If you’re going to be close to the ocean – which you probably will be, since Florida boasts 1,197 statute miles of coastline, 2,276 statute miles of tidal shoreline, and 663 miles of beaches -- it’s a good betyou’ll also be close to a parasailing operation.

If you’re not used to being up in the air, except maybe when you’re safely encapsulated in a 747, parasailing may sound as radical as eating grasshoppers for breakfast. Relax. It’s peaceful, quiet, and safe. It also offers the chance to see the area you’re visiting from a totally different perspective, one that is often beautiful.

After you boat to your location, the crew will help you slip into your harness. Next, you’ll step to the rear of the boat, where you’ll be hooked up to a colorful, billowing sail. A few seconds later you’ll be climbing into the sky. Without those nasty windows separating you from the air, you’ll be able to smell the salt water and hear the screeching of gulls, just the way the ospreys and eagles do.

The boat will start to shrink. From your lofty vantage point, you may see a nearby city, or the different hues of the ocean sprawled out beneath you. When your ride is coming to a close, the parachute will gently descend. Before you are back on the boat, you may skim the ocean with your feet – or maybe with a little more of your body, depending on the crew’s sense of humor!

Parasailing requires no skill and you don’t need to be fit. The weight limit is about 500 lbs. for a tandem rig (tandem means it takes two people) depending on the conditions and wind. Passenger’s ages range from 18 months to 88 years old. Yes, you can do it. This adventure usually takes a couple of hours. I’ve listed a few parasailing links below, but many more exist.

While parasailing is relaxing and peaceful, sky diving is not. Let me be clearer. Parasailing is like bowling compared to sky diving. If you want a thrill bigger than the Trump Tower, this is the adventure for you. There are 14 skydiving locations in Florida; the link below lists them all.

If you choose to jump tandem –where you and an instructor jump together, connected in the same harness—your experience will start with about 20 minutes of training.  Next, you’ll climb into a plane (with the other first time, terrified jumpers and their instructors). When the plane reaches 13,500 feet, you’ll leap out of it. Like a human meat-missile, you’ll accelerate to 120 miles per hour, freefalling for about 60 seconds.

At about 5,000 feet, the instructor will open the parachute, and you’ll have 4-6 minutes to float down to earth and begin breathing again. The landings? Most are soft. Hard landings are rare, and injuries are even rarer, but they can and do happen. You’ll pretty much be required to sign your life away before you’re allowed to jump.

To jump tandem, you need to be at least 18 years old and weigh no more than 220 lbs. If you’re not in good health, you may not be allowed to jump. However, people as old as 90, paraplegics and quadriplegics can and have all jumped. The sky diving center you go to will be able to offer advice. Usually, this adventure takes several hours.

If a tandem jump sounds too tame for you, you can start in right away with the Accelerated Freefall Program. (The question that begs to be asked is why anyone in their right mind would consider leaping out of a plane and free falling at 120 miles per hour to be too tame, but it is not my place to judge your mental stability.) The AFF program begins with 6 hours of ground school preparation, so you’ll need to plan on spending the entire day. The physical requirements are more stringent. You’ll need to weigh less than 240 lbs, and be able to jump off a table or chair, land-tuck-and-roll on your own.

As a final note, here’s my confession. I’ve been parasailing several times. However, I have never been skydiving. I became friends with a group of skydivers several years ago when I flew my hang glider cross country many miles and landed near their airfield. Some jumpers spotted me from the air, and they sent out a truck to rescue me.

I was a parched, lonely pilot in a soybean field in the middle of a whole mess of other soybean fields, futzing with my GPS and rolling up my wings, when this smiling, blonde haired Adonis and his cute girlfriend screeched up, thrusting a cold beer towards me.

When I had packed up my glider, we loaded it on their truck. While I waited for my driver (the person on the ground that chases me when I fly my hang glider cross country), they taught me about their sport. I was getting ready to go up in their jump plane (just to watch) when my driver arrived. He was anxious to leave and pick up the other pilots, so I smiled and said goodbye.

Last spring while at a hang gliding competition I discovered my old buddies had relocated their business to the very airport I was competing from. The skydivers called us – the hang glider pilots – “the flying people.” We called them “the falling people.” I watched and photographed them many times, but I was occupied with my competition and never did jump.

At least that’s my story.

I’ll make a deal with you – if you go, I’ll go. Send me a note.

Parasailing links
http://www.daytonaparasailing.com
http://www.parasailcity.com
http://www.furycat.com/key-west/parasailing.htm