Free Fallin'

5/21/11 – Today the world is supposed to end.  And I only have one more week in South Africa.  I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my last Saturday then go skydiving.  If the world was going to end, why not do it free falling in the air?

Ten people from my trip had already gone and absolutely loved it.  Skydive Plett.  I had two more takers – Tim and Mel.  We booked the ‘flight,’ booked a car and called the taxi cab to bring us to our rental station.  Woke up at 5 am and hit the road to make it to Plettenberg Bay for our 10:45 am skydiving appointment.  It was a quick drive.  We let Tim do all the work while Mel and I slept.  We made it just in time, parked the car, got out and entered the ‘Plettenberg Bay Airport.’  However, this one room building was out in the middle of nowhere and completely vacant.  Next we followed some arrows that said ‘Skydive Plett’ and walked through an open field.  It was the strangest thing.  It looked like we were walking in the middle of nowhere.  We arrived at a large open field of green and a few small sheds on the end.  Not one person was to be found.  That’s it, this is sketchy.  We weren’t so sure to be jumping out of a plane right just then.  I gave the Skydive Plett number a call.  An older man with a thick accent said they would be there in about 20 minutes.  Luckily they came in ten.

We signed our lives away right then and there.  I decided to purchase the DVD too.  That’s when my tandem sky jumper Jeff came over with a camera and starting filming my whole journey.  Jeff was in his 50s, a small guy with a red beard on the approach of going grey.  He had an earring in one ear and the strongest South African accent I had heard yet.  He spoke so fast I had to ask him to repeat everything.  Next they strapped Mel and I up.  The suits were actually pretty comfortable.  Jeff told me the long walk over to the plane was called ‘The Green Mile.’  I was surprised at how small the plane was.  It had the letters ‘FFB’ on the side, so naturally they named the plane Phoebe.  At that point I still was not very nervous for some reason.  I must have been a pro after the bungy jump or something.

The plane was even smaller on the inside.  There was just enough room for Mel and I to sit with our two tandem partners and the pilot.  It was not the most comfortable position.  On our take off we started to strap into the tandem.   Mel would be going first – thank goodness.  The whole way up was really neat.  We had a great view through the windows all around.  Jeff was telling me all sorts of facts and pointing out where landmarks were.

Jeff and I in the plane

The ride up seemed pretty long.  Jeff had an instrument with the numbers 1-10, illustrating how high we were.  1 = 1,000 feet, 10 = 10,000 feet.  When I figured we were about half way there, Jeff showed me the number 1.  1?!  We were only 1/10 of the way up?!  Yikes.  At about 6 I started getting more nervous.  How could we be going that high up? 

View from the plane

10.  Finally we were there.  I was really excited.  Somehow though, still not too nervous.  That is until they opened the door. “OH MY GOD!  OH MY GOD!  OH MY GOD! ”  My reaction was automatic and completely unwarranted.  Right when I heard that big gush of air outside, it was all over.  I had never been more scared for my life then at that moment.  Within the matter of seconds, Mel jumped out of the plane.  Oh my gosh.  She just jumped out of a plane at 10,000 feet in the air.  This is absolutely insane.  On the video, Jeff captured the look on my face as I peered out the window to watch Mel go down.  My.face.was.priceless.

“It’s your turn,” Jeff says to me.  My heart was pounding so hard.  I kept saying “no” over and over again in my head.  Yet, my trembling body kept moving just has Jeff had earlier instructed me to do.  We shuffled back and prepared for takeoff.  Right foot out, left foot out, arms in, smile, then 1, 2, 3, JUMP!  AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!  What did I just do?!  I just jumped out of a plane and I have no control of my body.  I put all of my trust in some guy named Jeff that I met 5 minutes ago.  We flipped all around, the air whipping at my face.  Finally we were facing the right way, but I was still free falling.  33 seconds of free fall at 142 miles per hour.  Woh – what a rush.

After the longest 33 seconds of my life, Jeff pulled the string.  Boom – parachute.  So cool.  Not going to lie, it was a bit of a relief.  Wow, I can’t believe I am literally floating through the sky right now.  Passing clouds, saying hi to birds.  Ok not really, we didn’t see any birds.  But what I did see was something I will never forget.  It was then that Jeff told me the view in Plettenberg was rated #2 in the world for best skydiving views!  Hawaii came in first.  I could see all the way from Jeffrey’s Bay to Mossel Bay.  Our main highway, the N2, was just a small line swerving through the land.  It was obvious why it was called ‘the wild coast.’  The coast line was sharp and jagged with white caps splashing up to the rocky edges.  I could even see three layers of mountains at once.  It was spectacular.  I had tears in my eyes.  Happy tears.  No wonder it was rated #2 in the world, this view captured every bit of beauty South Africa had to offer.      

Plettenberg Bay from the plane

Jeff loosened my straps a bit.  It felt better.  Then he had me help control the parachute for a bit.  That was really neat.  The harder you pull down, the slower you go.  It felt like I practically stopped mid-air at one point.  I could see Mel still floating down.  She looked so small!  As we got closer to our landing spot, Jeff had to turn the parachute for steering.  The swooping felt so strange, it gave me another dose of butterflies.  I got to watch Mel land which was really cool.  Then it was my turn.  I was hoping so much that I wouldn’t be the person to beef it.  Knees up, perfect landing. 

View on the way down

Wow, that was unbelievable.  I ran to Mel for a hug.  We couldn’t stop smiling.  It was the weirdest thing though, I was so calm.  Not like bungy, when I came back super jacked, but the feeling was more in awe of what I had just done.  It was fascinating to watch Tim go through the whole process after us.  When we finally saw the plane in the sky, it was tiny.  Then, oh my gosh – he jumped!  We could see little Tim just jump out of the plane 10,000 feet in the air.  Then I remembered – I just did that.

After Jeff finished editing my video and we were awarded certificates, we celebrated by going out for lunch in town.  Kitchen Café and Bar was the place.  I had a chicken, bacon, brie and cranberry pizza.  It was delicious.  Then we headed home.  Mel wanted to drive this time, so I slept in the back.  Got home just in time at 4:45 for my 5 pm Skype session with the family.  “Guess what I did today.”  Dad, the only one to know of my little escapade, answered “go to the beach?”  Nope.  Mom laughs and jokingly asks if I went skydiving.  “How did you know?”  She wouldn’t believe me.  She couldn’t believe me.  I had fooled her!  She was really glad I didn’t tell her about it ahead of time.

What a way to end the best trip of my life.  In one week I would be back in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, a new person.  Jumping off bridges, jumping out of planes…what would be next?