After an hour’s drive, we arrived at the private airport to Skydive Amelia Island, Florida. My dad did not know what we were doing, I had simply told him to be ready to leave the house at 8:30, with comfortable clothes and shoes. I was treating him to a late birthday present before I would set off with Briana for South Korea a few weeks later. It was a surprise I kept from him and my mom (who would have freaked out) but upon pulling into the parking lot, a large sign spelling out Skydive The Beaches gave it away – I’m sure the airport was also a pretty clear sign.
Skydive Amelia Island
First-time Jumpers
We were the only jumpers for our jump time. I chose early in the morning since Florida has volatile weather and I didn’t want to get rained out. But as it was, the weather couldn’t have been much better. A slight haze, but essentially no clouds, and a warm but not too hot temperature graced the sleepy beach town.
We were greeted by our two skydive instructors. After a bit of paperwork and a quick safety run-down, we were fitted and strapped in. Our guides had a quick talk with the pilot about wind conditions and heading out east, which really meant nothing to me, though probably a bit more to my dad who was a P-3 pilot for the US Navy. I had thought this would be a good gift because though he had been a pilot, he’d never gotten to actually jump out a plane.
A Long Slow Climb
We climbed into the tiny Cessna-182 idling on the tarmac and proceeded to the end of the runway. The pilot then gunned the throttle and we were off and quickly ascended – not really, our plane was pretty heavy and not the most powerful of planes, so that – along with the high air temperature – meant that we ascended at a pretty slow pace. It took roughly 20 minutes to reach our altitude of 9,500 ft. The ride was pretty nice though, with great views of the Atlantic coast with Georgia to our north and Florida to our south.
Once we reached altitude, we readied ourselves over the drop-zone and then popped open side door. I was pretty surprised at the sudden gush of cold air which I wasn’t expecting. My dad and his guide were at the door so they jumped first. It was then my turn, where my guide and I scooted backward from the rear of the plane towards the door and shimmied our way out the door. I didn’t have any fear of the jump, hardly any nerves either – but it was exhilarating to sit for those few seconds on the edge of the plane and just stare down for those roughly 10,000 ft.
Jump Into Nothing
Then I just hear in my ear, “1, 2, 3…” and we fall forward. We quickly accelerated to 120 mph, and as instructed I just let my arms out, heads and legs back. The free fall was about 45 seconds. You really don’t notice the ground rushing up towards you. The experience was incredible. It doesn’t even really feel like you’re falling either, almost just as if you’re floating in space, with the wind blasting in your face.
At 5,000 ft. we pulled the chute, quickly decelerated and begin to aim towards the landing zone. Here we had about 4 minutes of glide time to have fun with. Still, pretty high up, we had plenty of room to play around. My guide handed me the steering reins and had me pull hard on one side, which quickly brought us into a spinning dive. Facing straight down and spinning very fast, I could feel the blood rush and get stuck in my feet. We did this back and forth several times, each time getting steadily closer to the ground. Once we were about 300 feet from the ground, the instructor took the reins back completely and readied us to land. We came in and slid along our butts on the slightly wet grass – perfect landing.
Back on the Ground
Although I had jumped a good 30 seconds after my dad, the spinning descent actually put me down quickly. He quickly followed me in the landing, missing his target of some mushrooms apparently by only a few feet.
All in all, a successful jump and gift. Both my dad and I can’t wait for the next jump to take.
Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the event because of the cost to buy them.
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