I'm going to start off by saying that sometimes, the things that panic you most are the things that are the most rewarding. This is one of those stories...and I hear that it is quite comical, even though, at the time, I really didn't find it to be. LOL. So, without further ado...
Parasailing
Back in 2005, I went on my first (and only) cruise to Hawaii. On the fourth day in the islands, we anchored at Kona, which is the driest city on the face of the planet (this is important later). I got off of the tender boat and looked for a place that gave surfing lessons. I went into a little shop and asked, but was told that while they did, in fact, give surfing lessons, the lessons were given on the other side of the island, and I needed to find my own transportation there, and that the buses did NOT run that way (which I found out later was a lie). Disappointed, I turned to leave, but was then told that they did do parasailing on this side of the island. Being afraid of heights, I was a little hesitant (I'm not the most athletic person), but ultimately decided to go for it. I was also told that if the weather didn't hold up and they had to raise the weight limit (I just made it at that time), that they would refund my money. So, I signed up for the lowest height (400 ft.) and went to wait on the beach.
As the minutes ticked by, I started getting more and more nervous. When the time came to go meet the boat, I reluctantly dragged my feet up to the dock. As I got closer, I could feel a panic attack coming on. I looked up at the mountains and saw pitch black clouds rolling over. I started praying my butt off that those clouds would open up, rain out the parasailing trip, so that I could get my refund and go back to the ship. Alas, this was not to be.
As I was waiting there, having a silent panic attack, I started talking to a man who was also waiting for the same boat I was. Anyone who knows me knows that this is no new occurrence. I can make friends just about anywhere...and I enjoy meeting new people. Anyway, this guy tells me that his wife...get this...bugged him to go parasailing because he had never been, and she really wanted him to have this experience. I started to look around for his wife when he told me, "She signed me up, told me to stand here to wait for the boat, and left me!" That's right...she signed him up and LEFT HIM TO GO IT ALONE! Now THAT is just wrong...funny, but wrong. We chatted a bit more until the boat got there, and we all boarded.
Once on the boat, I moved all the way to the back, thinking that if I didn't go first, I'd be great. If I saw what it was all about BEFORE going up, I'd be fine. Again, this was just not to be. Someone upstairs was either pissed off at me that day, or they were just enjoying watching me squirm. As I sat there in my life vest, trying to shrink down to a small size so that they didn't see me, the guy who was getting people ready to go up scanned the whole group (about 10 people), focused on me like a laser beam, at which point, I felt my stomach drop. He then pointed at me, and said, "You! You're first!" To which, I squeaked out a barely audible, "Oh, fuck." The people on either side of me heard it and burst out laughing.
I trudged up to the front, put the harness on the way I was taught, went up, sat on the deck, and had a white-knuckled grip on the bright yellow, smiley face parachute, ready to become a human kite. The guy told me that after a few minutes, he would flap his arms. If I wanted to go higher, I should flap back. If I wanted to get down, to move my legs like a pair of scissors and he would bring me in. I knew that I would NOT be going any higher than originally planned. As the panic really started to set in, they started to let the rope go. Instead of zooming up to the 400 ft. like I thought, "Wow, this isn't so bad." I started to relax a little (without letting up on my white-knuckled grip, of course), and look around. Then, I realized, I can't hear anything except my own thoughts and the wind in my ears. What a wonderful feeling it was. I did not go up to the next level, as I just wasn't ready for that at that point in time. It was definitely a rewarding experience, one that I wanted to repeat.
I did get to repeat the experience again on my honeymoon in Maui. This time, I did a tandem ride with my new husband. This time, he was the one who was in a panic, and I was so excited to go up again. I told him about the man whose wife made him go it alone, and he looked at me with such a panicked face, that I burst out laughing, and assured him that I wouldn't do that to him. After our ride, he looked at me and told me that it was one of the coolest things that he had ever done.
That's one of my favorite panic stories. Anyone care to share one of your's?
No comments:
Post a Comment