safari sistas

having finally found an internet connectin again, I can continue the story…

I join Kevin in bouncing about (helps release some of the nervous energy) and we hover as close to the retrieval site as possible, waiting for Jill to come up over the edge again.  After a moment I start to hear my name circulating among the staff “jaim’s next” “where’s jaimi” “JAIMI!”  I meekly call attention to myself and they send me over to the tie up area. After a minute, Jacque appears and starts the same procedure I’d watched with Jill. After enduring a few minutes of small talk and laughing all the time (what other option do I have when I’m this nervous?!), I finally asked one of the questions that’s been plagueing me: “am I going to puke my guts out?”  “NO! No, no, no. You’re going to fly like an angel.”

Then he disappears and I see him welcoming Jill back on the platform! She is smiling, which I’m delighted to see.  I have a hundred questions, but only have time for a quick how was it, a smile and nod from her, a kiss for bravery from Kevin (who whispers that he doesn’t want to jump now, after all – I assure him he doesn’t have to) and I’m hopping over to the “exit” with Jacque and the other guy.  Has my stomach EVER clamped so tight before?  I get to the edge and take about 4 deep breaths – very deep!  Jacque glances at me “you doin’ okay?”  I nod, and he tells me 3 times to take one more hop closer to the edge, before I comprehend (what difference those last 2 cm make I couldn’t figure out).  The coutdown starts.  “5…4…3..2..1..fly like an angel!” he shouts.  I squeeze my eyes shut for a split second, think “what am I DOING?!” and then I’m off!

I open my eyes as I take off: the air rushes past and I am really flying. The silence is intimidating, the valley below coming nearer, everything turning upside down as my swan dive turns over.  I can see it all, and it is happening so amazingly slowly. When will I feel the tension? why haven’t I yet?  And then there it is, a slow increase as the bungy stretches and I finally scream – exhilerating! I feel the fall bottoming out (beautiful! I never thought it would be beautiful!), and then I realize, “oh, no, here I go again!” as I bounce up and start the next fall. 

Eventually, I am just hanging, turning there below the bridge and thankfully still somewhat above the valley floor, twisting in space as I survey the trees, the birds, the ocean.  And still this incredible silence, into which I call softly “yes!”  I wonder when “spiderman” is going to crawl down and fetch me, and feel my feet being sweaty. It feels like they will simply slip through the restraints and I’ll tumble down – hope he gets here soon.  When he does, I am anxious to grab onto something; a bit ridiculous after almost 7 minutes of free fall, bouncing, and hanging! On the way up, I hear Kevin call “Mama!” and look up to see he and Jill leaning over the edge (behind rails and netting – no worries!); they had gotten placed in a special spot so he could see me coming up. 

Once there, hugs all around.  Hug Jill, hug Kevin, hug Jacque, hugs for the family again, smiles and laughter and little shouts.  The other jumpers hovering about, wanting to ask about it, but mostly not asking. Holding hands and jumping up and down in excitement: if we were worried about getting old, the jump proved us wrong – we looked like two 14 year old girls who have just gotten asked out by the cutest guys in school!  It was incredible.  At which point Kevin proclaims: “actually, I want to jump too!”

We watched a couple other jumps (from a special viewing spot given to us by Jacque, so we could see them all the way down and how far the fall was that we’d just made), and then made the hike back across the catwalk.  We loved watching our video (which we then just HAD to purchase – but negotiated a good deal); hard to believe that’s us! But we are still so giddy that it’s clear we DID just do what we’re seeing ourselves do.

Incredible. Exhilerating. A once-in-a-lifetime kind of moment. I understand why the company operating this sight is called “Face adrenaline”: the motto is “face your fear” and the rush of adrenaline is unbelieveable.  Two days later, when we couldn’t sleep, we layed in bed and relived the jump.  And when discussing careers with our friends and someone asked Kevin what he wants to do when he grows up, his answer was “Bungy.”  So yes, kind of a life-changing event.

Blounkrans Bridge: been there, jumped that!

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 9th, 2006 at 9:28 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.