Since my parasailing adventure, everyone keeps asking when I'm going to go skydiving. And I keep saying, "let's not get crazy now." Five hundred feet in the air attached to a parachute was one thing, but the thought of freefalling out of an airplane still turns my stomach. That being said, I was in the mood for some kind of adrenaline rush on Day 18 after the arduous work week I had endured. While I was on the beach, I watched the waves-bigger than usual-come crashing in and the surfers padding out to ride them in, over and over again. I was toying with the idea of asking one of them for a surf lesson or just heading into town to pay for one when one of the turbo prop planes flying by with a banner advertisment caught my eye. "Helicopter rides today!!" It proclaimed, with a phone number that I hurriedly traced in the sand as it went by. Which in theory seemed a brilliant way to remember the number but my dyslexia got the better of me and I accidentally inverted two numbers which lead to a wrong number of some crazy woman who accused me of being a telemarketer and said she'd pray for me because all telemarketers are going to hell. She hung up before I could tell her I wasn't a telemarketer, I agree that telemarketers are probably going to hell and that she didn't need to pray for me because I'm a minister. Lunatic. Anyway, the plane passed by again and I was able to copy down the correct phone number and call to reserve a seat on the last helicopter flight of the day. When I arrived, I immediately told Tony the pilot and Vinny the proprietor about my fear of heights and how I had never ridden in a helicopter before today. Vinny gave me tips on how to avoid getting anxious while in the air and Tony cracked jokes to calm me down, even to the point of using my cell phone to call one of my friends and tell her she should drive down and take the ride with me. The helicopter was smaller than what I expected but the ride was smoother than what I had anticipated with Tony explaining everything, every step of the way. My only moment of panic was right before takeoff but as soon as we lifted up and headed up the coast I calmed down and took pictures and video. We passed over Jenkinsons and even circled around my house in Belmar (and I noticed from up there that my neighbor has a pool! I am so going over there with some baked out of the box brownies to get myself an invite to it). It was a twenty minute ride because that was all I could swing financially for the days' adventure, but I would definitely do it again and for a longer ride when time and financial funds permit.
I would tell anyone who wants to try riding in a helicopter to absolutely without question go to Ocean Helicopter in Lakewood, NJ. Their website is http://www.oceanhelicopternj.com/ and their phone number and email are: 732-256-9444 and oceanheli@aol.com and tell Tony and Vinny I sent you! (But don't worry I double checked the phone number before typing it so you'll get Vinny on the phone, not some crazy lady in Toms River.)
Day 19 coming soon! Can't believe I'm already more than halfway done!
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