Parasailing: Have You Ever Dreamed of Flying?

Posted by Beki on Aug 10, 2013 in Life | 1 comment

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a flying dream. The one where you are soaring through the sky with the birds, cutting the clouds in half, arms outstretched. I remember them, however, with vivid clarity. Don’t you? Flying dreams are the best. Hasn’t there been a time in your life when a child has asked you the question, “If you could have one super power, what would it be?” Of course you answered…..To Fly!

This week…..I flew.

Not in an airplane. No. It was just me…500 ft up in the air, soaring through the sky with the birds, cutting the clouds in half, arms outstretched.

I went parasailing…and it was fantastic!

I wasn’t really nervous, at first.  Especially since my younger nieces and nephews were going also. I figured, if they could do it certainly I could do it. Right? With 12 of us going, we filled the boat. That made for a really fun trip. The guys at Gators Parasail in Madeira Beach were super nice and the trip was a success because of them.

I watched several pairs from our group go up, and they all came back down safe and sound with huge grins saying how awesome it was. How peaceful it felt up there. They told stories of seeing dolphin and sea turtles. I couldn’t wait for my turn.

Next thing I knew I was being harnessed into nothing more than seatbelt straps with some metal clips on them. As they told me to make my way to the back of the boat, sit here, hold there, I found myself questioning if the chords of the parachute were tangled….  is that thing suppose to look like that?…..and does this go this way?….Are you sure?

It was silly, really. They do this every day. Several times a day. It is in their best interest to make sure no one gets hurt. They know what they are doing. That still didn’t stop me from screaming like a baby as I launched off the back of the boat into the air, as my nephew shouted after me, “There’s No Turning Back Now!”.  Thank you. I realized that as I saw the earth shrinking below me. Thank goodness I had my 19 yr old niece next to me. She was an old pro. She had done this at the young age of 14 and survived. I relaxed at that thought.

On the way down, our guides had been “dipping” everyone in the ocean, letting their feet drag a bit before lifting them back up and pulling them to the boat. Well, apparently someone gave them a tip telling them my niece and I “wanted to get really wet”. All I remember is going down towards the water, and then getting dragged. I was submerged..not dipped! I think I kicked my niece in the face at one point. I would have come up screaming and yelling, had I not gotten a mouth full of salt water. Especially since just a few minutes before we were dunked, when we were still pretty high up, we looked down and saw a shark swimming in the waters below! It was pretty cool to see, but I didn’t want to think about him as I was thrashing around in the water moments later!

Overall, it was a positive experience for everyone. Out of the 12, we only had one person who didn’t love it. They didn’t necessarily hate it, it just wasn’t their thing, and that’s ok. Everyone else loved it, and can’t wait to do it again. We would definitely go back to Gators. They helped make it a flying success!