Thursday, July 1, 2010

Fantasy Islands--Day #7

Thursday--June 24

What could top snorkeling in a cove off the coast of Kona? I am not sure much could top it, but let's look at Thursday. It may not top the snorkeling experience, but it is up there in that area.

We had a really leisure morning on the ship following breakfast. I love to read novels. So I was working on novel by Vince Flynn entitled Act of Treason. My favorite place to read was out on the deck in a deck chair, but I also used the library and our cabin. I did some reading on this particular morning outside. It was refreshing and restful. I enjoyed every minute of it.

Around noon we got a taxi cab and drove to the Zip Line facility. We were all excited, with some of us probably a little anxious. They met us at the front gate and then we walked to a staging area, or a waiting area. It wasn't long until they were setting us up with the gear and giving us an education about zip lining. Then the fun began.

The first thing we did was climb a rope ladder that was probably 60 feet in the air. I did wonder how that would work when we got to the steepest part of the ladder, but it was doable. I didn't have any problem in stepping off into space, but worried about the landing area. There was someone on the other side ready to catch us, but that landing area was pretty small! It went well. Patti "unfroze" and she did very well too.

This was the only Zip Line in Hawaii that once you went up into the trees, you didn't come down for 2.5 hours. You would zip line from tree to tree, usually about 85 feet in the air. You would go use more rope bridges along the way. Most people think that is the scarest part of the experience. I guess it was from my perspective as well, but you are strapped in.

We covered seven zip lines over the next couple of hours, the longest was about 800 feet. I never did have a problem stepping off, but it took me three our four lines to overcome the fear of not hitting that small platform. It was fun. They had snacks waiting for us at the end. We could not have asked for better people helping us enjoy this experience.

Imagine the opportunity to overcome fear two days in a row. Imagine conquering this fear with your family. These were the same people who stood by me through thick and thin. You know what? They did the same thing in the water and up in the trees! It was a great experience for our entire family.

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