Skydivers crowd skies over Ambergris

I’ve rappelled three hundred feet down into a sinkhole, flown over land and sea in ultralight aircraft and hiked with soldiers through miles of jungle in search of marijuana plantations…all in the name of journalism. But none of those adventures could come close to the rush I experienced yesterday while covering a story in San Pedro. The pictures speak for themselves.

Janelle Chanona, Reporting
Like artists in motion thirteen thousand feet up in the air, skydivers are among the most elite thrill seekers in the world

For the past week, Belizeans and visitors have watched these colourful displays in the skies over Ambergris Caye. As part of a special vacation package, more than ninety skydivers from all over the world have gathered in San Pedro to scuba dive, sunbathe and yeah, jump out of airplanes.

Their enthusiastic presence at an operations base set up at the Sunbreeze Hotel has prompted a long line of locals to gather at the sign up booth, eager to take the plunge, despite a steep price tag.

Chris Aycock, Owner, Blue Water Grill
?Unbelievable! That?s the biggest rush of all. That?s the best.?

One resident, restaurant owner Chris Aycock was so excited after his jump that he offered to pay for all of his staff to go up and out. His pocket must have started to hurt when nine of his fifteen employees signed up.

Janelle Chanona
?You told members of your family that you were going to do this before you did it??

Marvelita Murrillos, Cook, Blue Water Grill
?Yeah, but they say no, you?re not going nowhere. Alright mother I tell ah. I?m not going, but I get ready and I come. I didn?t tell them. When I gone back to my home, I say Mother, here?s my video. They said, ?What?? They couldn?t believe it, even though they were seeing it. They she no, you?re crazy.?

Aaron Bladen, Waiter, Blue Water Grill
?I thought the same thing at first. This is a crazy thing. Why would I want to jump out of a plane when I?m good on the ground. But you know, you want to experience life. To me, it makes me want to stay on the ground more and love life even more.?

According to the event?s coordinator, Rich Grimm, their welcome from the island has been as warm as the weather.

Rich Grimm, Skydiving Coordinator
?I mean look at today. It?s one of the most beautiful days you could have around the island. We were held up by rain a little on Friday, all day by the clouds, but other than that, we?ve been jumping our rear ends off and we?ve made just over a thousand jumps.?

Rich Grimm
?I didn?t realize how many people would want to come and make a skydive with us, it?s been fantastic. So we?ll bring ninety people again next year and we?ll have the tandem skydives available for people and it?s going to be even a bigger and better event.?

So then, the moment of truth?to jump or not to jump.

Doug Forth
?You?re just going to hang your feet over the edge like you?re sitting on a chair. Everything else is the same. Arms crossed in front of you. As you leave the airplane, arch your back. We?re going to turn and face the front of the airplane when we exit. That will give you a really good shot of the airplane as it?s flying away from you.?

Armed with an altimeter to measure altitude, so I can check when I?m freefalling and know when I?m supposed to pull the ripcord, I?m good to go, but notice how the colour is starting to drain from my face?

Janelle Chanona
?I don?t know whether to feel afraid, excited, or just start to panic.?

Inside the cramped confines of the specially adapted Cessna caravan, the skydivers are packed like sardines. As tandem jumpers, we?ll leave the plane last.

Ascending to thirteen thousand feet, my throat goes dry and the knots in my stomach start to multiply as the air gets colder and colder and we go higher and higher, San Pedro getting smaller by the second.

At eleven thousand feet, we make final preparations, putting on safety goggles and making last minute equipment checks. It?s now or never.

To be honest, I know my eyes weren?t open when we were on the ledge but then suddenly, there I was feeling like I was floating; definitely not conscious that I was falling towards the earth at more than one hundred and twenty miles an hour.

At five thousand feet, I have the honour of pulling the chute and things slow down enough for me to start breathing again and gaze in amazement at the dreamscape that has unfolded beneath my dangling feet.

Janelle Chanona
?Whoo! Glad I tried that. I don?t even have time to get scared.?

Rich Grimm
?The skydiving news anchor. Here she is.?

Back at the hotel, the reality of what I had just done has yet to sink in.

Janelle Chanona
?It was surreal. It was sweet. It was really, really pretty and I never even have time to get scared. It was nice. I enjoyed it?

As part of the package, all divers also get the option to have their first jump recorded on video to keep as a momento.

Skydiving is an expensive sport with training and gear in the neighbourhood of six to seven thousand U.S. dollars. Once you?re certified though, it is relatively cheap to leave terra firma. But that?s not to say that it?s perfectly safe.

Road Rash, Skydiver
?I wiped out my second day here. But I walked way from it. So any time you can walk way, it?s a great thing.?

Rich Grimm
?Our gear is state of the art; we take great care of it. We check it every evening, every morning and I can only tell you to come make your first skydive is one of the most incredible things you can ever do.?

Doug Forth
?The reliability isn?t really a factor. The things want to work. You have to really mess up to create a problem with them. So as long as you?re a little bit careful when you?re packing and make sure that?s everything the way it?s supposed to be before you get out of the airplane, ninety-nine percent of the problems that we have now are human error.?

For the rest of the week, these men and women will keep strapping up and jumping out before they are forced to go back to their real lives as firefighters, lawyers, doctors and…journalists.

Tsunami Skydivers are planning to do a water drop in the Blue Hole on Friday. In case you were wondering, the price tag for a tandem skydiving jump like the one I did is one hundred and eighty-nine U.S. dollars plus an extra ninety-nine for the special video option.