Sitting in the cafeteria of skydive Spain Seville office I am savoring my morning coffee and as the clock approaches 9:00, my excitement level increases along with my heartbeat. 6 of us were scheduled for our dive at 9:00 AM some 40 KM from Seville in the midst of farms is Spain.
We reached the reception registered our-self, completed all the formalities including the payment of remaining fee, signing the contract and formed 3 group of 2 to do our tandem jump. After that we got checked in and our instructor started the briefing, explaining the meaning of various signs and which position to take at what time. We got suited up in the yellow jump suits and were introduced to the person who will be our tandem master. As 2 of us were to jump in the first round we geared up and were all set to sit in the plane for our tandem jump which will take us to 15,000 ft highest altitude offered in Spain for skydiving. As i wear specs the good thing was they provide a special googles which you can wear over your specs.
It was finally our turn to get loaded into the plane. Along with me there were 2 more people one tandem master who will jump with me and another one who is going to take the video and click some shots. My tandem master was continuously showing me the height on his altimeter and as the altitude rise my excitement started turning into nervousness. Within a time of 15 mins we were above 15,000 ft ready to jump out plane. As the gate opens a thrust of cold air engulfed me, eardrums closed due to change in pressure with an mesmerizing view of horizon in-front of me.
First, a couple of the individual divers go and the way that they jumped out of the plane was as if the ground was just beneath their feet and not as if they were going to freefall from 15,000 feet. They walked to the edge of the door and waved goodbye as they casually just jumped out of the plane. As I started walking towards the gate holding it from one side trying to take a view my tandem master adjusted my hands and legs in correct position and before I could even say a word I was out of plane falling freely from 15,000 ft!! For the first 5-7 secs i was probably just screaming with my eyes close almost oblivious to the surrounding. The first thing I noticed after opening my eye was a man waving at me, taking photos and recording my video. As I waive him back I was trying come to come to my complete senses, It was the feeling of weightlessness, the feeling of jumping our of the plane and flying in the air. Within a few more seconds we must have achieved out terminal velocity and it was incredible. There was no falling sensation, rather it was almost as if we were floating on a cushion of air. I got over the fact that I was just falling in the air at this point, with no parachute my eyes open incredible this was. Though the free-fall was just for 60 seconds it seemed a lot more. After around 60 seconds of free-fall tandem master pulled the lever for the parachute, I saw the camera man wave goodbye as he disappeared to go back to the ground. I had to pop my ears a lot of times, even though we were descending, it felt like we were still in the air. I couldn’t hear anything besides him talking to me, it was so quiet and peaceful. As tandem masters loosens my goggles, unfastens the harness and asks me if I wanted some spins on Parachute, hell yes who doesn’t! Then he spinned our parachute 3-4 times to left and right! I see my friends on the ground and they look like little ants. Another double tap to the shoulder which means pull my legs up as high as I can and hold them for landing. The parachute ride down took around 8-10 minutes and the landing was incredibly soft. Wow, this experience was nothing like I had imagined.
