Dive right in

As the summer crawls into its later stages, the weather outside is heating up (in the Northern hemisphere at least). Cool waters call out to those who would leap in, momentarily letting gravity have its way with them, pulling them down as they flail, shout or twist. Collected here are a handful of photos of divers around the world, showing their professional artistry, daredevil bravado, or just simple joy as they take the plunge. (35 photos total)

Chinese diver Li Kang prepares for a dive during the Women's 10m final on July 18, 2009 at the FINA World Championships in Rome, Italy. (FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images)

Orlando Duque of Colombia readies to dive off a 26-meter high platform on Fort Lovrijenac in Dubrovnik, Croatia on July 11, 2009 during the 2009 Red Bull Cliff Diving Series. (Zeljko Lukunic/AFP/Getty Images) #

German diver Anna Bader jumps from a balcony while training for a world series cliff diving competition in Polignano a Mare, Italy on July 24, 2009. (REUTERS/Balazs Gardi/Handout) #

Paramilitary policemen train during a swimming course in Donghu Lake in Wuhan, Hubei province, China on July 30, 2009. The policemen attended the course to enhance their capabilities during floods, local media reported. (REUTERS/Stringer) #

Chinese residents jump into the Yangtze river to cool off from the Summer heat in Wuhan, China on July 19, 2009. (AFP/Getty Images) #

A boy jumps off a promenade into the river Ganges in the northern Indian city of Varanasi on July 21, 2009. (REUTERS/Jayanta Shaw) #

A diver drops through the air from the Mostar Bridge during traditional jump from the bridge, 75 km south of Bosnian capital of Sarajevo on Sunday, July 26, 2009. A total of 60 divers compete in the event and drop from the 25-meter high bridge into the Neretva river. (AP Photo/Amel Emric) #

A Kosovo Albanian boy jumps into the water in the swimming pool near the village of Milosevo on July 25, 2009 as the temperature reached over 40 degrees celsius. (Armend Nimani/AFP/Getty Images) #

Tania Cagnotto of Italy competes in the 1m Womens Springboard Diving at the Stadio del Nuoto on July 19, 2009 in Rome, Italy. (Clive Rose/Getty Images) #

Eric Sehn of Canada somersaults during a dive in the men's 10m platform diving preliminaries at the World Championships in Rome July 20, 2009. (REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi) #

A swimmer dives into Jiaozhou Bay in Qingdao, China, on Sunday, July 5, 2009. (Nelson Ching/Bloomberg News) #

A boy wearing water wings jumps into the pool at the Rheinbad public bath in Duesseldorf, Germany, on Monday, July 27, 2009. (AP Photo/Mark Keppler) #

An expeditioner jumps into an ice hole to celebrate the winter solstice at Davis Station in the Australian Antarctic Territory on June 21, 2009. With air temperatures hovering around -23C (-9.4F), Australian scientists and winter crew marked the shortest day of the year with a dip in the polar waters followed by a hot dinner. (PAUL ENDERSBY/AFP/Getty Images) #

Hassan Mouti of France dives off a 26-meter high platform on fort Lovrijenac in Dubrovnik on July 11, 2009 during the 2009 Red Bull Cliff Diving Series. (Zeljko Lukunic/AFP/Getty Images) #

An unidentified diver practices at the swimming pool of the Foro Italico, on the eve of the 2009 World Swimming Championships, in Rome, Italy on Thursday, July 16, 2009. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) #

Flora Piroska Gondos of Hungary dives in the Women's 3m Springboard Preliminary at the Stadio del Nuoto on July 20, 2009 in Rome, Italy. (Al Bello/Getty Images) #

Luxin Zhou of China competes in the Mens 10m Platform Preliminary at the Stadio del Nuoto on July 20, 2009 in Rome, Italy. (Clive Rose/Getty Images) #

Andrey Ignatenko of the Ukraine dives from the 26-meter platform during round three of the 2009 Red Bull Cliff Diving series in Dubrovnik, Croatia. (DEAN TREML/AFP/Getty Images) #

Qin Kai of China competes in the men's 1m springboard diving final at the World Championships in Rome, Italy on July 17, 2009. (REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi) #

German Sanchez and Ivan Garcia of Mexico compete in the Men's 10m Synchronized Platform competition during the 13th FINA World Championships at the Stadio del Nuoto on July 24, 2009 in Rome, Italy. (Clive Rose/Getty Images) #

Valentina Marocchi and Brenda Spaziani of Italy perform a dive in the women's 10m platform synchronised diving final at the World Championships in Rome, Italy on July 19, 2009. (REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay) #

Boys jump from a ruined structure into the Tigris River in Baghdad's Adhamiya District, northern Baghdad on July 1, 2009. (REUTERS/Stringer) #

Skaneateles High School graduates jump into Skaneateles Lake after their graduation ceremony in Clift Park in Skaneateles, New York on Sunday, June 28, 2009. Jumping in the lake at the end of the graduation ceremony is a yearly tradition for graduates. (AP Photo/The Post-Standard, Nicholas Lisi) #

Water flies from the hair of Qiu Bo of China as he dives in the men's 10m platform diving final at the World Championships in Rome , Italy on July 21, 2009. (REUTERS/Max Rossi) #

Guo Jingjing of China competes in the Women's 3m Springboard Final at the Stadio del Nuoto on July 21, 2009 in Rome, Italy. (Clive Rose/Getty Images) #

The fingertips of China's Jiang Tingting and Jiang Wenwen just break the water's surface as they dive on their way to win the bronze medal of the duet technical synchronized swimming event at the FINA Swimming World Championships in Rome, Italy on Tuesday, July 21, 2009. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) #

Guo Jingjing of China just begins her entry on a dive in the women's 3m springboard diving final at the World Championships in Rome, Italy on July 21, 2009. (REUTERS/Tony Gentile ) #

A child dives into the Nile river during a hot day in Cairo, Egypt on July 18, 2009. (REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih) #

(From left) Britain's Joanne Jackson, Italy's Federica Pellegrini and Allison Schmitt of the Unted States dive in to begin the final of the Women's 400m freestyle on July 26, 2009 at the 13th FINA World Swimming Championships in Rome, Italy. Pellegrini won gold and beat the world record with 3:59.15. (ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images) #

Reiko, a female polar bear, plunges into the water at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, Japan on Sunday, July 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye) #

A diver makes a small splash during the men's 10m platform diving final at the World Championships in Rome, Italy on July 21, 2009. (REUTERS/Max Rossi) #

Boys compete for the highest splash as they jump into the water at Havana's port, in Cuba on July 2, 2009. (REUTERS/Desmond Boylan) #

Italy's Maria Elisabetta Marconi enters the pool during the women's 1-meter springboard diving preliminary, at the FINA Swimming World Championships in Rome, Italy on Sunday, July 19, 2009. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn) #

Chinese diver Wu Minxia shakes the water from her head after a dive in the women's diving 1m springboard final on July 19, 2009 at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Rome, Italy. (FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images) #

Tania Cagnotto of Italy climbs out from the pool after diving in the women's 1m springboard diving final at the World Championships in Rome, Italy on July 19, 2009. (REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi) #