4 out of 4

Bungee jumping was not as scary as I had hoped... apparently in order to really get the most out of bungee jumping, it helps to have a fear of heights. I had assumed that everyone is afraid of heights... some more than others... but I assumed that everyone is going to be terrified at the prospect of jumping off a bridge 150ft straight down. Surprisingly, it wasn't actually that terrifying... it was pretty trippy and a little unusual... inducing nervousness that never grew into terror. It isn't so much fear that gripped me as it was a failure to understand the point of it. I expected debilitating terror to set in... but it didn't.... I experienced nervousness... which probably stemmed more from the fact that I didn't know how it works and have never seen it done (I was the only one at the whole place) rather than from any belief in its dangerousness. Maybe 150ft isn't high enough... maybe the survival instincts don't quite kick in because falling 150ft into water doesn't intuitively promise certain death, even on a primitive, instinctual level.

It is also possible that I am easily assured... if someone knowledgeable (and therefore credible) tells me an activity is safe... I trust the assurance and I will fully participate in the activity without fear. When Corran Addison told me that river surfing is safe (well, maybe those weren't his exact words)... I did not hesitate in jumping in to the St Lawrence with a little shortboard (really really short... it must have been around 5ft). When the Tahitian charter operator took us beyond the reef, dumped a bucket of bloody fish into the ocean to attract the sharks and told us to jump in to hang out with the sharks, I did. Afterall, why wouldn't I? How often does one get to swim with sharks? And would they knowingly feed tourists to sharks? So when these bungee guys told me that bungee jumping is safe, what reason would I have to doubt them? Jumping is just not that big a deal... it's done every day.

I'm uploading (or, I think I'm uploading) the little videos I took with my camera while jumping. It's going on you tube... so you can see for yourself how scary or not scary it was. And just for fun... here are the sharks from Tahiti... one came at me for a very brief while... it was sort of scary... but not scary enough...




The bungee guys said that after my jump, I'd feel great for the rest of the day... that there would be a top-of-the-world, i-can-do-anything sort of elation. Well... it was subtler than that... it wasn't sudden or profound or cathartic... but the next day, I did manage to score 4 out of 4 on the H-scale of happiness... so maybe it's subtler, yet very real "good feeling"...