3 September 2016
When people ask me if I’m acrophobic, I’m not quite sure how to
answer. I always hold the rails tightly when using the escalator, my heart
races when I stand near the glass windows in high rise building and looking
down from at least one floor high just make my stomach turn. But skydiving is
on my bucket list and if I was able to survive bungee jumping in Nepal (which I
think is scarier), it never occurred to me that my bit of acrophobia would
inhibit me from skydiving.
There are so many places you can dive in New Zealand—from North to
South. Angela and I searched through several diving operators and shortlisted 3
and decided to dive in Queenstown with NZone. There were other cheaper options
but we chose NZone primarily because of the view it offers. We were going to
dive with snowcapped mountains and a blue lake beneath us. If you’re gonna dive
only once, might as well, dive with the best view. Plus, skydiving in
Queenstown fit well with our schedule.
I was decided on jumping at 12,000 feet but on the day we booked,
Angela convinced me to dive at 15,000 feet. We also chose to document our dive
by hiring a cameraman. Yep, it wasn’t cheap. Thank god, I’m not an unemployed
student anymore.
On the day of the skydive, I was worried because I had a runny rose. Why
do I always have a runny nose? (I later learned that I had nasal allergies).
The good thing was that my nose wasn’t as bad as when I did my bungee jumping
in Nepal. I was also worried that I might feel really cold when I’m there (I
was already cold at ground level and it was definitely colder at higher
altitude).
 |
My tandem master and cameraman introduced themselves to me and kept me
entertained as we waited for our turn to ride the plane. While waiting, we
watched parachutes coming down from the sky and the tandem masters packing
chutes for another dive. They sometimes dive 8 times a day, one after another.
My tandem master and cameraman have both dove thousands of times already. This
gave me confidence that the probability of our chute and emergency chute
failing was pretty low.
Finally, it was our turn to fly. We boarded a small plane which didn’t
have seats but there were windows that gave us an amazing view. My tandem
master told me the names of the places beneath is although all I could remember
was which was Queenstown and the Remarkables.
Then, one of the tandem masters signaled that it was already 15,000
feet. Next thing I know the door was opened and the girl beside the door and
her tandem jumped. Within seconds, I was already by the door tightly strapped
to my tandem master and my cameraman was already half outside taking a video of
me. Then we jumped.
 |
For a second, it felt as though my heart skipped a beat. It didn’t
feel like falling (the ground was too far beneath us). The runny nose and the
cold was forgotten. I was enjoying the wind and the view. It wasn’t scary at
all. We spent a good 60 seconds freefalling. 15,000 feet was a good decision—not
too short, not too long.
Unfortunately, on my way down, I got motion sickness. The parachute
had to make turns so we could go down faster but since I was getting sick (just
to be clear, I didn’t vomit) the tandem master maneuvered it with less turns on
our way down. I was a bit dizzy once we reached the ground and was not feeling
good till afternoon. Angela on the other hand, was very cheerful and hyper.
