Hot, hot, hot. Not the chorus of a song, but a statement of the weather every day. There is a rule in the campground that we quit working when the heat index reaches 95 degrees. That has happened every day this week. Sometimes by 10:00 am!!! Unfortunately, this is not the only place in the country suffering. Seems this heat wave is gripping most of the states east of Colorado. I’ve even talked with some of our Canadian friends here in the Park and it’s still this hot even in Montreal! Gotta go to the North Pole to get some relief.
Anyway, we braved the heat indexes and drove down to Cape May to go parasailing. Barb found this “Groupon” online that offered a trip at half price. So we scheduled it for today, not knowing it would be the hottest day on record. We got to Cape May a little early, so we trekked down to the State Park beach where we had been before (see the blog of June 16th). As we walked on the sand out to the surf, Barb’s feet got blistered! Literally blistered from the hot sand! This was at 10:30 am.
We made it to the water and soaked for an hour or so but, without a beach umbrella, the sun was merciless. We crossed the sands yet again, this time Barb wore her sandals, choosing sandblasting her feet as opposed to frying them again. After washing our feet off, we headed for the dock to get ready for our trip.
Due to the fact that the water is so cool and the air is so warm, there was a lot of fog just offshore. This fog caused the morning parasailors to get back in later than expected. We sat out under a small picnic table umbrella waiting in the 121 degree heat index day. Global warming is alive and well in New Jersey!! Finally we boarded the boat and with ten other hardy souls headed out to sea. Magically, as we left the harbor and got into open water the air temperature dropped at least 20 degrees. It felt great. Finally, a cool breeze while speeding out on a relatively smooth sea.
Above is a view of the Cape May beaches from our boat. Anyway, the jist of parasailing (for those not familiar with it) is you don a harness not unlike the swingset seats you see on public playgrounds only with some extra straps to hold you in. When it’s your turn, you scoot back to the fantail at the back of the boat and are hooked up to a large parachute that is connected to the boat by a tether cord. At a signal from the Captain, the tether line is let out from the moving boat, the ‘chute fills with air, and you are lifted behind the boat and into the air. About 500’ of line is played out and you hover somewhere around 325-375’ above the water.
Getting the parachute rigging ready for the first group of two.
Off they go. You like the “Happy Face” parachute? You can see this thing from all over.
The view as you leave the boat and rise into the air.
The view was remarkable. One of the parasailors saw dolphins on their ride. We didn’t see any dolphins, but saw dozens of stingrays. They appear as a brownish diamond floating just under the surface of the water. We saw them in groups of twos and threes and one group of nine!
A view of me taking in the view. Gotta love the hair!!
As we were reeled back into the boat, the Captain was kind enough to gently drag us through the surf! A kind of baptism for parasailors. He slows down and you gently drop into the ocean and drag your legs in the water (getting pretty well soaked in the process). It was great fun and a great way to escape the heat.
No comments:
Post a Comment