Before we left Hawaii, we wanted to have one last dive. So, at 10am we were picked up by the shuttle bus, and driven up to the North Shore of Oahu. As we arrived at our destination, Dillingham Airfield, the nerves started to kick in!
Mum Smith and Fenton, please sit down when reading and viewing the following blog….and Mum Smith, make sure the colour ink cartridges are full!!
We went into the office for the safety briefing and to sign an 8 page contract, assuming full liability if we should have an accident or die! You have probably realised by now that this is a different sort of ‘dive’ than the previous ones we have done….yes folks, we were about to do our first skydive!!
As we waited for our names to appear on the board, which assigned us a dive master and cameraman the nerves really kicked in, allowing us time to ponder our decision.
As our names were called and we met our dive masters we were strapped into our harnesses and walked out to the runway.
A final smile for the camera and we jumped on the plane, where we sat in two rows in order of who was jumping first. As the plane took off and the ground started to get further away it became nerve wracking watching as we got higher and higher into the clouds!
As we reached 14,000ft above the clouds, mountains and birds the door was opened and Nicola watched in horror as within seconds Ben and his dive master were gone and freefalling!
Ben did several rolls in mid air, before coming into the free fall position.
As Ben’s chute opened he took the scenic detour down, admiring the view and taking in the beautiful coast.
Nicola left the plane within seconds of Ben ‘falling out’, she tried her hardest not to look too terrified!
As we went into a 120mph freefall the adrenaline kicked in and she went a little crazy in front of the camera man.
When the chute finally opened we made a steady descent down to the landing zone, the view was spectacular. The mountains were in the distance, the coast with it’s multitude of different blue/green colours sparkled below and the white sand beach stretched for as far as the eye could see. The silence was overwhelming, and only the birds were here to keep us company.
The landing zone was at the end of the runway (which you can see in the above shot), and as we got nearer the realisation hit that the ride to beat all rides was about to end! Nicola somehow overtook Ben in mid air and landed first. Ben had taken the scenic route and landed second, having to assume the sitting position, as his legs were too long to stand.
As we high fived our dive masters we greeted each other with a triumphant hug…we did it!!
After taking our harnesses off and buying the great pictures and DVD we jumped back on the free shuttle to Waikiki.
So, the DVD…Ben had persuaded Nicola to get filmed after her splendid performance in the Bungy DVD earlier this month! After much convincing she agreed, and tried to make sure she smiled throughout…there is also a great clip of Ben’s backward role out of the plane!!!
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