The big day
It’s been a while since we’ve had an activity we haven’t done before. The previous one was scuba diving, several months ago, but this somehow seems bigger. I guess jumping out of a plane and swimming underwater are two very different kettles of fish. The three of us woke up at 7am, we got ourselves ready, munched down breakfast, and headed out to the skydiving centre. It wasn’t long before we’d arrived, and met with the two instructors, one French and one Canadian. I was sceptical about skydiving in Asia due to loose health and safety requirements, but two Western instructors put my mind at ease.
Check out this link for the Facebook page of the skydiving centre.
Everyone got acquainted with one another, and we had a briefing at the centre of what was going to happen in the air. After this, we tried on our harnesses to make sure they fit all right, then had a short drive to the runway. As there were three of us, and only two could fit in the place at once, I decided to go alone. First. I was go to with the Canadian instructor, Travis, and we both got into the tiny airplane together. Soon after, we took off and began our ascension to 10,000 feet, or 3,000 metres.
Rising tension
We were both sitting on the floor with our legs straight out, and he was busy strapping me to himself. He had two GoPro cameras strapped to his arm, one taking photos and one taking a video the whole way through. It was a bit like an interview, checking out how I was feeling, what thoughts I had, and if I wanted to turn back, obviously not! After around 20 minutes, we’d reached our altitude, around 10,000 feet, or 3,000 metres. It was fairly high to say the least, but when he opened the door and the wind started raging, I had no fear or nerves at all. I was quite surprised at how calm and excited I was, I think travelling has really changed me in a lot of ways.
We both managed to shuffle to the door and basically sat with our legs dangling below the plane. After a minute, he gave the signal that he was about to jump, and then it happened. Thinking back now, I’m surprised that I did it. The first 5 or 10 seconds were just tumbling through the air, just like in the movies. Then, Travis got us into the proper position, so we were the right way and able to look down at the Earth and around us. It was spectacular, especially here because I could see the different blues of the reefs, as well as all of the nearby islands. Much better than a field in England I reckon!
After around 30 seconds of freefalling, Travis pulled the parachute and our descent slowed to a snail’s pace. We communicated a little bit, but for the most part I was just stunned, taking in the breath-taking views, and enjoying the silence. He gave me the parachute handles to spin us around a bit and take control, before handing them back. It was a really surreal and cool experience, I’m glad it all worked out well. Several minutes later, we came in for landing, assumed our correct positions, and had a happy landing. Skydiving complete.
Processing
We went back to where Mat and Gina were, and it was their turn now. I waited for them and spoke with some of the officers from the airport. About half an hour later, they both came down with smiles on their faces too. What a wicked experience for all of us. We were all still buzzing and processing everything that had happened. When everyone was ready, we headed back to the skydiving centre, calmed down, and waited for the videos and photos to be edited.
Due to the size, it took a long time for them to be downloaded to everyone else’s phones and such. It was super cool to see all the footage stitched together with music, I’ll never forget this. We eventually said our goodbyes in the afternoon, and went to get some noodles for lunch, very nice. For pudding, we had a nice ice cream from Jollibee, then drove to the port to see if we could leave the island. Our plan was to head to the north, but we decided otherwise and wanted to get a ferry to Bohol, the nearby island. We managed to get our ferry tickets before heading back home to catch the sunset. Dinner was at a place nearby, before we chilled and went to sleep for our final night on Siquijor.
