Living on the Edge

The day after Christmas of 2011, my cousins, my tito, tita, my kids and I went on a road trip to Batangas. It was a planned overnight trip to Tali where tita B celebrated her birthday. 2 days before the trip, I was talking to my tita and 2 cousins about the trip.  They told me that I have to try cliff diving---that it was such a rush, and that no matter how many times you jump off the cliff, it's as if you've never tried it before.  And so...I looked forward to it.

We arrived at around noon, and we lounged at the beach before we had lunch.  After lunch we all fell asleep and woke up at around 4-ish.  The cuzos went straight to the cliff, while I went back to the beach with the kids and tita B.  Half an hour later, I finally mustered up enough courage to go to the cliff.

Cousins walking to the cliff.

After most of the other cliff divers left, I climbed up the highest point (there are 3 points from where you can jump, and, due to peer pressure, I tried the highest point), and then I looked down. My knees were shaking!!   I think I felt my face turn cold, and I had to hold on to the rocks coz I felt like I was going to faint!!  I didn't consider backing out though. I asked my cousin J (the one in the blue boardshorts) how I was supposed to do it, and he said, "You see that sandy part in the water?  Aim for that." What!?!?!  What happens if I miss?!?!?  Of course I didn't ask that out loud (I think), I already knew the answer.  

I tricked myself into jumping.  I remember pointing towards the water and saying, "So I just jump from...here?  Dito??"  And then I jumped---without thinking about it any further.

A photo of my first jump.  Since I was squatting when I fell into the water, I bruised my thigh =P

The fear disappeared the moment I jumped off the cliff.  It was replaced with the anticipation of the plunge.  The fall felt like it took forever though, but the moment I hit the water, I smiled.  I was smiling underwater.  I was freakin' proud of myself! Haha!

My cousin, P, diving head first.

It-felt-great!

The second time around, I wasn't as scared anymore.  No, I think I was...only because it was already dark and the B cousins kept talking about how scary the cave looked (there's a cave under the cliff, and after the plunge, it's the first thing that you see).  Instead of leaving the water after we jumped, we just swam out of the way, but we waited for each cousin to finish.

It was quite an experience.  I actually did a "Bella Swan" (the girl from the Twilight movie jumped off a cliff to "see" her vampire love)! Glad that I got to do this with my cousins during "the most wonderful time of the year".  It's quite refreshing to be able to conquer your fear...even if you have to break into a tune first to gather strength, lol.

My cousin, N, singing Young Blood before she jumped.

Young Blood by The Naked and Famous

I'm going back to do this again for sure.  Sometimes it feels good to live on the edge.  Sometimes.