True Lexiefaye Vignettes

A dip in the drink as they say

Time: 11 am
Place: The Bay outside Cabo San Lucus
What: Parasailing

So I tested my fear of heights once again and agreed to go parasailing while we were on vacation in Baha del Sur's Cabo San Lucus. If you don't know anything about Cabo, it is the resort town at the very tip of Baha California in Mexico ... where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez. The Sea of Cortez is relatively calm, warm water of a beautiful aqua marine color. The Pacific is a wild, untamed, cold, light blue beast of waves and undertoe. And here you have both ... With the city facing the Sea and the ocean just on the other side of a row of cliffs, ending with the infamous Cabo Arch, a rock arch between the two bodies of water.

The parasailing was on the Sea side in this huge inlet Cabo sits behind. My brother and I were strapped in side by side. As I nervously gulped, the contraption started and the boat kicked out from under my feet. We were up and as daunting as it was, the view practically destroyed all fear that we were so high up and only accessible by a string. I had just read Peter pan and her I was flying beside my brother looking down on pirate ships and tropical coastline. My brother claimed to see a whale (we did see one later in the boat) but I thought it was just a reef. And we sailed with the wind, or rather were pulled along by the boat, taking it all in. It was over too quickly.

Now it was my father's turn. He was nervous too but tried not to show it. Up he went in tennis shoes and a baseball cap. 10 feet, 20 feet, 30 feet - I was taking pictures the whole time, 40 feet and a gust took him up higher. At 50 feet the boat engine died. And my father was back to 0 feet before you could say WTF? He fell lightly into the water, parashoot and all, trying to stay untangled and above the water. And we couldn't see what was going on.

Some jetskiers came to him and then let us know he was ok. He was mainly annoyed his shoes got wet. Another boat came and picked him and us up to return to shore. We ended up getting a free trip to Lover's beach (the only beach that has access to both the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean) which you only reach by boat and a my dad got a replacement parasail free of charge (which he took and was uneventful) ... It was during this second outing we saw the humpback whales spout and my brother got bit by a jellyfish ... but that story is for another day.

posted by Lexiefaye @ 3/14/2006