Skydive Palatka, Florida, United States

5Phil A 5:00 PM Nov 26, 2016

wicked awesome experience
My wife and I are in our mid-fifties and while we are not extreme athletes by any means we do like to participate in our own versions of unique experiences and sky diving has been on our list for some time. Personally this adventure was particularly important to me because up till five or six years ago I struggled to even board a commercial airliner without feeling severe anxiety yet now I am on one almost every Monday and Friday flying around the country for work. Just wanted to add some perspective to my experience because a few years back I wouldn’t have even been able to get in the jump plane let alone drop out of it. As it pertains to the people working at Skydive Palatka, I couldn’t give them a higher commendation for their attention to detail and safety. They are quite simply a great group of people running a fantastic business and at no point did myself, wife or stepson feel uneasy having decided to make our first jumps with them. It is a casual atmosphere and they were very encouraging of making sure you absolutely wanted to jump, even up until the last minute before the jump. If you decide to do this, don’t underestimate the ride up to 13,500 feet. It was a beautiful day when we jumped with both the Gulf and the Atlantic visible. However, the jaw dropping exhilaration you are looking for comes after the 20 minute ride up when you roll out the door and start your free fall. I highly recommend paying for the video and photo’s because it’s really hard to remember details of the one minute plunge before the chute gets pulled. The fall is indescribable. No review would be complete without some recommendations for potential improvements and there is just one I can think of. The acrobatics of the ride after the chute is pulled are wonderful, but I wish I had popped a couple Dramamine. I guess I am wired a bit different than my wife and stepson because they had no issues at all. However when we were coming in to land all I could think about was “don’t throw up on my tandem partner or the gear“. This is completely a “me” thing so I should have known better but just a word of caution if you have the same issues. This would not detract me from another jump or even making my first one. If you are reading this and much like myself have these small voices in the back of your head whispering to try a tandem jump, Skydive Palatka is the team to do it with.

5Karen S 5:00 PM Nov 5, 2018

Knocking one off Kimmie's bucket list
My friend from Upstate New York decided to cross one off her bucket list while visiting in Florida. The instructor, photographer and fellow jumpers we're awesome and very, very welcoming. I would recommend them anytime!