June 2011.
I had just discovered the very famous deals website - groupon.com. What an amazing discovery (though a little late!). I just couldn't believe how much I had missed out in life until I got to know about this. I soon became an avid follower of all the deals around the city. That's how I came across a deal for PARASAILING - AED 99 per head. As usual, I quickly circulated an email to my small friends circle to check who else was interested to join me, bought the groupon and made the bookings.
It was an early Friday morning, weekend in this part of the world. Weekends are usually very lazy, and it was very unusual of me to wake up at 6am on a Friday. People who know me well probably can guess that I dint really sleep the previous night in the excitement of the day ahead. Three of us (accompanied by my daughter who was less than a year old) were into this venture. We had to drive an hour from home to the destination. It was a hot summer day and I was least bothered about a tan with the excitement rising within me every second we walked from the car park towards the beach (the spot we were asked to report to). The guy who was going to take us into the sea was waiting for us on the shore and gave us quick instructions - nothing much actually. He just told us that we had to walk a little further into the beach and get into a boat that would take us to the point where we can begin the parasailing. Since we would have to walk through the waves for about 20 steps, he asked us to remove any contents in our pant pockets and safe guard our mobiles. We'd have to go one at a time and of course my daughter had to take turns waiting in the boat with my husband or me, while it was not either of our turn. I was too excited to have any patience allowing the guy to complete his instructions. We quickly did some actions to acknowledge the instructions and started walking to the little boat.
Once we got settled into the boat, we were accompanied by 2 other groupon voucher holders and sped off into the waters. In about 10 mins we reached a point in the sea that had a lovely skyline view of Jumeriah beach, away from all the buzz. The boat guy asked who wanted to go first, and without giving anyone a chance to even think, I jumped up and walked towards the end of the boat that was setup with the parachute. The guy repeated some instructions asking not to carry anything heavy or hold anything in hand and to remove contents from pocket. Ooppssss.... I just then realized that I forgot to take my blackberry out of my pocket when we had to walk into the waves!!! The 3 month old BB was completely soaked in water and as I removed it out from my pocket and saw the water drip out... and I did the big mistake of switching on a wet mobile phone.... it obviously dint switch on. Watching the facial expression of my husband and friend that moment - priceless! Ooopssss.... but Lol!!! I was in full excitement mode that the BB conking off dint matter to me even for a sec (until a couple of hours later I realized how a groupon deal AED 99 eventually became an expensive one against the cost of the new BB!!... well the experience was priceless anyways :-D... that is convincing enough to me).
I sat on the small rope like thing shaped like a swing with the parachute just above my head like a umbrella. Held onto both the sides of the swing like rope and spread my legs out. I was starting to get a little nervous, but the excitement was just not letting go. The boat guy started releasing the pulley to which the rope from the parachute was rolled in. I slowly started flying up from the boat. I dint have any feel of the speed or movement from the pulley rolling, but I could see that I was going higher and higher, further away from the boat.
Posing for pics (which I never stop doing! Ready for a pose under any circumstances!), waving to my husband and friend in the boat and hearing my daughter's cry watching my fly away.... I was soon high above that I couldn't hear anything - pin drop silence. I could see a lot of hustle bustle on the beach shore, and quite a few beach activities, but couldn't hear a thing. The boat away now faaaar below me that I couldn't spot who was who from up there. Soooo calm and peaceful up there. The skyline of Jumeriah beach was wonderful and the one side view of palm islands was breadth taking! I felt like I was swinging in the sky with a marvelous view in front of me. Calmness, silence, beautiful view.... bliss!! Fifteen mins went by, and I slowly started hearing sounds of chirping and people talking. I looked below and realized I was getting back closer to the boat. In just about few mins, I was down in the boat and it was the next person's turn. Quick reaction to my friends to let them know that its absolutely nothing scary and such calmness up there.
And then it was photos... photos... photos. When it was my husband's turn, he dared to take the camera up with him inspite of the boat guy warning us that anything dropped or lost from up there was at our own risk. He took some pretty good shots of the skyline and view from above. Everybody had their turn and loved the experience.
Fear Rating 2/5:
Must try for those who want to start some adventures - not too scary, yet adventurous.
Up... Up... Up in the air... discover peace & calmness. It does give a different perspective in life to stay calm and look ahead of you... (and ignore the careless BB tragedy :-p).
I had just discovered the very famous deals website - groupon.com. What an amazing discovery (though a little late!). I just couldn't believe how much I had missed out in life until I got to know about this. I soon became an avid follower of all the deals around the city. That's how I came across a deal for PARASAILING - AED 99 per head. As usual, I quickly circulated an email to my small friends circle to check who else was interested to join me, bought the groupon and made the bookings.
It was an early Friday morning, weekend in this part of the world. Weekends are usually very lazy, and it was very unusual of me to wake up at 6am on a Friday. People who know me well probably can guess that I dint really sleep the previous night in the excitement of the day ahead. Three of us (accompanied by my daughter who was less than a year old) were into this venture. We had to drive an hour from home to the destination. It was a hot summer day and I was least bothered about a tan with the excitement rising within me every second we walked from the car park towards the beach (the spot we were asked to report to). The guy who was going to take us into the sea was waiting for us on the shore and gave us quick instructions - nothing much actually. He just told us that we had to walk a little further into the beach and get into a boat that would take us to the point where we can begin the parasailing. Since we would have to walk through the waves for about 20 steps, he asked us to remove any contents in our pant pockets and safe guard our mobiles. We'd have to go one at a time and of course my daughter had to take turns waiting in the boat with my husband or me, while it was not either of our turn. I was too excited to have any patience allowing the guy to complete his instructions. We quickly did some actions to acknowledge the instructions and started walking to the little boat.
I sat on the small rope like thing shaped like a swing with the parachute just above my head like a umbrella. Held onto both the sides of the swing like rope and spread my legs out. I was starting to get a little nervous, but the excitement was just not letting go. The boat guy started releasing the pulley to which the rope from the parachute was rolled in. I slowly started flying up from the boat. I dint have any feel of the speed or movement from the pulley rolling, but I could see that I was going higher and higher, further away from the boat.
Posing for pics (which I never stop doing! Ready for a pose under any circumstances!), waving to my husband and friend in the boat and hearing my daughter's cry watching my fly away.... I was soon high above that I couldn't hear anything - pin drop silence. I could see a lot of hustle bustle on the beach shore, and quite a few beach activities, but couldn't hear a thing. The boat away now faaaar below me that I couldn't spot who was who from up there. Soooo calm and peaceful up there. The skyline of Jumeriah beach was wonderful and the one side view of palm islands was breadth taking! I felt like I was swinging in the sky with a marvelous view in front of me. Calmness, silence, beautiful view.... bliss!! Fifteen mins went by, and I slowly started hearing sounds of chirping and people talking. I looked below and realized I was getting back closer to the boat. In just about few mins, I was down in the boat and it was the next person's turn. Quick reaction to my friends to let them know that its absolutely nothing scary and such calmness up there.
And then it was photos... photos... photos. When it was my husband's turn, he dared to take the camera up with him inspite of the boat guy warning us that anything dropped or lost from up there was at our own risk. He took some pretty good shots of the skyline and view from above. Everybody had their turn and loved the experience.
Fear Rating 2/5:
Must try for those who want to start some adventures - not too scary, yet adventurous.
Up... Up... Up in the air... discover peace & calmness. It does give a different perspective in life to stay calm and look ahead of you... (and ignore the careless BB tragedy :-p).
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