Starting from the beginning. Ever since I moved down here I've been wanting to go. Every time I went to the beach I could spot people cruisin about- I just had to find someone to go with me and I would be one of them. When Ashley moved down here she agreed to go. (Although I was forewarned to ignore any cursing thrown my way during the actual experience. ha!)
After speaking about going for weeks, last weekend we finally picked a company and drove out to Clearwater. We were a little worried about the weather because we saw an impending storm on the horizon. In the end we made it just in time, barely missing the rain.
We went out on a small boat with Ashley's Mom, her friend Steven, Ashley, me, three Indian people who were also going parasailing, the Captain and the guy who was in charge of gearing us up. The two employees were kind of jokesters which in this situation, wasn't that appreciated. (Considering we had to sign waivers saying we knew that if something went wrong there was a possibility of major injury or death...)
We went up in a group of three (Ashley, Steven and I) while Ashley's Mom photographed us from below. I was so excited to go and hadn't let myself get all psyched out thankfully. We had picked the longest rope available, 800 feet! (I'd say that the rope was at about a 60 degree angle so those who are good at trig can figure out approximately how high we were.) The crew let out the parachute from the back while we put on life jackets and leg straps then crawled to the back of the boat and sat down. They hooked us up to a bar and then they cranked out the rope to let us out. It was like sitting in a swing and everything was so smooth that it wasn't even scary. If you didn't think about what was going on, it was rather enjoyable. :] (Ashley didn't curse as much as she thought she would. ha!)
Up we go!
The view from up top was wonderful both towards the endless horizon of the Gulf and back towards Clearwater beach with its skyscrapers. I was surprised how calm it was up top. Everything seemed very still. There were only a couple times when the wind jerked us a little and we were reminded that we were suspended in the air with nothing but water below us. The scariest was to look straight down!
Up in the air!
(A very patriotic parachute)
Near the end the Captain started lowering us down closer and closer towards the water. We had the option of getting wet at the end or not, but we couldn't all agree so we told the Captain to decide. He lowered us super close to the water and just when we thought we were about to go in, he snatched us back up into the air. He brought us down again and this time we went into the water.
He let us back out one more time and then cranked us in onto the deck of the boat. We had to hold onto the bar above our heads as they pulled us in. We enjoyed the rest of the boat ride as the other group went.
And one more thing is checked off of my bucket list :]
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