St Mary’s Island to be developed as national hub for cliff diving

The St Mary’s Island is all set to be developed as a national hub for cliff diving. In view of this the Udupi district administration, in association with Malpe Development Committee and Mantra Tourism Development Company, has recently conducted a one-day cliff jump training session at the island on December 13. Plans are afoot to introduce training sessions for the next three months. The authorities are also planning to host a cliff jumping fest in April 2019.

The day-long training session concluded yesterday had four instructors and 10 participants. The Mantra Tourism Development Company is expecting to train atleast 20 members by January 2019. It also has plans to introduce a registration fee for the upcoming training sessions. The authorities have built a platform for cliff jumping and have arranges a jet ski to pick up the divers.

The MTDC is planning to invite cliff divers from across the country to participate in the contest and tourists from across the world to witness the cliff jumping fest in April. There are also plans to hold a contest along with the fest and also to conduct the cliff diving festival annually.