Like many people, skydiving has always been at the top of our bucket list. We’ve had the opportunity to do other thrilling experiences, but we’d never been skydiving.
For the past 2 years we’ve lived in the beautiful beach town of Playa del Carmen, Mexico. It’s located right in between Cancun and Tulum and a short boat ride away from Cozumel. Being in such an amazing location there are endless amounts of things to do – but skydiving, above the beautiful coastline, has always been at the top of our list! And after seeing Skydive Playa land perfectly on the beach day after day, we knew we had to join them someday. Now that we’ve done it, we can say that skydiving in Playa del Carmen is definitely a must-do experience!
Before skydiving, there are some important things to keep in mind to make sure you choose the best company. I would say jumping out of a plane at 10,000 feet is one of those things where it’s worth doing a little bit of research before you go. =) That’s why we were extremely thankful to be skydiving with Skydive Playa. For one thing, they land on the beach right in our neighborhood. So we had seen them land perfectly hundreds of times already.
On top of that, they employ the best and most experienced skydivers. Some aviation and skydiving requirements are more relaxed in other countries than they are in the USA, but Skydive Playa maintains the highest standards of safety, so we felt very comfortable jumping with them. Michel, the founder of Skydive Playa, received his aviation and skydive certifications in the US. And one of our skydiving instructors had over 18,000 jumps! We did the math and that means he’s averaged a jump every day for 49 years!!! (Needless to say we felt pretty safe.)
As soon as we finished the safety briefing, it was time to put on our harnesses and load into the plane!
I didn’t expect to enjoy the views of the plane ride as much as I did! Although the airstrip is right next to the beach, it takes about 20 minutes to get up to 10,000 feet elevation. The views were incredible. We could see for miles! The ocean is so blue and the jungle is massive! It was really cool to be able to see our apartment and the entire town of Playa del Carmen during our ascent. It was like having our own private sightseeing tour of Playa!
Before I knew it, my skydive instructor Danny tapped me to tell me it was almost time to jump! In a few minutes, we would be freefalling 10,000 feet to the beach below!! Danny connected me to his harness and then opened the airplane door. That was when reality started to sink in. Feeling the rush of air and seeing the tiny buildings below meant that in a few seconds, I would be in a 40 second freefall out of the sky. I waved goodbye to Em and then we stepped onto a small step outside of the plane.
The next thing I knew we were falling, and falling, and falling! We’ve done some falling activities before. (Some bungee jumps, free fall rides, and a 16-story free fall into a net.) But the time in the air for those were only a couple of seconds. Only enough time to think “what am I doing?” before it’s over. This was an entirely different experience. We were free falling for 40 seconds. There was enough time to enjoy the experience. I could see the beach, the jungle, and even the island of Cozumel. It felt like we were flying.
After about 40 seconds, Danny deployed our parachute and we started slowly gliding above the beach. I was expecting the parachute deployment to be a lot more jarring, but it was so smooth that I had to look up before I realized that it was already open! The views were incredible. The ocean was so blue that it didn’t look real! Danny said that he’s seen sharks and many other types of sea life during his jumps. He said that on a clear day, he can see all the way to Cancun and Tulum! My favorite part of the parachute was how gracefully Danny could guide the chute! It was an amazing feeling floating through the air as we descended to the beach below.
The final step was the landing. It’s amazing getting to land right on the beach! They had a small circle drawn in the sand to mark the landing spot, and as we’ve seen Skydive Playa do hundreds of times before, they landed perfectly in the sand. Emmy landed in the exact same spot shortly after me. There was a little bit of relief when we were both back on the ground haha, and so much excitement that we had accomplished one of the most thrilling experiences we have ever done!
Skydive Playa is located right next to the airstrip, just off of the main street in downtown Playa del Carmen. Unlike other locations where you have to drive to a remote location, we literally walked to their office from our apartment! Including our walk time, the whole experience took less than 3 hours, which is great when you are on vacation at the beach!
If you’re scared of heights or have some questions about the jump, Skydive Playa does a great job of answering those concerns. Any nerves or questions we had going into the jump were answered during the pre jump briefing. Once we arrived, Skydive Playa walked us through the whole jump, from loading into the plane to landing safely on the ground. We could tell that they took safety seriously and had pride in their work. We highly recommend skydiving in Playa del Carmen with them – this was one of our favorite experiences in our travels!
