Back when I was living in Dubai, Evan suggested that we go skydiving in Umm Al Quwain (UAQ) after we were bumped off an over-booked flight to Jordan. UAQ is one of the 7 Emirates that makes up the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) and was the only place to do sky diving in 2006.
Still pissed over the botched trip, I readily agreed.
We arrived at the Umm Al Quwain Aeroclub, changed into our gear and received our less-than 5-minutes “training” which basically tells us what to do before and after we jumped out of the plane at 10,000ft.
While we were sitting around waiting for our plane, fear started creeping in. Thoughts started running through our heads with things like “What the hell were we thinking??!!” A little too late for that though.
The next thing we know, we were looking at the desert and the Arabian Gulf from a different viewpoint as the plane climbed higher into the sky. The droning of the plane’s engine was relaxing me, hypnotic at times. I was enjoying the view with intermittent disruptions by another sky diver who was taking a video of us.
When the time came, one of the divers (the guy you see at the bottom-right corner of the photo above) walked towards the door and jumped out without hesitation whatsoever. He even turned to face us and gave us the thumbs-up while free-falling backwards! He was so darn cool!
Evan was next in the queue and I was last. All I could remember was the instructor did one big rocking motion at the door and then we were flying! Well, actually we were falling.
That’s my instructor and me jumping out of the plane
It was simply exhilarating and so liberating!
While I was still immersed in the whole free-falling experience, my instructor pulled the parachute and asked “Do you like roller coaster?” After I said “yes”, he started to swirl us both around the sky skillfully, making sure I was enjoying the rest of our way down.
Evan landed safely and with style with her handsome instructor!
Skydiving – it was a ride (jump) of a lifetime and definitely adrenaline-filled! But maybe I will need A LOT of persuasion to do it again 🙂
Have you tried skydiving before? Click here to find out other interesting activities in the UAE.
I have to admit: I am so jealous! I would love to do this, and soon. Had to be even more special given the setting.
Yes you should, sooner rather than later. I’m sure you will love it!
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Wow that looks amazing – the view would have been spectacular! I would love to do this one day, yet I’m also completely terrified of it! Haha x
Hi Kelly, yes it was an amazing experience. Don’t think too much about it and just do it, just jump! haha
Looks amazing and part of me really wants to do this…the other part is the practical part thinking “Why would you jump out of a plane?!” Great job!
Jessica, that was a question I asked myself lol! That adrenaline though…