empuria brava skydive spain
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We stood outside our hotel in awkward silence. I looked around at the group and felt a mix of tension and excitement. Today was the big day: the day of our Empuria Brava skydive. It had been the main topic of conversation for many weeks prior to the #InCostaBrava blog trip. In my great enthusiasm to try something new, I signed up for skydiving in Costa Brava without thinking twice. As I stood there, I wondered why I would risk my life by jumping out of a plane, hurtling myself down to Earth at 200 km/h, especially since I’m afraid of heights! I guess I was curious about what it would feel like to jump out of a plane.

Empuria Brava Skydive

Empuria Brava Skydive
The sight that greeted us when we arrived at Empuria Brava Skydive

“Don’t worry. You will be strapped on tight to a professional instructor and the parachute WILL open!”, I quietly told myself.

I continued with more words of encouragement. “You will enjoy it! It’ll be an experience of a lifetime! Now pull yourself together and breathe!”.

And that’s exactly what I did. I concentrated on my breathing. The excitement in the group grew steadily as we approached the airfield. We sang songs to help calm our nerves. “Jump!” by Van Halen and “Danger Zone” from the Top Gun soundtrack were two songs that stuck.

The bus came to a halt. I looked around and saw nervous smiles around me. As soon as I walked to the Empuria Brava Skydive reception desk, a form was shoved under my nose, accompanied by stern instructions to read it carefully and sign it. Oh dear…. the dreaded Disclaimer. I wondered out loud if my all-encompassing, worldwide Travel Insurance covered skydives! My hands trembled slightly as I signed the form but I signed it with conviction.

Signing the dreaded Disclaimer form

Preparing for the skydive

We were taught the two positions required for the skydive: hands crossed over our chest with our legs curled into an ‘L’-shape, and stretching our arms out wide upon a sign from the instructor. My instructor Toni then helped me into a harness and pulled strongly on the straps. I yelped like a kid and thought, “Hey, there was nothing in the form that mentioned a vasectomy!!”. The straps weren’t loosened for my comfort. I had to bear with it.

Toni and I walked to the plane in silence. I vaguely heard some cheering and shouts of “Go Keith!” but I was slipping into another world, a serene world and though I walked steadily, I didn’t feel like I was controlling my own movements. Something else was taking over and everything felt easy and carefree. Adrenaline pumped through my veins and I entered ‘The Zone’, that mysterious place which can make anyone feel superhuman.

One last brave smile for the camera

My skydive with Empuria Brava

I scrambled into the Twin Otter aircraft like I’d done this before and we were in the air within minutes. We were squashed up tight on a wooden bench – six professional divers from Belgium who were to jump before me and three others from the #InCostaBrava group. We stole nervous glances at each other and smiled sheepishly.

The plane spiralled upwards to the required altitude. I looked out of the window several times and breathed steadily. I felt very calm until someone suddenly opened the door. The cabin was instantly filled with a blast of cold air. The Belgians gathered in a formation at the door and in a flash, they were gone! My heartbeat went into a higher gear. The door was closed and the plane continued its ascent to 4,000m or 13,000 feet. I looked at the empty space that separated me from the door. That meant only one thing – I was up next. I looked at Toni and he gave me a thumbs up. His serious expression reassured me.

The JUMP!

A few minutes later, Toni leaned over, helped me with my goggles and unbuckled my seat-belt. He instructed me to sit in his lap and he fastened the straps. We both pulled on the cords until he was certain I was tightly bound to him. I crossed my arms over my chest and waited. The cameraman opened the door and I felt the sensation of the cold blast once again.

Final instructions from Toni

We stood up and I grabbed the bar above the door. Toni slapped my wrists, motioning me to let go. That was my first moment of fear and I snapped out of ‘The Zone’ in an instant. There I was standing at the doorway, wind billowing in my face and he’s asking me to let go??!! I felt my body go limp. “Lift your feet and bend your knees”, he yelled. As soon as I did that, my head swung out the door. I closed my eyes…

I opened my eyes a few moments later and caught a glimpse of the plane’s wing and the patchwork of fields far below. My brain didn’t have time to process those incredulous images. A split second later, we were out of the plane.

The free fall!

We fell and fell and I screamed. “Woohooooooooo!”. “Yeaaaaaahhhhhh!”.

skydiving in costa brava
Can you hear me screaming? πŸ™‚
The moment we left the plane!

I used to have nightmares involving an endless fall into an abyss. This was exactly what it felt like. The adrenaline rushed through my body in waves and I felt numb. Toni tapped me on the shoulder, the sign that I could stretch out my arms. I held my arms up and spotted the cameraman not too far away. He gave me the thumbs-up and signalled that I should smile for the camera. “Errrr…. I would if the wind would let me have my way!”. I did my best to smile and yelled all sorts of profanities.

Adrenaline kicked in “Yeaaaaahhhhhh!”

The free fall was a wild experience accompanied by a jumble of emotions. I thought about those nightmares I used to have. I never thought I would ever experience it in real life! After a while, my throat dried up and I stopped screaming. I listened instead and looked at the earth below. The sound of the air blasting past was incredible and I caught glimpses of the sun reflecting off the calm surface of the Mediterranean Sea.

The stabilizer kept us from tumbling around in mid-air

My mind was reeling, trying desperately to keep up with the emotions and sensations I was feeling. Countless different thoughts zipped through my brain at lightning speed. At a certain point, I cupped my hands – I’m not sure if it was a futile attempt to slow my fall (what was I thinking?!). Meanwhile, we just kept falling for what seemed like an eternity. In actual fact, the free fall lasted about a minute.

OK, THIS IS A THRILL!

The parachute opens

Toni tapped me on the shoulder again, a sign that I had to return to my crossed-arms position. A few seconds later, we were tugged upwards as the parachute opened. The free fall phase of the skydive came to an abrupt end. A wave of relief washed over me but that didn’t last long. I looked down at the coast below me and realised I was afraid of heights: my second moment of fear! Panic-stricken, I thought I would faint in mid-air! I forced myself to look into the distance instead of below.

A-OK! The parachute deploys

We floated silently and Toni explained how he steered the parachute. He handed me the cords and asked me to steer. “Where are we going?”, I asked. “Anywhere you want”, he replied. I tugged gently on the left cord and we turned gracefully to the left. I followed up with a turn to the right and felt very pleased with myself. Toni had other ideas. He grabbed my right arm and pulled it down violently, sending us into a steep 360-degree spin. He did it again, this time to the left. It felt like a roller-coaster ride in mid-air. I felt the contents of my stomach lurch towards my throat. “STOP! Please stop doing that! NOW!”, I yelled. I heard him snicker behind me. “Are you ok?”, he asked, with another muffled laugh. “No!”. That was that then. No more sudden 360-degree spins. Yay! πŸ™‚

The landing

We glided down to earth and made a few turns before the final approach to the airfield. I saw my friends waving at me as we descended and I gave them the thumbs up and a huge smile. The landing was effortless and smooth. I was so happy to be back on the ground. The emotions I felt during the free fall finally caught up with me and I shed a few tears.

The final approach
A picture-perfect landing

I walked towards my friends and we hugged tightly. A TVE camera crew paved its way through and a camera was thrust in my face. “How was it?”, the reporter asked. I was quite speechless but managed a “FANTASTIC!”. “Would you do it again?”, she asked. I thought about it for a second. “No, not any time soon”, I replied timidly. Behind the camera crew, I noticed a friend of mine pointing to his cheek and wiping it with the back of his palm. Oh no! I touched my cheek and felt a mix of goo and saliva. Gee, what a way to be on Spanish national television for the very first time! Brilliant! πŸ™‚

I always say: you should try everything at least once. I did it! I jumped out of a plane; a priceless experience for sure. I bet I won’t be having those nightmares again because I now know what a free fall really feels like and how it ends: a soft thud on a grassy field. A big thank you to the Costa Brava Tourism Board and Tourism Spain for making this experience possible. If it weren’t for you, I would surely have missed this experience of a lifetime!

Read about the best places to visit in Costa Brava

29 Responses

  • […] One of the themes of my RTW trip was challenging myself to confront certain fears. That obviously meant doing stuff I wouldn’t ever have dreamed of doing. Before I knew it, I found myself zip-lining across the forest canopy 20-odd meters above the ground (confronting my fear of heights) and swimming with sharks (confronting my β€˜Jaws’ complex!); these were fun, exhilarating experiences with some educational value. I realised that these fears were, well, based on nothing really, and I’ve kept challenging myself constantly since then. One unforgettable challenge was skydiving! […]

  • Hahaha, you could tell? I was trying my best to disguise my nervousness. πŸ˜‰

    Cheers Leslie!

  • Congrats Keith! Looks like an awesome place to skydive. I have to say, you seem a bit nervous in the photo of you and Toni, about to jump off the plane. My husband went skydiving in Australia, but I was too scared. Maybe one day I will conquer my fear πŸ˜‰

  • bloody brilliant Keith! Eventhough my hubby offers this sport, I don’t think I’d dare! And wow, your eyes are open and you’ve got a hugeass smile on your face.. DAMN you’re brave! πŸ˜›

  • Great post, Keith!

    I’m sure my heart wasn’t beating as fast as it is now after reading it… I totally remember the moment you described about the few seconds just before you left the plane. I think for me that really was the scariest part of the whole thing – seeing you at the door and all of the sudden you where gone and I realized I was next…

    Btw. I love the pic where we both have our arms crossed looking extremely serious! Mind you, we’re definitely good at that πŸ™‚

  • Hi Gray,
    Thanks for your lovely comment. Glad I managed to convey basically everything I felt during that skydive. πŸ™‚ It was an insane experience but I confronted my fear and I know I’ll be talking about this experience for many years to come.

    Hugs,
    Keith

  • Wow, Keith! This was such a great read! No matter how many times I’ve heard people talk about how great it is to go skydiving, or even watched it on videos, it’s never been clear to me what goes on in a person’s head and or what you would feel during the processs. You’ve done such a great job of capturing it all and conveying it in words. Congratulations on facing your fear!

  • The look on your face says it all: What a RUSH!! πŸ˜€

    Bravo, my friend. One day I will follow in your footsteps, uh, jump-steps? Hehe.

  • Haha – fantastic! I could not do this because I’m afraid of heights but I love reading others’ accounts and hearing people describe their skydiving experiences. We watched quite a few skydivers when we were in New Zealand and saw the flips some did at the end. That would have definitely made me sick!

  • Keith, I literally had to wipe my palms down three or four times while reading this! Yowza!

    I can relate — after going paragliding and canyon jumping in Interlaken, I was thrilled and exhilarated — but I probably wouldn’t do either activity again. Just too terrifying — not QUITE worth the adrenaline rush afterward.

    Glad you had fun!

  • Thanks Marina. I thought I would be sh**ting bricks too but being in ‘The Zone’ helped. Hehe! πŸ™‚

    Cheers,
    Keith

  • I could practically feel your excitement and anxiety! I would be sh**ting bricks and I don’t think I would have gone through it.

    The pictures are AMAZING!!!!!!!

  • haha! great post! oh yes. funny that you’ve also thought about these nightmares…
    WE DID IT! πŸ™‚

  • Great post! Loved the way you described your emotions while jumping. I had to laugh out loud with the ‘cupping your hands’ paragraph πŸ™‚

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