"Sorry Mom"

On Saturday, I woke up slightly early (around 7:30). I laid in bed and listened to the sounds of Cairns around me. Being a tropical location, you could hear the sounds of the birds and lizards and crickets singing through the humidity in the air. It reminded me a lot of my first trip to Hawaii and waking up early the first morning listening to similar sounds.

After laying in bed for a while, I decided to grab my book and head down to the pool to do some reading. I also took advantage of having most of the reception area to myself and jumped online to do some blogging. I knew our loyal readers would be wondering what we were up to since heading into the Outback. Eventually, AJ made his way downstairs and joined me on the computers. After a while, we enjoyed a lovely breakfast at the poolside bar (Calypso apparently is a full-service hostel) before making our way upstairs to get ready. As we were having breakfast, I couldn't believe how calm I felt considering I knew we were about to jump out of an airplane. And yet, I felt strangely peaceful.

So we showered up and made our way to the lobby to wait for the shuttle. When it arrived, my stomach did a little flip because all of a suddent if felt quite real. And after our short bus ride to the main shop and my tenth toilet run of the day (I think I have a nervous bladder, and I didn't want to pee myself mid-air!), we were given some parachute pants and strapped into a harness. Then we waited for the crew to get back from their previous jump.

As we were sitting watching videos of other idiots...I mean, people... who had previously jumped, the door opened and the pro divers arrived. All of a sudden, I heard, "Briana?" I turned to see a friendly looking guy with reddish hair and dreads down to his lower back. He said, "Hi! I'm Dan. You'll be looking after me this afternoon." Ha! This is exactly the guy I wanted to jump with if I was gonna jump. Go big or go home, right Elyse?

So, Dan grabbed a camera and started filming away (because, again, if I was gonna do this, I sure as hell was paying for a video). When he said, "What do you have to say?", I replied, "Sorry mom!" At this point, AJ had met his diver, Theresa, and we all suited up and headed on the bus to take us to the airport. On the way, we chatted casually with Dan, Theresa and the rest of the crazy people who do this for a living (because clearly if this is your job, you have to have a healthy dose of insanity.) Dan said they jump about 7-8 times a day. Insane! Dan and another guy Mike were arguing over which parachute they were going to take, and I desperately wanted to shout to Dan, "just take the one that is safest!" But I contained myself...barely.

Once at the airport, we piled onto the plane. Now, for those of you who are used to commercial planes where everyone gets one seat, that's not at all what this plane is like. In this plane, there are two benches running the length of the plane. At the back of each bench, a tandem diver backs up so that their backs are against the pilot's seat. Then their diver backs up against them. Next another set of tandem divers back against those folks, etc., etc. until the plane is full. In total, there are eight jumpers and eight tandem divers. So, if you're someone who minds people in your personal space, this wouldn't be the flight for you. AJ and I were going to be the last jumpers, so we were the first in the plane, backed up cozy to Theresa and Dan, respectively. And after everyone else climbed on board, the door shut and before we even realized it, we were off the ground. It was about a twenty minute flight to the jump spot and in order to get 14000 feet into the air. The views were incredible. You could see the reef and the surrounding land. Dan's watch tracked our progress, so he was kind enough to keep showing me his watch so I could see how high we had climbed.

As we got close, Dan strapped himself to me, told me to put my goggles on and get ready. Again, in a blink of the eye, all of the sudden the door was open and the first jumpers were out of the plane. Before I had time to mentally process what was about to happen, we were pushing forward to the front of the plane and then my legs were hanging out of it. Again, without knowing how quickly things were happening, all of a sudden, I was free falling through the air, screaming my head off and shouting "OH MY GOD!!" Dan was filming everything and trying to remind me to smile for the camera. Unfortunately for photographic purposes, I couldn't remember to do anything but yell. As my heart began to beat a little less quickly, and I was able to look around and see the world around me, I couldn't believe that I was literally skydiving.

All of a sudden, Dan opened the parachute and my body jerked from the gravity of the harness pulling up toward the chute and my weight pulling down toward the ground. I can't say it was a very comfortable position to be in, but at that point, we began moving more slowly as we drifted toward the ground. Dan was controlling our movements by pulling on either side of the chute. At one point, he handed the straps to me and had me pull on them to move the chute. I'm sure some people love this, but all I could think was, "Dan, I'm too busy freaking out to control this thing!" But I was quiet and did what I was told. After all, my life was in his hands.

As we got ready for landing, Dan asked me to practice bringing my knees up and then stretching my legs forward. Unfortunately, I couldn't get my left leg to cooperate. We practiced and practiced, but nothing. So, he decided instead of landing on our bums, we were going to land on our knees. Since I had no idea the difference, I agreed and followed his lead. As we got closer to the ground, he told me to arch my back and pull my legs behind him, which I did with know problem. And like the beginning of the jump, before I knew it, we were on our knees and then lying face first on the grass (with Dan laying on top of me). He unstrapped himself and we both kneeled. He turned the camera on and asked me how I felt. I was in such shock, I have no idea what I said, except for, "I'm just so glad to be on the ground again!" But even within the shock, I recognized that I had done it. I jumped out of a plane!

I quickly looked up into the sky to see where AJ was, knowing that he jumped right after me. There was a chute coming close to the ground, so as first I thought that was him. But as they got closer, Dan and I realized that it was another jumper. So, we looked around, and way in the distance, we saw AJ and Theresa. Someone else yelled, "They're not going to make the mark," and the bus that had come to retrieve us quickly pulled away in search of them. I was disappointed to not have AJ to make eye contact with and share in the moment that we had actually just done it, but I was also slightly concerned about his well-being. I had Dan assure me that AJ was going to be okay and then I waited for him to arrive. Within a few minutes, the bus came back with AJ and Theresa onboard. Poor Theresa got off the bus with jeers from her peers and shouts that she owed them all beer. Apparently this was the first time she had ever missed the mark. I ran over to AJ who looked amused and amazed. We both laughed at ourselves for our adventure, and he told me all about getting caught in a cloud. I told him about landing on my knees.

After the short bus ride back to the shop, we thanked Dan and Theresa and headed off to find some lunch. Every now and then, we laughed because one minute we were skydiving and the next we were going about our day like it was any other day. After lunch, we made our way back to the shop to grab our DVD and pictures. Then we found an internet cafe so that we could post the pictures immediately.

Hours later, after having dinner and doing some major souvenir shopping, we wandered back to the hostel to pack for our overnight to the rainforest. But every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was sky and me falling through it!