Vacation Day 2

Tuesday morning I got up at 6 am and "snuck" out of my hotel room (this was prearranged so they wouldn't think I'd been kidnapped by the doorman, but I didn't want any kids to say "can I come too?" so I went quietly)

The sunrise was absolutely gorgeous. I was so happy I had my camera with me. With the sound of the waves, the nearly perfect air temperature, and plenty solitude, the whole experience could not have been better. There were only a few walkers and fishermen out (someone reeled in a stingray while I was walking by him).

We went to the hotel's breakfast buffet, which was excellent (I have been to some wretched ones). Then we made a reservation for PARASAILING!! I was thinking "Oh crap, I guess I really have to do this." Haha.

We found the spot, and R (my brother in law) and I paid. I was busting his chops a little bit because he didn't want to go up to the highest level. (They let the rope out either 400, 600, or 800 feet and he said "the middle one". Wuss. I of course, went for 800. If I'm doing this, I'm DOING it.) We also paid for a roll of film because the boat operators have a camera with a 300mm lens. I didn't manage to get that film developed yet.

The guys at O.C. Parasail were great. One guy was a college kid and not bad looking at all (for a child born AFTER I graduated from.... nevermind. He put on sunscreen right after the boat set out, so I tipped him $20 when the ride was over because it was a good show. Hey, us old broads deserve a little fun every now and then.) But seriously, there was a sign saying that the crew worked for tips, so R. and I figured we'd give them each $20 because we had such a good experience.

I had assumed that this would be something of an athletic adventure. Something like what I imagine skydiving to be. You know, jumping and being Whooooshed off the boat, buffeted by winds, and so on.

It just wasn't anything like that. The parachute lifted me off the boat as if I were a soap bubble rising into the air, and I rose so gently, I could barely tell that I was ascending. "Fantastic" doesn't even begin to describe it. It wasn't a "wind in my face so I can barely open my eyes" feeling at all. More like I was floating, drifiting along and I just happened to be some 650 feet up into the air. (Geometry. The rope is the big side of the triangle and it is 800 feet, so the height is... oh, who cares.) The view was incredible.

I felt one little shudder, and I think that was when the mechanism feeding the rope changed direction, and I started to return to the boat. Other than that, very placid.

Well, except for one tiny thing. The guys operating the boat had me almost down to the water level (they dip your feet for fun, if you're game) and some idiots came up fairly close in their boat, and started waving at me. That was fine, and I waved back. They became idiots when they turned and were going to cross in front of my boat.

My boat operator needed to speed up, slow down, etc pretty often to keep the parachute where he wants it. And little old me, of course....preferably up in the air. Both guys on my boat were screaming, whistling, and generally going crazy trying to wave off Idiots, and clue them in that they shouldn't cross in front of my boat. I was just getting a "Hmmm. At least I have a lifejacket on" feeling when the idiots finally got a clue and turned away. Finally I returned to the boat.

So all in all, considering they didn't actually let the idiots kill me, I felt they deserved the tip.

I'd write more about how I boogie boarded after lunch, and when I returned to my beach chair, my sister in law had a fresh strawberry daquiri waiting for me. Awesome. But I'm out of time.