Tandem Skydiving Experiences

Still wondering what to do whilst on holiday in the Algarve? We have the perfect solution for you – feel the thrill of a lifetime and cool down from the summer heat by jumping from a perfectly good airplane at 220km/h over our beautiful Algarvian coast! At Skydive Algarve we are dedicated to offering the best skydiving experience to our customers in one of Europe’s TOP skydiving locations.

This post marks the start of a new series of interviews highlighting the genuine experiences of first time skydivers as they make their leap into the unknown with one of our tandem instructors!

VITA JEFREMOVA

First up we have Vita, who is a daring 30 year old from Latvia, who visited us in early June!

1. What made you want to do a tandem skydive?
I wanted to try tandem jump because of the feeling, which no one can describe. I have a lot of skydiver friends and they all collectively convinced me to try it. And also friends who had done a tandem jump, I was very inspired and amazed after hearing from them and of course I wanted to feel that way as well!
Another reason was to unblock my inner feelings, I had a though time lately as I’ve lost my mother recently. So I decided it could help me to feel alive again, and it worked… I felt so alive!

2. Do you have a history of taking part in extreme sports?
I do sometimes extreme sports/activities such as jetski, skiing, quad bike, off road driving… When I was younger I did acrobatics on trampoline.

3. How did you find your 20 minutes training session? Did it prepare you for the jump?
The training session was very good. Everything was described very well, was easy to follow. I liked that we had video training before we get to our instructors, which helped absorb the information and if we had any questions, the instructors explained and showed everything as well as they checked with us to see if we understood everything. I felt safe because I saw those guys are professional!

4. Describe what it was like when the door opened at 15,000ft for your skydive? Were you nervous?
Well, I was mentally ready for the jump and I knew it can’t happen with closed doors! Me and my instructor were the first jumpers, so I didn’t even think about the door opening, I was thinking about how it would be now, when are we going to jump… Instructors were so funny and friendly that I didn’t have time to be nervous, I was just nervous about not messing up the body position or something like that! But as it turned out, I didn’t have to worry about much, as the instructors are in charge of all the hard work. I only had to enjoy and smile 😊

5. If you had to describe the sensation of falling at 220km/h to someone who has never done it before, what would you say?
I would say like anyone says who’ve done it before. – It’s indescribable. But I will try to do so!
I can compare this feeling with attraction when they drop you down really fast. When we jumped I felt butterflies on my stomach and the feeling that I want to hold onto something because I’m falling (like an involuntary reaction). Then I closed my eyes and I said to myself “No no no darling, open your eyes and enjoy this free fall!” I was happy that I had time to enjoy the free fall without being afraid! If someone would have questions about physical feelings I can say – I didn’t have any discomforts. I could breathe, I could smile, I could talk, it wasn’t cold, it wasn’t hot! The only thing is at some point I felt like my ears were living a separate life… But I guess my ears are a bit sensitive!

6. Is this going to be a one-off skydive, or could you see yourself doing another skydive one day?
I will definitely do it again! And I definitely will recommend people to experience skydiving. I even started to think about the AFF course!
I would like to say big thank you to Skydive Algarve for their professionalism and this first experience. I will remember you like a first love 😁