Diving Tragedy in Belize

Thanks for asking me to expound about Canopy Tours. Naturally, the fatal accident has really put a scare into a lot of people, and raised a lot of questions about safety and regulations.

There are several Canopy Tour "adventures" established in Nicaragua, but they are not all created equal ... and this has become obvious with the accident. The oldest and probably the best, is halfway up on Mombacho volcano outside of Granada (east face). The people that run it are called Mombacho Canopy Tours, out of downtown Granada, and they have an extremely careful, organized and safe operation that has been running for a number of years.

The Mombacho Canopy Tour from Granada is not cheap. They charge U$25 per person, but there is quality involved. They provide transportation from their offices in Granada via Land Cruiser, up the mountain to the preparation point. There, an orientation is given, and a waiver has to be signed by all participants. Everyone is carefully suited up with special gear very similar to rock-climbing gear and then taken to the base of the first platform.

To get up to the platform, which is about 50ft. off the ground, you climb up a steel ladder. Safety is taken very, very seriously. Safety straps are buckled at all times, even climbing up the ladder. The safety rope going up the ladder is thick and in excellent condition. The safety strap buckle is the type that only moves in one direction, so even if you leaped off the ladder, you wouldn't fall more that three inches! There is always a guide on each platform, and you are continually buckeled to a safety cable.

What makes this Mombacho Canopy Tour stand out is that they are certified by people from Costa Rica, in turn by alpine certification standards from Europe. Their cables and installations are constantly inspected and maintained, and their guides are initially trained and certified, and then re-certified every six months. They have to demonstrate the physical strength and capability to handle every conceivable happening. I know they can, because we had a fairly heavy friend who, once on the platform, got vertigo and nervous. The guide easily and successfully took her down a rope to the ground, hand over hand without incident. While other Canopy Tours may offer more "thrill", none can match this one for the best combination of safety and exciting fun.

On the northern face of the same Mombacho volcano is a second Canopy Tour installation. They are much cheaper, but some folks feel that the same standard of care and safety is not used.

There is another Canopy Tour adventure in San Juan del Sur. La Prensa gave this description with pictures: http://www-ni.laprensa.com.ni/cronologico/2003/diciembre/23/revista/revi... I have never done this one, but have seen their vehicle which transports the people up to the first jumping off point.

The Canopy Tour in El Crucero is one of the newer instalations in Nicaragua, and was mentioned in La Prensa: http://www-ni.laprensa.com.ni/cronologico/2003/noviembre/20/especiales/e... This is the location that had the fatal accident. According to the newspaper, they have been shut down indefinitely and are to be fined ten thousand cordobas for allegations of non-standard cable for this type of adventure, not having proper record of installation, maintenance, inspections or training. Naturally, all this has to be taken with a grain of salt, since it was something only stated in the papers.

The accident there in El Crucero was extremely tragic. It is notable to mention that the guide did his job ... he got the two students to the ground alive, even though it cost him his life. They were injured, but alive. I can't fault the guides ... but the jury's out on the management. My guess is that someone cut some corners so as to maximize profits.

The lastest newcomer on the market is the Canopy Tour adventure downtown Managua. (http://www-ni.laprensa.com.ni/cronologico/2004/mayo/10/nacionales/nacion...) It is situated over the Tiscapa Laguna, next to the Military Hospital. I have ridden this particular one twice and it is definitely a thriller. It consists of three cable rides. The first begins right near the big black silhouette of Sandino, and crosses the entire western face of the laguna, over trees and fauna, that for a short while are a couple of hundred feet below. The second one runs along the southern face, and the height is only 25 feet or so off the ground. The last hop goes south to north, right across the laguna's water surface, and while never more than 75 feet or so up, it is a thrilling zip at a moderate speed over the water. It is really inexpensive. The last time I went it was only U$6 per person. From my observation, the equipment and installation seemed to be top notch.

In light of this accident in El Crucero, there will be a lot of closing of barn doors, now that the horse is out. Various agencies will be rushing to step in and regulate stuff. Eventually, when all the dust settles, we will have again reliable and fun entertainment for all locations. In the meantime, I can still reccommend the folks at Mombacho out of Granada, because they've been doing it for so long, and with such safety precautions. That said, I may have long thoughts about doing any of the others until they are all carefully inspected again for safety.

I was just talking to my two boys (13 and 9) yesterday about how cool it would be to go on a canopy tour over a jungle or lagoon. The older said that he would "never" do that because the cable could snap and he could die. I ws assurig him that it is very safe and there are back-up safety systems so he shouldn't worry. My older one and I are somewhat afraid of heights, but a bottle of Etiquitte Negra might cure that phobia and feed the fish at the same time. The younger one is all for it and can't wait to get a bird's perspective of Nicaragua.