What a thrilling
experience!! It is hard to even put into words what a fantastic
experience we had skydiving and how we continue to reflect back on it. For Neil's 50th Birthday we flew to Oahu and did tandem skydive jumps. It was absolutely amazing and we would do it again in a second. We could not have asked for better weather with a cloudless sky and very light winds. Zooming toward the earth at a 120 miles per hour from 12,000 feet to 5,000 feet was such a thrill, and then gliding the rest of the to a picture-perfect landing in the drop zone was more like an aerial ballet with ever changing scenery. Maybe it is a good thing it is only available on Oahu or we might have a new hobby!
We flew to Oahu Sunday and were picked up early Monday morning on Neil's birthday by Sonny in the Skydive Hawaii's van. Out at Dillingham Field on Oahu's northwest shore we were fortunate to be assigned two of their most experienced instructors (although all the instructors looked excellent). Papa Dop (aka Richard), Nan's instructor, has been jumping for over 20 years and has over 16,000 jumps. J.C., Neil's instructor, is rated one of the top 25 canopy pilots in the world and is one of five members of the professional PD Factory Team. Just to give you an idea of their comfort level, they both jump barefoot! They said we could too next time after we told them how we had to dig around in the back of the closet to find shoes (we pretty much wear shoes only on the mainland).
We did our own photography by taking along our digital cameras. You will notice Neil was more daring than I taking self portraits as he sped along at 120 miles an hour (yes, you can even see the skin stretched back on his face from the speed) where my photos don't start till the canopy was pulled and we were going a little slower toward earth (I loved the speed, just didn't want to handle my camera in it.) Our instructors were so skilled they got us close enough for amazing shots of each other as we danced together spiraling around each other's canopies.
After getting geared-up we got
in the plane and climbed to about 12,000 feet. The scenery was
gorgeous. This is Ka`ena
Point at the northwest corner of Oahu.
the leaping place of souls,
where the spirits of the recently dead could be reunited with their ancestors."
We did enjoy the view at our leaping place but we were hoping to postpone the part about reuniting with our ancestors.
Neil and J.C. are ready to go. Notice the wrinkles in Neil's face. They are soon to be rearranged.
After I took Neil's picture, Papa Dop and I were sitting on the floor with our backs to the open door and the next thing I knew we did a backflip out into space! Neil and J.C. dove out head-first right after us. This photo's caption should be "Cowwww-aaaa-bungggg-aaaa!!!!!!!"
Not going too fast yet in the one above.
He took lots of pictures in free fall.
I think he may have
forgotten to take his thumb off the shutter button.
J.C. spotted Nan and Papa Dop and said lets go get 'em. Neil said 'Daaaaaaa'.
Finally the 'chute opened. (and our mouths closed... well, we stopped screaming anyway)
