walk the earth

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

freefall!

The Namibia tour ended with a stop in Swakopmund on the west coast. Swakop has lots to offer: I chose skydiving. Isabella and Karen from the tour were very keen to do it too, so we headed off to the airport, all very excited.


Swakopmund airport, a dirt runway in the desert, next to the ocean.


This little plane on right took me up to 10,000 ft, door open the whole time, and then I (while strapped to an instructor, Paul) jumped out. It was nuts, and so much fun! The wind was screaming as we fell going faster and faster getting louder and louder. I opened my mouth to take a breath but couldn't close it again, we were going so fast. I thought the wind was going to tear everything off me, watch, shoes, and goggles. We free fell for about 30 seconds to around 3,000ft and then Paul pulled the chute. And instantly everything went quiet. We floated down from there and he gave the controls to me to do some spins and dives, awesome time. The view on the plane ride up was really cool, the Atlantic ocean crashing into an ocean of sand dunes with quad bikes driving all over the dunes. I also got a DVD of the whole thing.


blue steal.


Away we go. Isa and Karen went up after I made it back down, the plane didn't have room for all of us at once.


Coming in for a soft landing.


Glad to be back on the ground. Smiling for the video camera on Paul's arm.


Karen, Me, and Isa after returning to earth. From here we headed back to the guest house, cleaned up and went out to dinner at Cape to Cairo with the whole group from the trip, a great end to a great day.

...Since then I've spent the Easter weekend in Windhoek hanging around trying to organize some hiking in the Fish River Canyon, with no success. Then I took a bus south to Keetmanshoop, where I've been for the past two days, but still haven't been able to sort out a hike. Sadly, the Fish river is massively flooding at the moment, so no hiking in the canyon. I tried to organize a hike outside the canyon but couldn't get permission to go it alone, must pay for a guide, and there's few other travellers in the area to come along. So, I'll just have to save it for later. Next up, Cape Town!

4 Comments:

  • Bro,
    I think you looked more like Magnum in the sky dive pics. We missed you over Easter, once you get back on the continent we'll have a proper holiday! I'm glad you got to do the dive, it looked awesome. Stay Safe!
    Love,
    A

    By Blogger Andrea, at April 19, 2006 1:20 PM  

  • Patrick!
    Great to get caught up again on the blog. The pictures are so amazing to see! You look well and everything sounds like such an adventure.

    Update on my fam--Matt is engaged! Wedding next July. Can't wait to see you when you return!

    --:) Mardy

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at April 19, 2006 5:11 PM  

  • You are a wild man! HA!
    take care,
    Tobin

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at April 20, 2006 3:47 PM  

  • Patrick,
    I just got us a spot on the Great Race.
    We Leave May 25th on a race around the world for a million dollars!
    You drive; I read the maps.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at May 22, 2006 8:32 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home