Week 3: And I fly!

For those who are not aware, I am on a 52 weeks adventure this year where in I decide my own adventures! For more details, check out here!

This is my 3rd week of adventure. The earlier 2 weeks I have been getting messages from folks that you are not doing conventional adventures, you are doing maybe something different and terming it as an adventure! As I said, this venture is about doing something new, growing as a person. Every week is not going to be about 'adventure' like jumping down a cliff or being amidst the wild. 

Never the less my this week's adventure should make people happy as it was something really in the adventurous gear!

So the day started at 5 am for us. We were going to Key West, an island 4 hours from our place to do water sports. The agenda was to do snorkeling, jet skiing and para sailing. Before the week, there was a small voice inside me urging me to go out there and try the never done. But I was not sure what will happen on the D day, whether the voice will drown down with the weight of fear and anxiety or whether it will soar high with motivation. I had to go there and see for myself!

Our jet skiing was there at 10.30 am, however we missed it as we reached late. We rescheduled it for 11.30 am. We reached the jet skiing spot. It was chilly and we thought of wearing the gear that will keep us warm.

Felt like aqua creatures :)

We had a small tutorial by our guide Justin, who explained us how to operate the jet ski, the interpretation of different hand signals and what to do in emergency. The tutorial took some 5 minutes and then we were set to drive!

The tutorial

And here we go!

I was not so worried about the jet skiing as I knew I will be sitting behind Sujoy and it will not be that scary. Plus I just love water. Even though I can't swim, I still love water. So Sujoy started the ignition of the jet skii and we were in motion. The jet skii works best at high speed. At low speed there is a lag in the steering and it takes time to turn the vehicle at low speed. Also with speed, the water tends to support the motion. Sujoy started the jet skii and within 5 minutes he was driving like a pro. The moment the speed was going above 35 miles/hour, I used to nudge him a little to slow down. Never the less he reached till 44 miles/hour and that was too fast. Sujoy is a pro in driving, I will not be surprised if one day he learns to operate a plane and that too in minimum days.

I have to let in a small secret here. Whenever I have done something like this - like the only 2 rides in Universal, I have closed my eyes and prayed for the thing to get over soon. But yesterday was a different story. I did not pray for a single moment and my eyes were wide open, soaking in the scenery and looking around at water everywhere. The speed of the vehicle was letting air gush on my face and sometimes some waves just splattered on me! I could just sit there and do nothing but gaze at the waters! I was in between Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

The jet skii tour was 28 miles which covered almost all of Key West and we saw some nice spots on the tour. Last time when we had gone to Key West, we had gone to the Southernmost Point of USA by road. This time, we saw that point from the waters! The guide mentioned this is the second highest clicked spot in Florida after of course Cindrella's castle in Disney Orlando!

Do you see the water behind? This time we were behind this pole in the waters looking at folks clicking photographs!

We went to a place in the waters called the 'Sand Bar'. Here the water was very shallow and there was sand beneath the waters in the form of sand dunes. It looked like there were sand waves beneath the water. We got down here and relaxed for 2 minutes.

Can you see those sand waves?

We were half way through our trip and it was time to head back to the coast. Sujoy asked me to drive the jet skii back and this time with no crying, no arguments, no embarrassment I said, "Yes" in the first go and took the bike in my hands. The guide asked Sujoy, "Is she driving now?" When Sujoy replied affirmatively the guide said, "Oh no, all the best to you!"

I took the jet skii in my control. I have never driven a two wheeler. The jet skii was heavy. I started the engine. I accelerated. The jet skii went ahead. I got a little adrenaline rush. I increased my speed....From 5 miles/hour I went to 20 miles/hour. I felt the air gushing on my face. The speed was intoxicating me. I increased my speed further, I went up to 30 miles/hour. Waves were splashing on my face. I got rejuvenated. I accelerated and I went upto 40 miles/hour i.e. around 65 km/hour. I felt like I was one of those Fast and Furious guys! The way back was not smooth, the waves were a little big and many. The happiness of maneuvering through those giant leaps was inexplicable! I was getting drunk on it! 

We stopped to see another spot in between and I asked Sujoy to take on the driver's seat. He refused and I continued my first ever adventurous journey. It was the first time Sujoy was sitting behind me and enjoying the view! That is such a rare thing! Rarest of all!

We came back to the dock, me happy like a child with my new found guts!

Next was para sailing. But before that we had lunch on a nice bench overlooking the sea. We had brought food from home. Soft chapatis made by Prachi and Coccinia Indica (our very own tindora or tondli) vegetable cooked by me! After having a hearty lunch by the sea, we went to our next destination - Para sailing!

I was scared of this, as I have a little fear of heights. We sat in the ship and I was nervously looking at the gear which will be holding us. Then Prachi said, "What if one of the strings breaks when we are up?".....And that was it....the little courageous voice inside me started drowning. The first group went, enjoyed up the sky and came back. Second in line were Prachi and Yatin. They went, they waved, they smiled, they yelled and they came back. Next was us. I started praying a little. The guide was helping me with the gear. We came up the dock of the ship. We sat down. We were tied to the parachute. Slowly we started going up. My heartbeats increased, my prayers increased double fold.

The scared me as we were going upwards!

We went higher, Sujoy was like leave your hands. I was like no, I held to the rope as a child who clings to the mother when scared. We were going up slowly. Sujoy spent some 10 minutes convincing me to leave my hand and somehow I managed to leave one hand!

That smile is a farce! Me holding tightly to the ropes.

Finally me letting off one hand!

I was like, "OMG, what is happening?"

We soared high, above the sun in the clouds with water all around us beneath. I looked down, I was scared. Looking at my face, Sujoy looked down and he got a little scared too ;)
But then he told me to look at the horizon, to look at the colours, to look at the ships, to look at the birds. It was at this point that I stopped praying and started looking! Breathtaking! I was a bird, looking from top at the beautiful world below me. Assimilating everything in my sight and being amazed on how beautiful the nature is! I saw tiny people on ships and wondered if this is what Sandra Bullock was talking about in Gravity, tiny beings seen from the space. The water was blue, pink and green taking colours from the sky, plants and sunlight. If I could capture a moment to be cherished forever, it will be this!!!!

We came down twice from the height to touch the waters. It looked as if we were water walking. The first time we came down, Sujoy was revolving like a merry child on a swing. And due to his motion in turn I was moving sideways. I first thought, he could not control himself and thus this revolving happening. However later I came to know he did that on purpose! I must have skipped 3 heartbeats in all that movement!

The water splash!

Sujoy going haywire and in turn making me go haywire!

Repelling!

Above the sun!

Look, who is up there!

After going up again, we came back. We came back on the ship and I gave a sigh of relief! And as I was removing my gear, Sujoy did what he does best - imitate me! Then I had to try to explain it to him why I was so scared and could not leave my hands!

That is Sujoy imitating me! My face looked like that when we were up!

Me with my silliest explanations!

And so I was back on the ship, back to normality, back to being the same old boring self and yet I had a sense of accomplishment that day! I did the never done, I did the never thought of! Back on the ship reminiscing the best moments, we just relaxed!

Picture Perfect!

We missed snorkeling this time! But as Prachi said, I should keep some adventure for other weeks too! ;) Looking forward to that adventure! :)

PS: For all those looking for conventional adventures on my blog, this might be the only one in the year. So just be glad that I did atleast one adventure in the entire 52 weeks ;)