Leaping Legzira

Today, I jumped off a cliff.  Twice.  So for all those of you who have wished I would “go jump off a cliff,” in the past, the good news is, your wish was granted.  The bad news is, I was attached to a dude with a parachute.  Also, bad news for you supposed ill-wisher, I had an amazing time!  It was absolutely incredible and fun.  I did it at Legzira Beach, in Morocco, over one of the arches, so it was also spectacularly beautiful and super-cool.

Here’s how it happened.  Yesterday at the fair in Sidi Ifni with my “hotel neighbors” Imat, Safiye, and their son Salman, we passed a booth advertising this (i’ll have to tell you about the fair later – this is too cool and I have to talk about it now!)  I actually don’t know what to call it, because it’s not parasailing, it’s not base-jumping, or hang-gliding, or cliff-diving – I guess it’s just parachuting.  Safiye had seen someone doing it at the beach that day and mentioned it would be fun to her husband, who took her seriously.  He went to the booth when he saw it, and when I realized he was seriously considering going the next day, I said I’d be interested too.  I’d already planned on extending my stay by another night in Legzira, having decided on my first night here that it is one of my new most favorite places in the world.  It’s incredibly beautiful here, and still rather isolated and undiscovered.  It’s not too touristy, yet….

So the plan was made.  The guys would contact us the next day to set up a time.  Today I got up and had breakfast and then went over an outcropping of rocks north of my hotel to the next beach.  At high tide, you have to climb up and jump down from the rocks to get to the beach, so it’s even less busy than the one I’m staying on.  I spent time there, in the sun and swimming and for a while, I was literally the only person on that stretch of beach.  Pretty cool.  I was dozing when I heard my name called and I looked up to see Imat’s head poking up over the rocks.  He indicated it was time to go flying, so I gathered my things and headed back to the hotel.  I met up with them and found out that Salman (their six-year-old) was going to jump too!

The guys took Salman up to a smaller mountaintop near our hotel and jumped with him first.  While we waited below, Safiye gave me a fruit to try called a Mirabelle.  It looked like a not-quite-ripe tomato, but it tasted like a mix between a plum and an apricot.  It was really good.  We cheered for Salman as he made his jump, and the second he landed, he told his mom he wanted to go again.  He also told her that it had been better than watching a movie.  The guy repacked the parachute and then we headed down the beach to the arch where Imat and I were going to jump.  We hiked up from the beach to the top of the arch and then got harnessed up and ready. (Getting ready video here.)

Now, I must admit to you that my first jump did not go entirely smoothly (video here).  The guy told me to put my hands somewhere and to not put my hands somewhere else and I didn’t really understand what was what (oh, language barriers and adventure sports!)  And when I asked what I should do in general the guys said “nothing.”

When the wind had caught the parachute and we made the running jump, I was hanging in the harness in front of my guy (I never did get his name), but I was definitely not sitting in the seat-thingy that is there!  He said something about putting my feet somewhere to push up, but from where I was hanging, I couldn’t really get my feet into the seat (and I wasn’t sure where I was actually allowed to grab for leverage).  I kicked around a bit, wiggled a bit, pointed my toes around like I was doing some sort of air ballet, but still, no luck.  Also, I had no idea what I was even aiming for cause I hadn’t really been looking at the rigging beforehand (which is why I didn’t know I was supposed to be in a seat in the first place).  So we took a few loops and came down kind of quickly.  I think he was a little nervous, even though I was pretty content, even while hanging rather than sitting because I was harnessed in and the view was incredible.  When we got to the ground, though, he said since I wasn’t in it right, we could go again.  I wasn’t going to argue about an extra parachute ride, so I said okay.

As we began our ascent back up the mountainside, I had a moment of doubt.  Was it really gong to be worth it to climb all the way up the side of this f–king cliff again?  The track was rocky and the dirt slid out under my feet in a multiple places.  My hand was already bleeding from a run-in with a cactus on the first ascent.  It was hot and I was thirsty and starting to get sunburned.  Maybe I should’ve just been happy with my one jump.  Then, as I mentally kicked myself in the ass and tried to get back in gear, I could see Imat having his turn.  They were going back and forth in front of the arch, flying on the breezes, I was surprised when I was halfway up the hill and they flew right over me.  Imat yelled down a greeting at me, clearly having a blast.  Wow, was it supposed to last that long normally?  I really did want to go again!  I picked up the pace and clambered back to the top of the cliff.

This time when we jumped, it was perfect.  I was in the seat almost from takeoff.  Once we had started, we sailed through the air,  back and forth – over the arch, out over the ocean, back across the beach, over the mountain, and back all over again.  I could see the crystal blue of the water, and the beach below.  I could see the other two arches on the beach beyond the first one we had leapt off.  It was incredible.  Definitely worth it.  Imat took some video for me (here).

By the time I made it back to the ground, little Salman had convinced his folks to let him jump from the arch too.  He is a little adrenaline-junkie in the making, I think!  I empathize completely.  That jump was the best thing ever!

And I think I’ll definitely stay here another day.  It’s too great here!