Well, Wednesday was too windy and gusty to go parasailing, but when we woke up on Thursday, it was calmer, so when we got the call from the parasailing guys, we were thrilled. Gigi opted not to come, because she had a cracked rib and the boat ride on the choppy water would have been too painful. Nikki had to work, and Peter needed to rest.

So it was just Wreggie and Michael and me. And the cool thing that we hadn’t thought about before, is that three people can go at the same time, using the same parachute! I knew I’d have to go up with Michael, since I’m such a wimp, but when we got to the parasailing office on the boardwalk, Dylan asked if the three of us would like to go together. Oh yes! That would be a blast!

We signed our lives away, paid them money to potentially torture us, and climbed into the Vada to head toward the Buccaneer, where the winds are blocked a bit and Dylan and Christian could get the parachute ready.

The ride out there was exhilerating by itself. I thought I might fly out of the boat at any time, and was holding on to the railings for dear life. They gave us the option of being dipped into the water on our way back onto the  boat. Michael said he’d like that and Wreg and I said we didn’t care. “Three affirmatives!”, he said. So I guess we were going to be dipped on the way back in. I wore my diveskin so I wouldn’t get chilled, and I hoped it would be enough. After they got the ‘chute ready, Dylan got us into life vests and loose seat-type harnesses. He then attached  a horizontal pole to the ‘chute and called Michael over. He hooked Michael to the pole, then he hooked me up, and then Wreggie. He told us to sit on the deck with our legs out in front of us, and they let out some line, and up we went. Oooooh! Oh my god! Oh my god!

We went higher and higher, and Wreggie and I clutched our harness straps tightly while Micheal non-nonchalantly took pictures with one hand, barely holding on with his other. And we went higher and higher still! As Wreggie and I were making goofy noises, Michael was pointing out sea turtles and taking more pictures of them. It was very cool to be able to see them from above as they effortlessly floated to the surface and then off into the blue. There were a few brown coral heads that  we thought were turtles. They appeared to be moving, but they never came up for air. And gosh, the boat was so small from up there! A few heavy wind gusts rocked us around and Wreggie noticed the knot holding us and the ‘chute to the line attached to the boat. Good thing it was a big knot! I don’t recall having “crotch willies” at all up there, but Wreg said he did get them at one point. I think I mostly get them if I look straight down from a high point, or think about falling from a high place. It was so windy that there was no way we could fall unless the chute somehow broke, and I guess I was too busy with other strange bodily sensations as we floated and rocked above the blue.

After what even I thought was not quite enough time (I was relieved and disappointed at the same time), we were pulled back in, and the guys said it was too rough to dip us, so they just pulled us back to the deck. The wind had picked up and gotten gustier, so apparently we got an abreviated session. Oh well, it was still amazing!

After we were settled back in, Dylan and Christian pulled the parachute onto the deck as the boat bobbed in the rough seas. One of the parachute’s ropes got tangled in the propellor, and Dylan had to go in to try to free it. Eventually he was forced to cut it free, but by then, the computerized diesel engine decided that there was something wrong, and it would not start. We were adrift with no power. Finally, the engine started, but then it wouldn’t go into gear. We were still adrift and going nowhere except where the current would take us.

By this time, the Roseway was heading straight for us under full sail. Wreggie suggested that they let Captain Dwight know that we were not able to get out of their way, so Christian radioed with the info. Dwight asked if we needed assistance as he steered her to our starboard side, and she majestically sailed by. We declined assistance, since Dylan was finally able to reach Miles and Mark, who would send a jet ski out to tow us in.

We bobbed in the chop and swells for quite a while. Wreggie and Michael thought they might get seasick, so I tried to talk about anything to keep their minds off their rolling stomachs. After a long time, a jet ski was seen zooming off in the distance closer to shore. Christian had told them that we were near some specific channel marking buoys, but the guy on the jet ski musn’t have got the message. We were getting dangerously close to the reefs when the guy finally spotted us and came over.

There was a tow line waiting for him, and Christian tossed it out, gave a few directions, and we were towed in to the dock in front of the fort. Christian joked as we went, that this was how they conserve fuel during these tough economic times. Cracked us up!

Wreggie unwittingly had told Gigi that we’d be back in town at around 11:30, and he was right on. After bobbing around out there for 45 minutes or so we got back in time to have a beer or two with lunch at the brew pub. Whew!

Wreggie’s blog post gives a much briefer explanation, but he’s got a couple of great pictures that Dylan took from the boat.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 15th, 2009 at 12:26 pm and is filed under Reviews, St. Croix, Terry Talk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.