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| The plane we jumped out of. |
I had bought a Groupon deal for skydiving, which was through a reservations company called Sportations--bad experience with Sportations, so don't ever go through them! I also found out later that it would've been cheaper to book directly through the skydiving company itself. So boo. Anyway, trying to book the skydiving through Sportations was about the worst of the whole experience. Everything else was great.
Our skydiving was scheduled for 1pm on a Friday. As soon as my husband and I arrived at the skydiving place, we went through training with a skydiving instructor. He used to be a parachutist in the military and has been skydiving for 20+ years. However, he had a broken leg from a recent skydiving experience, so that was not quite comforting. He went over all the gear required, showed us how to arch our back during the free fall, how to pull the parachute, and the various hand signals that would be used during the skydive to communicate.
After that, we filled out paperwork, basically signing our life away twice. Then we watched a video that informed us that we were signing our life away. lol
There was a lady who was scheduled to skydive before us, so we waited and watched as she prepared for her dive and took off in the airplane. Once she made her jump and came back, it was our turn. The harness was put on us and then we were interviewed a little bit for the video that the skydive company would put together and mail out to us later. During this whole time, I was remarkably calm--no nerves at all. I'm not sure why, but being there and seeing everything helped to settle any nerves that I previously had.
We walked over to the airplane, where our tandem instructors went over how we would exit the plane once up in the air and time to make the jump. They explained all the steps and how to position ourselves over the open door. Then they reviewed how to arch the back during free fall and how to pull the parachute. And then we were off!
It was a very small plane. There was just enough space for the pilot, for my husband and his instructor, and for me and my instructor. That pretty much filled up the whole plane. We rolled down the airport runway and took off from the ground. The view was beautiful. The ride up took longer than I expected. At various points during the ride, we were interviewed some more for our video.
Once we were above the clouds and at 10,000 feet, it was time to skydive. My husband and his tandem instructor hooked themselves up together and got in position. My instructor did the same for me; he had me kneel in front of him in order to hook us up securely together. He double-checked all the belts on the harness.
The pilot then opened up the door, and wow, the sound of the wind! I watched as my husband jumped out. Then it was my turn. My instructor had me move next to the door. I did so and kneeled, facing the front of the plane. The door was to my right. My instructor put his right foot out the door and rested it on a small platform out there. Then he had me do the same. At this point, I was saying, "Oh my god!!!"
I placed my hands on my chest. Then my instructor rocked us forward once and said, "Ready..." He rocked us forward twice and said, "Set..." And the third time, he rocked us forward and said, "Arch!" and off we jumped!
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| During free fall. Seconds after we jumped out of the plane. |
I remember going head first, arching my back, and tumbling out of the plane into the open blue sky. The rush of wind and adrenaline at that very moment--WOW! Nothing in the world compares to it. The free fall was crazy and so very incredible. We fell right through clouds and even went through a patch of rain and got a little wet. I'm pretty sure I screamed and swore a couple times. My instructor then tapped my hands, which was the signal for me to open my arms out wide. I did so, and it was like flying. Absolutely amazing.
I did not remember to pull my parachute. I didn't see my instructor give me the signal to do so, but the next thing I knew, I felt a hard tug that jerked my body upright, and I knew that my instructor had pulled the parachute open.
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| After the parachute opened. |
We began a slow, smooth glide back down. During this time, I held two yellow cords (one in each hand) and was able to steer us around. I pulled one side of the cord down and this made us do spins in the air--I got a little motion sickness from this, so if I ever skydive again, I will skip the spins.
After a few minutes, we glided down right above the airport and into a field. My tandem instructor told me to lift my legs up and we pretty much slid on our butts right onto the ground. Very smooth and easy landing.
So that was my skydiving experience! Overall, the free fall lasted about 45 seconds and was the best part.
It didn't really hit me what I had done that day, until I climbed into bed that night and was surrounded by nothing but silence and my own thoughts. I replayed the whole experience in my head...and then I was like "HOLY SHIT, I JUMPED OUT OF A PLANE TODAY!!!" What a great feeling to conquer your fears. You only live once, so you might as well seize the day and do those things you've always wanted to do.
By the way, it was also our anniversary. My husband and I took the plunge when we first got married. After many years together, we decided what better way to celebrate than to take the plunge again by skydiving together. What a great way to put an exclamation mark on our marriage. :)
