6 years ago, I was taking a month off to travel around United States and visited one of my favorite beach destinations - Hawaii, together with my friends & colleagues from the office. A couple of us pulled our guts together and went for the full skydiving experience. Oh boy, what a jump! I can never forget and I would love to do it again and again and again. When my boys are bigger (And they can understand what is the experience); I'm going to bring them along and experience all these thrills....
So we went to Skydive Hawaii to sign up for our daredevil activity. I selected the most premium package that includes the full experience of skydiving at 20 feet plus video and photos of the whole jump. And that costed me a whopping almost close to $500.... But it was well worth every penny of it.
This was 6 years ago but I could still vividly remember every detail of the experience. It was breath-taking...
The first thing you arrive there, you can see all the various videos on the screens showing others doing the skydiving and also some basic instructions and disclaimers. Once you have decided that you are going to do it, you'll select your package and make your payment. Once payment is completed, you will have to sign away your life (Just kidding). You'll be given all the paperwork to acknowledge all the possible risks involved in this extreme activity and that you are responsible for your own safety apart from what are the precautions and training that they will provide you.
Then you'll be brought into the 'inner chamber'... woooo...... where they will have instructors there who will be jumping with you and they will teach you all the necessary safety steps and procedures you'll need to perform during the skydive. It's pretty easy & quick. And you'll be robed up with the gear! WoooHooo.....
By now, there will be a lot of excitement... They will load up all the divers into a truck to be ferried over to where the plane is.
If I recall correctly, it's a small plane and I think we loaded like 12 people including the divers & instructors. Maybe a little more.
I had with me my instructor (They are called the 'Tandem Master') Benji who was diving together with me and another one who was filming the whole process down.
When I was on the plane, my heart was racing..... Seeing the plane slowly lifted off the ground and high up into the clear, blue sky...
Everyone on the plane was shouting and cheering... When we hit sufficient height, the divers started to move upfront and load off!
You see me here getting ready to load off, I was told to have my arms folded as we slide our butts towards the opening.
The whole process was smooth & fast and we just popped off the plane and went free-fall for about a few seconds.
Wow... I can still remember that feeling of the free-fall... Super fast, super exhilarating, and it wasn't scary at all, it was very reassuring with Benji. He kept on talking to me throughout the drop. And he checked his watch on the pressure and when it was about right, he opened the parachute. Wow, that moment, that inertia was painful man! Like a huge pull backwards on my entire body but it was a quick, sharp pain and that's it.
Once we stabilized on the dive, it was just breath-taking enjoying that view from the sky. I was flying up there like a good 10-15min, I lost count. Benji did some tricks and swirled me around like a torpedo... That was sooooooo fun!!! Hawaii is so beautiful. The nature is so beautiful. Life is beautiful.
Landing was luckily not too bad for me. I've heard stories of others smashing their butts when they landed, I was able to glide nicely across the green pasture. Lovely ending to my first ever skydiving. I would love to do it again with my husband!!! He has not done it yet!
My certificate for my first parachute jump from the Grand Caravan Aircraft above the North Shore of the island of Oahu at Dillingham Airfield.
Wonderful memories that I can share with my kids and my grandkids... Hahaha.... Oh boy when can I travel??? I wanna go to Hawaii again!!!
Love
TQ
♡ TheTravelQuintessential ♡
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