In the past year, I accomplished a few non-bucket list adventures for the first time: I ziplined, snorkeled, and parasailed.

Only one of these adventures was planned.

On June 4, 2022, I ziplined at Screaming Raptors Zip Lines at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, during a church tour of the museum, which also included a visit to the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, KY. I purchased the Ptero-Soar: Level 1 Zip Line course, which included five zip lines, starting with a 660-foot flight across a three-acre lake.  The night prior, June 3, I had no intentions to zip line until I informed my new friend and roommate on the trip—let’s call her “T”— that I repeatedly felt this pull toward the zip line courses that I was reading about in the Creation Museum pamphlet. I told T that I was afraid at the thought of being suspended that high, especially above water, and she told me, “Maybe God is trying to remove a fear from you, and this is the way He wants to do it.”

T’s comment sat with me that night. The next morning when I awoke, I was ready to zip line. I told T, and she smiled. When our church bus arrived at the Creation Museum, I decided to zip line first, when Screaming Raptors opened at 10:00 A.M. Two teenage girls from our church group were also ziplining with me, but this was not their first time. They were pros.

I remember that while I was purchasing my ticket with T by my side, I asked the cashier who appeared to be half my age about the depth of the water . . . just in case the rope were to snap and I were to . . . fall in. The cashier was amused but calm and his only response was “you’ll be okay.” So, once I was led by two of the trainers to gear up—helmet and harness in tow—we were divided into the groups that we came with (me with the two teenage girls who were super sweet) and led up the wooden stairs to the first zip line course—the 660-foot journey across the lake. When I arrived at the top, I was shocked at how HIGH we were from the ground: “Lord, what have I done?” was the first thought that crossed my mind.

As I looked down, T and the parents of the girls that I was with appeared as ants—a cheering squad of ants. I thought I had made a mistake, but although I felt fear, I did not want to turn around.

I was ready to go.

One lady from the group who was traveling with her sister and teenage son immediately turned around and hastened down the stairs when she saw how high we were from the ground. Her son and sister continued through all five zip line courses. When it was my time to zip line across the lake, T and the other church members were screaming my name in support. The trainer was holding on to my brake tether until the trainer at the other end of the 660-foot zip line gave him the okay for me to go.

Then . . . I released.

I felt strange and uneasy in the first seconds, feeling as if I would drop, and because I felt afraid, I initially grabbed the brake tether as the trainers instructed if I felt the need to slow down (this was on video), but once I released the brake tether, I glided across the lake, feeling weightless and free.

Once I finished that first zip line, I felt exhilarated. My body was completely energized, and for the next four zip lines, each one got easier. Each time, I took a breath—releasing any fear that was left—and I glided above nature.

Aloha, Oʻahu!

Last September was my first visit to Hawaiʻi: a seventeen-yearlong dream.  I stayed on the island of Oʻahu with my best friend, Gen, and her family. On our itinerary, I listed snorkeling at Shark’s Cove in Pūpūkea Beach Park as one of the only water adventures for our weeklong stay on the island (snorkeling at Hanauma Bay was listed as the second adventure LOL).

Now, snorkeling was not daunting to me for two reasons: 1. reviews of Shark’s Cove boasted that it was great for beginners, and 2. snorkeling was the one water adventure that I wanted to try since I was a little girl. In fact, I almost snorkeled twenty-one years prior on the Grand Bahama Island, but a thunderstorm prohibited that adventure. So, here was another opportunity to snorkel for the first time.

Our group traveled to Shark’s Cove on the day that I planned, Monday September 26, 2022. However, earlier activities and the transition in-between our activities led us to Shark’s Cove closer to sundown. While I was purchasing my snorkeling gear, no one else in our group wanted to snorkel that evening (we hiked Diamond Head Summit Trail in the heat earlier that day, so in hindsight, that was understandable ).

When I saw the sun slipping away into night, I became disappointed, knowing that it was likely too dark to see any marine life underwater, and disappointed that due to our limited time on the island and tight schedule, another trip to Shark’s Cove may not be possible.

HOWEVER . . .

Three days later, I snorkeled.  On Gen’s birthday—Thursday, September 29—I was finally underwater, snorkel gear affixed, swimming freely through Shark’s Cove, amazed and giddy at the diverse schools of fish that swam near me in synchronicity.

The wait was worth it.

Having the Lord’s clear blue skies and daylight suspended over the cove confirmed that Thursday was the perfect day to snorkel (Gen, you were right: “another day” would be sooner than I thought).

Parasailing on the Pacific

As I stated earlier, snorkeling was the only water adventure that I initially planned to do in Hawaiʻi. Ironically, I was the one in the group who recommended parasailing as another water adventure after Gen’s older brother, Saúl, asked about other water activities that we had planned besides snorkeling. No one in our group—including Gen and her two siblings—had parasailed. We would all be experiencing this new adventure together. In our group chat, we agreed on purchasing tickets from Go Hawaii Watersports to parasail 500ft above the Pacific Ocean.

The day that we parasailed, Friday, September 30, 2022, was a beautiful, sunny day, with perfectly clear skies in Waikīkī. Once we parked, we hurried to redeem our tickets at Kewalo Harbor and boarded our vessel that would take us out onto the middle of the Pacific Ocean. When I realized how far our captain was driving us onto the ocean, I, anxiously, turned to Gen and said, “Oh, girl! What am I doing?” She said, “It’s too late now girl . . . I’m surprised you were down for this!”

It was too late. The only way out of this adventure was to jump into the ocean and swim back to shore. Well, the only dramatic way out.

Anyway, along with two other families on our vessel, when it came our turn to parasail, one of the crewmembers came around to fasten the harnesses around our waists. Saúl and I would go first, then Gen and her sister.

Of course, the same crewmember could not release us from the vessel launch pad without a little nautical humor: “Don’t touch the metal hook on the parachute harness unless you want to be electrocuted.” “What?” I looked up, as he smirked, stepping away from the launching pad.

A few seconds later, Saúl and I were suddenly and swiftly pulled away from the vessel, gliding 500 feet into the sky, me screaming from the thrill and shock of flying higher above the ocean than I had ever been in life.

While hanging loose above the Pacific Ocean, we gushed about the breathtaking views and threw up the shaka to one of the crewmembers as he snapped photos of us from our vessel.

Once we reached the 500 ft threshold, I felt calm and peaceful, overlooking the beautiful peak of Diamond Head and downtown Waikīkī. The scene felt surreal.

As our ten-minute hang time diminished, the captain gradually lowered us to the vessel, but before reaching the landing pad, he dunked us into the Pacific Ocean a few times before twirling us back into the island sky like Cirque Du Soleil dancers.

The captain was having fun too!

When the captain finally reeled us back to the launching pad of the vessel and unhooked us from the parachute harness, I was soaked, ravished, and rejuvenated.

Do it Afraid

Prior to ziplining, snorkeling, and parasailing, the most adventurous that I might have considered myself was traveling out of state to bucket-list destinations. Being near the water, especially the ocean, always revives my soul. 

What about you? What have you done afraid?

I (gently) encourage you to try that new adventure that tugs at your soul. Who knows, like T said, maybe there is a fear in you that God wants to remove. If that adventure involves being suspended above ground or above water, remember, take a breath and glide across nature.

You will be grateful that you did.