Skydiving: The After Post

Well all I have to say about this is:

This pretty much sums up my experience!!

It's going to be very difficult trying to describe to you the feeling of skydiving.  I guess I will just have to start from the ground.

I was preparing to sign my life away on 100 pieces of paperwork.  However, I was VERY wrong.

I signed one piece of paper saying "I understand the PICTURES might not come out as well I like".......yeah......only in New Zealand.  I guess you can't really sue people in New Zealand, so they really have nothing to worry about!

Next we had to be moved to a room to watch a movie.  I was prepared to hear "You maybe will die" or "There is no guarantee your parachute will deploy". NOPE. It was a nice little video of people saying how awesome it was!

Then everything happened really fast. We got suited up, met our tandem divers (the guys strapped to our backs) and our camera men! (Yes, I had my own personal camera man. I'm not famous or anything.) Our camera man then took us out for a pre-dive interview.  Then we were rushed onto the plane.

Me and my AWESOME tandem diver about to enter the plane.

The flight up, although very scenic, seemed to take forever. Also, 13,000 feet is a LOT higher than I imagined! I remember thinking "We've got to be close" and I asked my tandem diver and he said we were only 5,000 feet up. Not even half way! I was really happy it was higher than I thought though.  If I'm going to experience this once in a lifetime thing, I better do it all out.

We also got to write messages on our hands.  I wrote "sweet as" which is a new phrase I learned here (talked about in previous post).  It means "awesome" pretty much, but it's a thing only Kiwi's say.

The camera man took a lot of pictures and video in the plane.  Both him and my tandem diver were incredibly awesome.  The whole way up they were talking to me, pointing out the various views, making sure I was ok, telling me how it will be.  It also helped that we were strapped so tight together.  It made me feel waay more safe and secure.  Also, fun fact- these people jump out of planes up to 20 times a day!!!! (on good days).

There were 4 people in the plane with us.  Colleen went first, and I went third.  I have to admit I was pretty nervous, but as my tandem diver sat me over the edge of the plane (he was sitting on the edge and I was pretty much dangling there) strangely all my nerves kind of went away.  I had to tuck my legs under the plane, push my hips out, and rest my head on his shoulder.  My hands were underneath the straps you can see on my chest in the picture.

Oh hey ground!

And before I knew it, I was falling to Earth at 150mph. YES 150 MPH THROUGH THE OPEN AIR!!!

This is where it gets difficult to describe.  Human depth perception only works up to 5,000 feet.  This is why, for example, you can look off a ledge of a skyscraper and feel a bit woozy, but can be in an airplane and not experience that same woozy feeling.  As you go higher than 5,000 feet your brain can't exactly put things into perspective.  Because of this, it didn't quite feel like I was falling.  It more so felt like I was soaring with a TON of wind being blown up at me.  It was realllllly hard to breathe at some points.  My tandem guy told me if I couldn't breathe to lift my head up, but as I was falling I couldn't quite remember this! They also warned us of "sensory overload", which almost everyone experiences as they skydive.  It's pretty much your brain going "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!" and it starts to shut down.  They tell you to focus on the camera man, as he is the closest thing you can see and sort of brings you back to reality.  I was trying VERY hard not to go into sensory overload because I wanted to remember every detail.  I think I did pretty well, because I can remember almost all of it while other people completely by accident black out the whole experience.  It feels more like someone else did it when I think about it.  I remember it more as a movie, like I'm watching someone else do it.  I guess that's how my brain handled sensory overload. Anyway, here are some pictures of the free fall part!

Because it's Connor's 21st birthday August 27th, I thought I would give him a shout out! Happy birthday Connor, I miss you so much! 

Then at 5,000 feet, it was time to deploy the parachute.  I was actually sad because I really loved the freefall!

This is right after he deployed the parachute and we went FLYING up in the air.  The cameraman kept free falling so he would get to the ground first to capture my landing.  The fly down was really really nice! At first my tandem guy was like "the parachute deployed so you have nothing to worry about now!" and then "Let me make this more comfortable for you" and then I fell about 3 inches as he loosed the harness. MINI HEART ATTACK! I very much rather be tightly attached but you know, I guess it worked out.  You also tend to get very attached to your tandem diver.  It was funny, Colleen and I were talking and we were both like..."I think I love him!" It was really funny. I guess that's what happens when your life literally depends on someone.  Anyway we also did some crazy spins in the air as we got closer to the ground.  The views were absolutely amazing.  It's the only skydive where you can see both the north and the south islands!

 This is me floating down!

Almost to the ground!

aaand land! It was so amazing.  I would do it again in a second.  And if you EVER have an opportunity to skydive do it! There is literally no feeling in the world like it.  And its VERY difficult to describe.  Just all around incredible!