October 4, 2008
The last two days aboard have been absolutely fantastic! I had nearly a full day off, which is rare in itself, but for two days in a row! Our day in Lahaina, Maui started with the morning hours in the library, then hopping in a taxi with Rienus to go to the beach for a swim. We went to Kaanapali Beach which was rather touristy with restaurants and shopping right near the beach. There were good waves to play around in and after a quick swim we had lunch and met up with some other people from the ship. I had the entire rest of the day off so I laid on the beach, played something that resembled volleyball with the one I’d brought from the ship and had cocktails on the beach. All in all a delightful day. After Happy Hour we all trekked back to a beach nearer to the ship where we spread out our towels and sarongs, bought some snacks and watched the sunset behind the ship. There were still surfers and paddle surfers going strong as the sun was going down over the horizon. We made a final stop at a restaurant before heading back to the pier for out last non-ship food for the day of onion rings, calamari and spring rolls. Good for the taste buds. My punishment for a free day full of fun was serving my time behind the karaoke machine once I got back onboard. We had a crowd of about four people who just sang over and over again. The karaoke crows is unique bunch.
My second day of freedom required even less work than the first. I opened the library, but a friend had volunteered to take a couple of my hours there so that I could go SKY DIVING!!! We had a group of ten who all trekked out in a severely over stuffed van about 45 minutes north to the much less populated side of the island. We had to sign away our lives on a paper that kept saying things like, “Skydiving is dangerous. You can be seriously injured or killed.” And “You have a choice, do not skydive if you are unsure.” I had to stop reading or else I was going to freak myself out and not be able to do it. So I signed 47 times and we all waited around for our names to be called. It worked out perfectly with our group where 6 people went up in the first plane and the four of us on the ground were able to watch/film them coming down and landing, and then they were able to do that for us. When it was my turn I was a little apprehensive, but really didn’t get too nervous at all. As the plane was going up at a pretty severe angle and my ears were popping I was trying to enjoy the view and not think about what was coming next. And it was a glorious view. My instructor pointed out the North Shore and a few beaches here and there. You could see Pearl Harbor all the way across the island, the area where the ship was docked and a teeny tiny little field…where we were hopefully going to be landing. I was the last of the four out of the plane and really I think I was too busy just going through the steps to be nervous. He (Wyatt the instructor) asked me if I was ready and after my ‘yes’ said, “On three, ONE.” And then we jumped.
The beauty of it all was really I didn’t have to do anything but enjoy the ride. The free fall was so fast that I couldn’t hear, my mouth went dry and I could feel my cheeks jiggling as the air beat across my face. When he pulled the cord I felt myself drop for a split second then my harness tightened around me and we floated on down. I got to steer for a bit, pull on the right and you spin around to the right, and vice versa. Although I couldn’t get it spinning fast enough so I passed the controls back to him.
When I landed I was giddy and all I wanted to do was go again. The view was absolutely gorgeous the entire way up and down, I can’t think of a better place to skydive. Death defying leisure activity #1. Check.
