(Image credit: Dustin Snipes/Red Bull Content Pool)

David Colturi from the United States, seen here, told Live Science the experience of diving during the eclipse was "surreal and magical."

Under the covered sun

solar eclipse divers

(Image credit: Dustin Snipes/Red Bull Content Pool)

Orlando Duque from Columbia, depicted here, demonstrates the freedom of cliff diving. Using no equipment, cliff divers pack their athleticism and creativity into the 3 minutes of their descents.

Total eclipse

solar eclipse divers

(Image credit: Dustin Snipes/Red Bull Content Pool)

The total solar eclipse lasted for only 55 seconds before 10:30 a.m. PDT in McMinnville, Oregon. There was just enough time for each diver to perform one dive while the sun was completely obscured. "Having one shot at this dive made it that much more exciting," Duque said in a statement.

Midday darkness

solar eclipse divers

(Image credit: Dustin Snipes/Red Bull Content Pool)

The divers, accustomed to diving in daylight, had to sustain their focus in the darkness, which was punctuated by the photographer's flashing lights.

Spectacle in the sky

solar eclipse divers

(Image credit: Dustin Snipes/Red Bull Content Pool)

Sports photographer Dustin Snipes used high-optical-quality front-surface mirrors to capture the fleeting dives.

Otherworldly silhouette

solar eclipse divers

(Image credit: Dustin Snipes/Red Bull Content Pool)

A shot like this helps nondivers understand Colturi's take on cliff diving. "It's a liberating and almost existential experience," he said. [Cliff Divers Plunge into Oregon Water Tank During Total Solar Eclipse]

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Sarah B. Puschmann
Sarah B. Puschmann
Staff Writer
Sarah Puschmann is a staff writer for Live Science. She particularly enjoys writing about ecology and evolution and has degrees in creative writing and physics. Before joining Live Science, she taught English in Korea, Costa Rica, Argentina, Sweden, and Germany. Follow her on Twitter.