Skydiving in the Bay of Islands – Day 353

Today we’re going to skydive from 16,000ft with 144 islands of the Bay of Islands below me.

Ready to go?

The sky looks alright we have the sun above us and the clouds behind us so hopefully we will be able to jump before the clouds or after the clouds or something like that.

Hey guys welcome to Skydive Bay of Islands.

Like with every adventure activity in New Zealand we have to sign a waiver then strap on a tonne of equipment enough to keep us safe while jumping out of a perfectly good plane.

While we’re getting geared up we get to watch the crew packing these huge parachutes back into these tiny backpacks, which looks like trying to put toothpaste back into a tube.

We’re also waiting for the weather to clear up cos skydiving is a really weather dependent sport but luckily in the skydiving hanger there’s a lot to look at and the anticipation is growing every second so there’s no way we can get bored.

We watch a little bit of a safety briefing video to understand what to expect and then we get completely distracted by the Skydive Bay of Islands mascot which is this ridiculously cute dog and you know me guys, I’m a sucker for a good petting.

Ok, Laura, well luckily the weather clears before things get even weirder and the team from the Skydive Bay of Islands is grabbing us for the plane.

Bay of Islands New Zealand what are we doing?

We are gonna skydive over the Bay of Islands. Wahoo!

Laura is gonna be jumping with Andrew which is the big boss at Skydive Bay of Islands and I’m gonna be jumping with Morris which is not the big boss but he’s pretty awesome.

It really doesn’t take us long to board the plane cos you know it’s not a massive A380 airplane it’s just literally and 7 people plane where basically no safety at all after all our only exit is to jump out of the plane.

As we are getting higher and higher the anticipation is growing while the team is telling us a few pointers of where we are in the Bay of Islands.

Alright Robin, 2,000ft still a long way to go.

Yeah, we’re going 16 right?

How are you feeling?

It starts to get a little high.

So you guys are gonna tell me, Robin you have a broken arm, why the hell are you skydiving. Well skydiving is actually a very safe activity and I can still do it with a broken arm. I’ve been cleared by the doctor – it’s awesome!

I’m ready!

As we are reaching the 16,000ft mark it’s Laura’s turn to jump out.

One second I am in the plane and the next I am freefalling at 200km/h and the feeling is absolutely insane – I can see the plane right above me then I do a spin in the air and then I see the whole views of the Bay of Islands open up underneath me.

It feels like I am floating on a cushion of air and that air is actually pushing my face as well making it do all sorts of crazy faces and I get I look saw awesome on all the cameras pointing right now.

When the parachute goes up this is where everything slows down and I can finally get my bearings and realise what the hell just happened. And now we can take in the awesome views however, the clouds are starting to come in so a little bit of that coastal Bay of Islands scenery that you usually see is a little bit covered up nevertheless we are coming into landing in the Kerikeri Airport where we took off.

With my feet securely on the ground now it is Robin’s turn.

As per usual I am getting the second flight meaning that I am jumping from even higher than what Laura did – it’s crazy. And as soon as the door opens my tandem master doesn’t give me a single second to think about what I am doing and decide not to he is already throwing us out of that perfectly god airplane.

The feeling when flying through the air is absolutely amazing and cos we are flying at 16,000ft high we actually have a freefall of 70 seconds giving me plenty of time to take in the view and really have a lot of fun and despite the fact that I have a broken arm it’s still an awesome flight.

it’s quite amazing to play around with the cameraman I really love that because he’s getting me to do some different poses and stuff plus, the opening of the parachute is so awesome.

I know it’s a little bit cloudy right now, behind me over there is the 144 islands of the Bay of Islands – it’s the most epic place to spend the winter they call it the Winterless North for a reason.

Skydiving over the Bay of Islands truly gives you an amazing birds eye view of this amazing are from there I actually get to see some of the 144 islands and on a good day if there is a bit less cloud we literally get to land on the beach but that just means that we have to come back here and do it again.

I have to say on top of that I nail that landing.

That was awesome – thank you so much man, that was so cool.

As the plane is landing back we’re taking the time to take a deep breath oh my god, what the hell just happened to us? It was absolutely epic. We obviously leave a last note on the Wall of Fame and head back to our accommodation.

We are freefalling at 200km/h it’s impossible to describe but you can only … they have a good quote here actually. to those that jump no explanation is necessary, to those that don’t jump no explanation is possible.