Wild Adventures...
Port of Hualtulco, Mexico in the city of Santa Cruz. I’ve been here before. It’s my third visit actually. The first time I did the tour, second I had IPM, and now today was a beach day all the way including the water sports. We got off the ship nice and early and it was HOT. Whoa. We found some beach chairs care of the local beach entrepreneurs and settled. A few of us got bored pretty quickly and decided to get a wave runner. I shared mine, as did our Cruise Director. It was awesome. We headed out of the bay and into the rough waters. It was pretty windy and choppy. We zipped through the water catching the waves and bouncing like mad. It was a half an hour of pure excitement and exhaustion. It was equivalent to riding a bucking horse at times along with the seawater splashing in our faces. I told my passenger that if I was ever taking it too rough to let me know. I had two handlebars to hold tight and he had just my life vest. He never said anything so I would take long strides gunning it at top speed and taking some good air. We rode out of the main harbor and into the open seas for a bit. It was so windy that the water would just blow right into our faces like I remember when we went tubing in Aruba. We sped around in the water doing figure eights and donuts as we tried to splash each other’s wave runner with the wake of the water. A wild ride all the way. I rode on a wave runner before when we were in Grand Cayman some time back. We split the half hour slot between 4 people so it was 15 minutes out and switching drivers. My passenger didn’t care to drive so I did for the full half hour this time. It was tiring battling those waves. Wow. I remember a time too when I was in high school when my brother and I rented little speed boats at the Disney World Resort by the Grand Floridian. That was awesome as well just driving on the water and catching all the waves and splashing each other. This felt equally exciting. I love the water toys.
Today brought new meaning to the question: if someone asked you to jump off a building, would you? We headed out in Acapulco early this morning for a resort called Paradise right in the midst of the city. Once we arrived at the resort we discovered that the bungee place didn’t open until noon, but they were delighted to situate us on the beach and start serving us cocktails.
Some of our party did just that and the rest of us decided to investigate the local retail shops along the main strip. A half an hour later we found ourselves at the bottom of a 165 ft. tower signing release forms and logging our weight for the jump to come. As I was paying my fee and signing my forms I couldn’t believe what I was actually doing. The insanity of it. I couldn’t believe how many of us were partaking. Just a year ago I couldn’t fathom just jumping off anything attached to a chord. I’m now even wondering what skydiving would be like. My brother’s been trying to get me in the air for a while now. So I was all set and ready to go. Signed and paid I was riding up in an open elevator reminiscent of the free fall rides you go on at the amusement parks (only there were no harnesses). My knees began to get weak as we climbed the heights in the narrow lift. We reached the top and suddenly 165 ft. seemed a lot higher than normal. I’ve dropped on 300 ft and 400 ft coasters and my heart was racing more anticipating the jump than it was waiting in line for those thrill rides. I saw 2 people jump before me; one as we were climbing in the lift and the other at the top when I was waiting to get fitted. The one I saw at the top was in a flash of the eye. One minute I was looking at him and the next moment I looked and he was gone. I put my harness on and entered the staging area. My friend Nicole whom I rode in the elevator with was all set to go. Bound at the ankles. As I was getting my ankles bound she hopped over to the platform where she got hooked up to her bungee. She waved at the camera and 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and she was off. Suddenly my heart was beating rapidly. I was next. As she finished and they reeled her in at the bottom, they started attaching the bungee to my ankles and harness. After her chord had finished rewinding itself back up to the platform I found myself hopping out on the plank. My hands were sweating profusely and every bone in my body was acting against this task. I waved at the camera and the countdown commenced. There was a gentle push from behind and I found myself free falling over the edge in a swan dive toward the pool below. I cannot even describe the butterflies that buzzed around in my stomach as I careened toward the ground below. It was smooth all the way down and then came the elastic point where I was drawn back up to fall all over again. All the blood was in my head now and all I could concentrate on was not to pass out. I was spinning because I instinctively pulled my hands in on my jump, which sent some momentum going and the ground was circling below me. I knew I had to extend my arms to stop the spinning and I did, but the secure part of me just wanted to keep my arms as close to me as possible. I grabbed hold of the bar that would reel me in and I was on my back safe on the ground getting my harness removed in no time. I had a surge of adrenaline and was pumped up for the rest of the day. Whoa. I never had such a rush. Most of us managed to go. Even a girl who was afraid of heights!! We settled for some cocktails and a good lunch at the restaurant at the bungee’s base.
I had lobster, shrimp, and steak for less than $30 and with the perfect open-air beach view!!! That was awesome. Something like that would cost a minimum of $70 in the U.S. We were all so hyped and now full of margaritas, we just stayed at the restaurant for a while. Upon leaving I went and visited some of the parrots and toucans that were perched as you come down in the restaurant. Some were very friendly and others were mean. One of our guys got pecked and learned that some were not happy with humans being around them. The one that was friendly was REALLY friendly with me. I let him perch on my arm and I soon found out he wanted to make residence there for a while. More than I cared to have him perching on me for. Different people tried to get him to perch on their arms and he just snapped at them. He made his way to my back and perched right on my shoulder. We tried to get him back on his perch without touching him so I bent over and was wondering if he’d just walk back on to his perch. Nope. He was happy with my back and was determined to stay there. Great. Finally one of the waiters came out with an extended perch and got him off my back. 
I’m glad he found me friendly enough for a perch, but was more than happy to let him get back to his own. Our day ended at the Lido pool with more cocktails and some wonderful music by our party band on board. I have to chalk this day up as one of the most exhilarating days of my life and I can finally check another thing off the list of things I’ve done in my youth.
A quote I came across today that struck me as a good motto for life: “20 years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you did not do than by the things you did. So through off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain. I feel this is perfect for the life I’ve been leading over the past 3 years.
Today brought new meaning to the question: if someone asked you to jump off a building, would you? We headed out in Acapulco early this morning for a resort called Paradise right in the midst of the city. Once we arrived at the resort we discovered that the bungee place didn’t open until noon, but they were delighted to situate us on the beach and start serving us cocktails.
Some of our party did just that and the rest of us decided to investigate the local retail shops along the main strip. A half an hour later we found ourselves at the bottom of a 165 ft. tower signing release forms and logging our weight for the jump to come. As I was paying my fee and signing my forms I couldn’t believe what I was actually doing. The insanity of it. I couldn’t believe how many of us were partaking. Just a year ago I couldn’t fathom just jumping off anything attached to a chord. I’m now even wondering what skydiving would be like. My brother’s been trying to get me in the air for a while now. So I was all set and ready to go. Signed and paid I was riding up in an open elevator reminiscent of the free fall rides you go on at the amusement parks (only there were no harnesses). My knees began to get weak as we climbed the heights in the narrow lift. We reached the top and suddenly 165 ft. seemed a lot higher than normal. I’ve dropped on 300 ft and 400 ft coasters and my heart was racing more anticipating the jump than it was waiting in line for those thrill rides. I saw 2 people jump before me; one as we were climbing in the lift and the other at the top when I was waiting to get fitted. The one I saw at the top was in a flash of the eye. One minute I was looking at him and the next moment I looked and he was gone. I put my harness on and entered the staging area. My friend Nicole whom I rode in the elevator with was all set to go. Bound at the ankles. As I was getting my ankles bound she hopped over to the platform where she got hooked up to her bungee. She waved at the camera and 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and she was off. Suddenly my heart was beating rapidly. I was next. As she finished and they reeled her in at the bottom, they started attaching the bungee to my ankles and harness. After her chord had finished rewinding itself back up to the platform I found myself hopping out on the plank. My hands were sweating profusely and every bone in my body was acting against this task. I waved at the camera and the countdown commenced. There was a gentle push from behind and I found myself free falling over the edge in a swan dive toward the pool below. I cannot even describe the butterflies that buzzed around in my stomach as I careened toward the ground below. It was smooth all the way down and then came the elastic point where I was drawn back up to fall all over again. All the blood was in my head now and all I could concentrate on was not to pass out. I was spinning because I instinctively pulled my hands in on my jump, which sent some momentum going and the ground was circling below me. I knew I had to extend my arms to stop the spinning and I did, but the secure part of me just wanted to keep my arms as close to me as possible. I grabbed hold of the bar that would reel me in and I was on my back safe on the ground getting my harness removed in no time. I had a surge of adrenaline and was pumped up for the rest of the day. Whoa. I never had such a rush. Most of us managed to go. Even a girl who was afraid of heights!! We settled for some cocktails and a good lunch at the restaurant at the bungee’s base.
I had lobster, shrimp, and steak for less than $30 and with the perfect open-air beach view!!! That was awesome. Something like that would cost a minimum of $70 in the U.S. We were all so hyped and now full of margaritas, we just stayed at the restaurant for a while. Upon leaving I went and visited some of the parrots and toucans that were perched as you come down in the restaurant. Some were very friendly and others were mean. One of our guys got pecked and learned that some were not happy with humans being around them. The one that was friendly was REALLY friendly with me. I let him perch on my arm and I soon found out he wanted to make residence there for a while. More than I cared to have him perching on me for. Different people tried to get him to perch on their arms and he just snapped at them. He made his way to my back and perched right on my shoulder. We tried to get him back on his perch without touching him so I bent over and was wondering if he’d just walk back on to his perch. Nope. He was happy with my back and was determined to stay there. Great. Finally one of the waiters came out with an extended perch and got him off my back. 
I’m glad he found me friendly enough for a perch, but was more than happy to let him get back to his own. Our day ended at the Lido pool with more cocktails and some wonderful music by our party band on board. I have to chalk this day up as one of the most exhilarating days of my life and I can finally check another thing off the list of things I’ve done in my youth. A quote I came across today that struck me as a good motto for life: “20 years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you did not do than by the things you did. So through off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain. I feel this is perfect for the life I’ve been leading over the past 3 years.
posted by Chris | 9:37 PM
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