Given Florida’s warm year-round weather and great jumping conditions, it’s only natural that skydiving would reign supreme. Add this adrenaline rush to your next Florida trip and I guarantee it’ll be a trip you’ll always remember.
I’ll always remember my first jump. I was on my T.O. (time off) with friends during our stint in wilderness therapy—very hard, challenging (and incredibly frustrating) work. There was a bumper sticker that had been posted up in the T.O. House for God only knows how long. It stared us in the face for over a year, sometimes ignored and sometimes contemplated; then one day it took hold.
We rallied the troops, piled in a van, and headed for Skydive City in Zephyrhills. There was a lot of joking and joshing around at first, and then the closer we got to the field the more a nervous quiet took over. And then Tom Petty’s Freefall came on the radio and we started laughing again, nervously.
After an instructor went over the ground rules (giggles) with us, we climbed aboard the plane and circled our way up into the sky. Since I was the first one that got in the plane it meant I would be the last one out which meant I got to watch every other single occupant jump out of the plane before me giving me more time to get sick to my stomach thinking about freefalling at 120mph.
Apparently my instructor thought I would do well, because he planned out a few tricks for us that we would execute on the way down. First, we would do a barrel-roll/summersault out the door, followed by what he called the “James Bond,” and then we would practice our steering.
It all went off without a hitch.
I jumped out of the plane tandem with my instructor; we executed the barrel roll, nosedived the “James Bond,” and steered around the sky. It was absolutely amazing. I even got to pull the rip cord to deploy the chute.
We floated back to earth, my instructor gave me the option of landing on our feet in a running jog or skidding across the grass on our bottoms.
I chose skidding, of course. It was way more fun.
So, what do you think? Are you in? It’s totally okay to take some time and think about it, but also, if you think too much, you’ll probably psych yourself out. In the meantime, I rounded up some skydiving deals for you to look at while you’re thinking. Enjoy.
UPDATE: It turns out that Central Florida is the place to skydive in Florida. So if you are in the Tampa Bay or Orlando area, this could easily be done via the classic Florida daytrip. Best way to do it on the cheap is via Groupon, as the skydiving companies have gone to war on Groupon to see who can offer the best price.
(updated 09/22/2019)
