Parasailing off Waikiki

I don't think I have done so many "extreme" activities in all my life until I went on this trip.  Like I told my friends when I left, this was going to be my "How Robert Got His Groove Back" trip, and believe me, I found my groove again!  (I just don't know what to do with it, now that I have it again...)  In addition to parasailing, we did so many things that my mom would probably have fainted if she knew I had done them:

• Riding scooters:  We rode them to Diamond Head and all the way to Hanauma Bay.  They don't have helmet laws in Hawaii, and we weren't wearing them.  Maybe that was not a good idea -- I almost crashed twice and Ben was almost run over, but it was great!
• Jet skiing:  I like it a lot!!
• Surfing: Well, I took lessons for the first time, and was upright on the board for a couple of seconds before I crashed back down into the waves.  I guess the reason why Hawaiian guys are so buff is because of all that paddling out to the waves -- I was only able to paddle out 5 or 6 times before I got exhausted!  Still, I would do it again, if and when I get another chance.
• Cliff diving: Actually, it was a 25-30 foot rock off the shore, and we fell just straight into the ocean.  Well actually, everyone else fell straight, and I kinda landed hard into the water on my ass...  I never jumped off something before, but I'm pretty sure pain is not good.

I thought that they were going to have us sit on a pier and quickly pull us through the water, but instead, they launched us from the boat and slowly released us from a winch.  The ride out to the open sea was pretty rough in the boat, but it was fun to feel like a BayWatch dude.  It felt great as they slowly hoisted up hundreds of feet into the air, above the deep blue water!  The view was great, and if I wasn't afraid of losing my expensive camera I would have taken shots from up there.  Good thing too -- they didn't tell us they were going to let us fall into the water for a quick dip, and I finally discovered some water in Hawaii that was not warm!

Noel did try to take pictures of us while we were up in the air, but as you'll see in this MPEG, the boat was just skipping over the water.  It's pretty difficult to hold onto the boat and the camera, as well as get a good shot.  And the driver's head kept getting in the way!  My Mavica only has a 3x zoom, so you can't really see my face, but check it out!