Skydiving!

So earlier in the week, we were given s a list of different activities that we could do, and skydiving was on the list. I knew I wanted to do that whilst I am away although I was going to wait until I reached Australia but when I saw how cheap it was (only £191 for the dive and video) plus the fact others in my group wanted to do it, I thought I would be silly not to. I did not want to mention it before now though as I didn't want anyone worrying so I thought I would just mention it once I had both my feet firmly back on the ground. I did not feel nervous until I got in the mini-bus with the other 3 girls - Charlotte, Emilia and Marisa - then as we were sitting there my heart was suddenly pounding and my hands going all clammy; it was only a 10-minute drive from the hotel so thankfully I did not have too much time to overthink it all. When we arrived at the airport it was so small, you went through the entrance and could see the departure gate straight through which was kind of crazy. We never had to go through the actual airport though, instead we followed the signs to the right that led us through a metal gate and straight to the skydiving reception. We were met by a gentleman who asked us are we ready, and we just sort of all nervously laughed. We then had to complete some legal form basically saying that skydiving is a dangerous sport and that they cannot be held liable for any accidents, which was a bit unnerving to read but equally, between us, we kept trying to reassure each other that everyone must do this. We then met the professional sky divers who would be strapped to us, there was Jeff and my guy who was called Mike; they seemed so cool and collected that I instantly felt at ease plus I had to remind myself that they do this day in, day out and they would not risk jumping out of a plane unless they felt it was safe enough to do so. I was speaking to Mike and he reckons he has jumped around 6000 times in his life! I can't even imagine that, it is just crazy. They helped all 4 of us get our harnesses on as well as giving us a real brief health and safety talk which literally just consisted of when it is time to jump, put both feet on the metal platform and arch your back so that you fall stomach first. I could not help but think if this was England, they would be showing us a whole video with you cannot do this if you suffer from this and how to go about landing, how to sit in the plane. It felt mad to think we were about to do something so dangerous and yet they spoke to us as if we were just going to test out a mattress or something. Only 2 people could go up at a time plus the instructors so first Emilia and Marisa went up simply as they shouted out first. Me and Charlotte waited at the bottom and watched them go up, it took around 30 minutes for them to reach the 10,000 feet altitude that we would be jumping from. They were so high up that even though it was a clear day, you could not see them. Eventually we managed to spot 2 little black dots tumbling through the air; the speed at which they were falling was making my heart race even more. I was quite anxious to see how they landed, and I was quite surprised to see that they landed on their feet and it looked rather smooth. Straight away, as soon as the instructors had taken off the parachute, they came jogging over to fetch me and Charlotte; before we even had chance to think, they were pushing us towards the plane. It was only a small plane with a propeller on the front, as we climbed through the door you could see the pilot and the flight deck; if it was a normal flight, I probably would have been really interested with looking but I didn't even think about it till I had both feet firmly on the ground again. I was told to sit in the plane with my feet facing the back of the plane in between the instructor’s legs. The floor was a bit like a soft play mat like what you find in indoor play areas, so it was comfortable enough for the short ascent although there was hardly any room for us to move around and barely enough room to fit the 4 of us in; to be honest I am glad I am only small. I was nervous for the take off as when I am in a jet, I get thrown back in the seat and not being strapped in made me kind of nervous although I barely felt we were taking off, I guess that is as the plane was so small it does not need anywhere near the same amount of thrust as a jumbo jet which is self-explanatory although in my panicked state, I did not think this through. I was trying to distract myself and take in the view of Plettenburg Bay and to be fair it was beautiful, the houses in this part of Africa are so incredible, I would not complain about living here. After around 25 minutes in the plane, my instructor told me to shuffle back and sit on his lap so that he could attach me to him - there were 4 attachment points, 2 on the shoulders and 2 on the hips. This felt so strange as I could feel him breathing behind me and there must have been millimetres between us but at the same time this made me feel secure as I knew that Mike knew what he was doing. When we opened the door, it was so noisy and just felt like it was sucking you out of the plane; every part of my body was like this is not normal. I first watched Charlotte go and it all happened so quick, one minute she was in the plane next to me and then the next she was gone. Knowing all the other girls had done it, I now knew that I had no choice but to jump plus the fact that I had paid around £191 and I did not have the money to just throw away. The next thing I know Mike is saying to me that it is time to put my legs out of the window; this was so awkward as being strapped to him and the plane being so small, it was awkward to twist my body although it did not take too much effort. Feeling the breeze in my hair and looking down on the world felt like a dream, none of it felt real and I am not sure if this is why I found it so easy to lean forward and just let myself go or if it was more to do with the fact that once Mike also leant forward, the momentum just took us. We began tumbling and flipping through the air; I never felt anything like this feeling of fear, exhilaration, breathlessness, and the noise. Everything altogether just made this experience, all I remember thinking was keep your eyes open, push your belly out so that you will fall facing the ground and then admire the view. Live for the moment. When he tapped me on the shoulder after around 20 seconds of freefall, it was my signal that it was safe for me to let go of my harness and fly; I was not expecting it to be so easy to just fly and enjoy but there is something about that feeling of weightlessness and just falling that feels comfortable, it makes you feel free, like nothing in this world can stop you, well except the parachute. I was kind of gutted when I felt the parachute open, I mean don’t get me wrong it was a relief to know that it did not fail and that I was going to survive but equally that feeling of freedom, I wanted it to last forever. The opening of the parachute was nowhere near as uncomfortable as I had imagined it being, I always thought that It would be a similar feeling as to being hit from the back in a car with that jolt, but it was nothing like that, it was smooth and suddenly everything falls quiet. The silence that comes after the freefall is just peace; suddenly nothing else matters, it is just you above the world gliding. I was struggling to get my

breath back but even as we were gliding, the beauty of South Africa stole my breath away once more, everything just stood still. It was a true wow moment; in that instance I knew I was so glad that I had the opportunity to do this and that it would quite possibly be one of my favourite and most treasured memories in life. Then came the landing, the man told me to raise my legs and if the worst came to the worst then just slide along on my bottom; as we got nearer to the ground we seemed to be going at a high speed and I was a bit worried about the impact but then suddenly, when we were about 2m from the ground, Mike done something with the parachute to make us slow right down so that we just stood up on the ground as if I had been there all along. I felt as if I no longer belonged on the ground as if free falling is where I should be. The comedown afterwards was seriously upsetting, everything suddenly felt odd and like it just didn’t matter anymore. Although then Dash appeared, Dash was a young border collie so loving and adorable, he just wanted to play and lick you to death, he belonged to one of the pilots and was the sweetest thing ever, he even followed me all the way back from the toilets. We had to wait for Ashford, our driver, to pick us up which took nearly an hour and a half which just dragged like you wouldn’t believe especially when all we wanted to do was get back to the hotel and watch our videos. By the time we got back to the hotel it was around 1pm and everyone was starving so we decided to head straight to lunch and then the beach whilst it was still hot and watch the videos later once it had cooled off.

For lunch we went to this place called ‘La Cafeteria’ it was so tasty! I had some strawberry with almond salad as well as a milkshake and it was just so refreshing. We then walked to the beach and whilst some girls got henna designs, me and a couple of the guys decided to go in the sea; the waves were massive, like it was nothing I had seen before. The 3 of us were jumping over the waves and getting carried by them which was so fun until I realised I had got caught in a rip; this meant that even though the waves were going towards the shore, I had got caught in the bit where the water pulls back out to sea. I tried swimming towards the shore but I couldn’t, despite being a strong swimmer I just kept getting dragged back. I could stand up but even so the water was too strong for me to walk through it to the shore. I started panicking as by this point the boys were getting further and further away from me and the shore looked so far, and I was running out of strength. I realised I was in danger and screamed at the boys to help me; thankfully they are both quite tall and strong so between them they managed to get me out of the rip and into the waves which then carried me to the shore although by this point, I was so breathless and shaken up, I just went and laid on the beach to recover. I was so thankful to them 2 though as honestly, I was terrified. I guess as I am used to the British sea and the waves are not that big, I just didn’t expect them to be so strong although that is definitely a lesson I will be taking forward with me on my travels and in life. I think between them two activities, with all the adrenaline flowing and then leaving, is why I was so tired last night.

We all met for dinner last night at a steak place called 'Spurs' where I had ribs and chips, it was so tasty and yet so cheap. After dinner we all headed back to the rooms to finally watch our skydive videos, this took a lot longer than what it should have done though as I could not figure out how to transfer a large file to the other girls from my laptop as they wanted to forward it to their families. Anyway, that is enough for today as I am pretty sure just this chapter has turned into a novel but oh well, enjoy!