Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Should skydiving be the next Cayo Costa trip?


So a buddy of mine is the pilot for a jump plane and has been bugging me to participate in my first ever skydive. Well i always gave him excuses like how its pricey and how far the place is for a South Tampon like myself and that all seemed to work.. until now...

CrowdSavings is discounting a tandem skydive from $285 to just $129! The place is skydivetampa.com and its located about 45 min from here. (near Smithkey's hometown of Lakeland) Now heres what really intrigued me.. If we get a big enough group to sign up he's invited us to come make a trip out of it and camp overnight. The jumpsite welcomes drinking and bonfires so combine that with skydiving what can go wrong?

You have a few days to decide on buying the coupon and we have till the end of June to use it. Given the 1st quarter of 2011 is packed with weddings and gasparilla shenanigans maybe we can we can find a weekend for us all to go do this before July? Even if you dont want to skdive (pussy) you can still come out and camp with the group.

So let me kow your thoughts about it and if enough people respond that are interested I say we start buying some of these coupons.

Here's the crowdsavings link to the discount. Post your thoughts..

15 comments:

Chandler said...

No chance in Hell you get me in that plane. I reckon I'd come camp... but that's the extent of my involvement.

Smithkey said...

I have always wanted to go skydiving so combine that with camping and I am in. However, I will say that place is a whole in the ground. I went to watch my dad jump there quite a few years ago and as they were taking off one of the engine in the double propeller plane they were using just stopped working. Gomer Pile then went out there with a hammer and some duct tape or something and started baning on it until it kicked on again. Never even bothered taking the plane off of the runway. I figure if the plane starts to go down, at least we are wearing parachutes so fuck it.

bull said...

Smithkey, you would be VERY surprised how many times a plane gets fixed with duct tape and a hammer. I once had a crew chief (the guy who fixes planes in the AF) tell me, "fluid leaks are a good thing, when it stops leaking, that's when we need to worry"

Florian said...

I'd definately be in. Wanted to go again since the time I went the morning after summer sizzle. Just have to go on a diet as I'm a bit over the 220lb limit at the moment.

M. Gorecki said...

Lol ya I hear repair stories like that all the time, especially jump planes. And I wasn't expecting this place to look like Palma Ceia, as it is located in Polk County. My pilot friend was bragging though that they did recently get a "newer" plane that holds up to 21 people, so I'll have to ask him just how much duct tape is on this one.

M. Gorecki said...

..oh and Chandler has no balls.

Alison said...

I've been wanting to try skydiving for a while now. I'm definitely in! The timeframe you referred to works for me. Can I assume the schedule would be to camp Friday night, jump Saturday, camp Saturday night, and leave Sunday?

Mike, is you buddy willing to offer an even better package deal if there is anyone who wants to jump both days?

Litman said...

I wouldn't jump out of a plane even if it was a tandem jump and I was strapped to Alison...naked. Chandler and I will watch the video with the stupid "I wanna fly" song in the background when you guys get down. That's IF you make it up.

April (tall) said...

I've been skydiving and I think it's okay... No, I'm not skrrrd, I just felt kinda bored after I jumped out of the plane. However, if we get a big group together, I would go.

Angie AKA Clam, HJ, ... said...

Funny you post this, I was just talking about this at our ladies brunch on Saturday. I think it is a splendid idea and time to do it. I will however wait until the next special of the day comes around.

Ryan said...

A few things...
- I'm in. Always wanted to jump.

- This place is 1/2 a mile from my parents house. People jump out of planes there all the time. So at least it is popular. And I've never heard of any problems there

- That being said, to call where you take off an "airport" is a stretch. It a grass "runway" with some mobile homes scattered about and thats about it.

- If you really want to top off your Skydiving adventure you'll skip the bonfire and take a trip to Twilight Package and Lounge/ bottle club, about 4 mins aways. Probably the scariest/sketchiest bar ever... well except for Pegasus Lounge that is "whole" another story.

Smithkey said...

Hmm not sure if everyone would be able to handle the Twilight Lounge. The stuff I have seen there in just the few times I have been there makes me thankful to still be alive. I don't think the Pegasus has anything on that place.

Michelle said...

Ok, i have been sky diving 3 times & the 1st time was at this place. Although it was @5yrs ago i'm sure it's still a good enough place to jump (it wasn't as good as the Zephyrhills but maybe that's changed in 5+yrs). I might be up for another jump or might have to learn how to jump by myself as like April i've gotten bored after a few.

Leone said...

Gorecki - Can you find out if fun jumpers can tag along? I've heard that DZ is notoriously a "tandems only" place.

M. Gorecki said...

Leone,
Ya my pilot buddy also jumps and goes up there to jump all the time. There web site also says
"Lift prices for experienced skydivers are $25.00 to 10,500 feet". so I don't see this being a problem.

We obviously missed the discount but I will readdress this early next year and hopefully pick a weekend all can come out.