The Skydiving Experience at Skydive San Diego

Skydiving has always been something I’ve wanted to try – I’ve just never had the money. This year when my mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday I jumped at the opportunity to ask for skydiving tickets. I don’t know very many moms who are chill with their kids jumping out of a plane let alone buying the tickets for them. I chose to make the jump at Skydive San Diego, and I would definitely recommend this company if you are looking to skydive in southern California.

June 3^rd ended up being the day! I convinced my friend Zaheed to join and also invited my brother along to use the second ticket my mom had got me. We woke up early to make the drive to San Diego from LA, only stopping to fill our stomachs with some massive breakfast burritos.

Don’t like reading? Watch the whole video of my experience HERE!

What to expect when you arrive:

Skydive San Diego is located next to Lake Otay so you drive out to their lot in the middle of the hills. They have a whole runway/landing area to watch as people take off and land from their flights. Sky Dive San Diego is a well-oiled machine. They have people jumping every 20 minutes and a whole system for retrieving the parachutes and getting the next group into the air. I felt comfortable knowing that so many people were surviving their jumps each day.

When you arrive, they make you sign a lot of forms and check in. We were told it would take between 2-4 hours from check in to landing. After checking in, you get a brief breakdown (literally 2 minutes) of what to prepare for. Not sure that 2 minutes qualifies you to jump out of a plane but at least with the tandem dive you are putting your life in the hands of someone who has jumped out of a plane thousands of times (the owner said he has jumped 17,000 times!). We got our training and then they strapped us up in the harnesses. Next, we joined the rest of the group that would be in our plane and waited to meet our tandem partners.

What to expect in the airplane:

I am an adrenaline junkie so I was not very nervous prior to skydiving. However, turns out my brother is really freaked out by airplanes and Zaheed has a solid fear of heights. It was funny to see how they handled the entire experience. My brother was dead quite the whole time, whereas Zaheed was laughing uncontrollably. Everyone’s nerves increased as we walked out to the plane because there is really no turning back at that point.

I was paired with Mark for my jump. He was awesome and very energetic. I felt comfortable putting my life in his hands even though we really didn’t have much time to get to know one another. About 10 jumpers and 10 instructors load each plane. You are crammed in pretty tight on benches. Expect to be pretty close to the people next to you and across.

It was definitely an experience to take off in an airplane that didn’t have a door. The plane feels like it is going straight up as it tries to reach elevation and you just watch as the ground gets farther and farther away. Somewhere around 10,000 ft. your instructor will have you sit on his lap and that’s when they secure you to themselves and the parachute. It definitely was not the most comfortable position to be in but thankfully only lasted for a few minutes. Before you know it, it is time to jump.

What to expect when you leave the airplane:

There really is no time to freak out or even consider not leaving the plane. Once it is time to jump they get everyone out of the plane pretty quick. Our instructions were to lean our heads back into the instructor’s chest, hold the chest straps, and tuck your legs between theirs. I was second to jump out of the plane, and I was thankful for that because it was crazy to see the person before me just instantly disappear when they jumped out.

We shimmied our way to the opening and my instructor went one, two, three… I leaned forward to jump and he pulled me back towards him, spun us and launched us out in a back flip. It was nuts and you are immediately put on sensory overdrive. I don’t think I really knew what was happening for the first 5 seconds. It’s all so fast. There is so much pressure from the air rushing against you that it’s almost difficult to move, and your face is uncontrollable.

Check out my whole GoPro video here

Thankfully I got a GoPro video of the whole thing so I can see just how ridiculous I looked. For about 60 seconds you are free falling and it is so amazing. Seeing the curvature of the earth and everything below was incredible! And the fun doesn’t stop when they pull the parachute. My instructor knew I was adventurous so he was doing all these dips and turns as we continued to descend. It was cool to see my friends as they descended too. It feels like you are zooming down for the landing, but right before you hit the ground they pull some cords that allow for a slow and light landing. Expect to basically walk it off.

On the ground:

I was on a huge adrenaline high once I landed. It all went so fast and just processing everything was insane. We were all just laughing because it was the wildest thing. 100% would recommend skydiving and doing it at Skydive San Diego. It was awesome!!!