I just jumped out of a plane at 10000 feet!!!!!

Hello all,
Cape town ended on a super high note. As the days went on our surfing quickly progressed so we ventured away from Muzenburg in search of bigger waves. We surfed at a beach called Big Bay, it was on the atlantic side of CT so the water was freezing! It was very hard and frustrating at first, but I overcame my fears and by the end of the day was paddling out back to catch the really big waves. We cruised over to a little cafe for lunch on the beach, we were all very tired but that didnt keep our laugter and smiles supressed! Plus when its a beautifal 87 degree day its hard to feel tied at all. The wind came up after lunch so we had to search for a new place to surf. After the six hours of surfing we were all looking forward to going out for some well deserved sushi! By now were were very good friends with our instructors(they were all around 22-24 yr5s old), whom had driven in the van with us that day, so even though we got stuck in 2 hrs of traffic all was goob becuse we had them around to poke fun at, take turns choosing crazy music with, and recounting funny storys from all our very different pasts. Since the drive took so long we didnt have time to go home before sushi but we were happy to eat in our bikinis and sand filled hair(I dont think the sand will ever come out)! We drank and ate for many hours and then returned home. Some people were too tired to go out but Kate and I managed to find the energy to walk down to the local surf bar (fishermans) to hang and drink with some of the locals we had met from our past week and a half. We woke up early the next day and headed to the local elementry school to practice our 400 meter swim for our surf instructor test in two months. To pass you need to swim it under 9 mins, suprisingly I swam it at 9 mins 34 sec...it made me happy knowing that I wasnt too far off the goal; campared to the 11 to 12 mins that many people did it in! Once we were through with trying to push each other in the pool we loaded back in the van and car and headed over to the local township(where all the impoverished back people live) called Masapumalele to meet up with our local footbal team and run some drills with them. I couldnt play because of a MASSIVE blister in my foot that kept me from being able to walk in sneekers, but it ended up being a blessing in disguise. I was leanig against the wall of the school watching everyone play with the kids when I heard the MOST amazing gospal music. It was coming from inside the school so I decided to take a look. It ended up beeing a little chirch service, about 12 people, they were all singing the most amazing somgs in Afrikaans(SP?) in this cumbeling school room. All they had was a lace tablecloth over a desk where the minister stood leading them in prayer though music. All the 12 people took turns picking songs and doing solos. I have a video of it that I will try and post. The best part was that as soon as they saw me I was swooped in by the misister and plopped down next to 3 of the cutest kids ever! It took about 2 mins before they were crawling all over me. One in my lap, one on my back and one pulling on my leg. I sat and watched until I had to leave...I was sad to go. You always hear about how unfriendly and dangerious they are toward white people, and that you should NEVER go into a township. But that is just not the case, they were the happiest nicest most friendly people I have yet to meet in Africa! After the game ended we headed over to the coach's house, which was just down the road from the school, and we had a braii for lunch with all the children. It was so amazing being able to see what life is really like for those kids. They may not have much but they have enough, any they couldnt be happier. By now it was about 130 so me, Will and Ed decided to grab our suits and towels and head to the beach to watch some of the really good local surfers. The best break in CT (sort of the secret spot) was literally 20 feet from where we slept! We read, ate ice cream and watched our friends we had made surf while we layed in the sun. It was the perfect way to spend our last day in CT. To finish it off we went to one of our surf instructors houses to have a braii and drink some beers/ciders. It was a FEAST, we had ostrich sausages(so good! a local fave), Chicken, ribs, potoes, salad and lots of local fruit. We stayed for many hours, drank to much, recounted stories from our time in CT with them; and in the end we were all VERY sad to say goodbye. We headed back home at around 12, packed up our boards/bags so that we would be ready to leave for our 8 hours road trip to Plettenburg Bay the next morning. Now im in here and is it is so amazing. Much different then the happening CT, its more of a sleepy beach town full of surf bums! Which is good in many ways, but it makes me long for the nightlife at CT!! The surfing here is a huge step up from CT. The beaches are long and filled with perfect white sand. The water is SO warm and the most perfect color blue. The waves are something out of a movie...they break perfecly. The surfing here is litterly to die for. The second day here I was surfing out back and some yelled "Skatie look" I of course assume its a shark and panic but when I finally look over literlly 50 feet away from me is a HUGE whale RIGHT NEXT TO ME!!! It was soooooooooooooooooo SICKKKKK!!! Then about 3 hours later a school of dolphins come right under us and are literally jumping all around us playing in the waves. Like, swimming under us and then surfing the waves right next to us. It was just like a scene out of flipper or something! After that Jenny and I decided to go for a run down the beach and we came across someone who had caught a little shark! He let us both pet it then he let me grab its tail and throw in back in the waves! So rad! So now for the really fun part. I woke up about 7 hours agao and headed over to the airfield with 7 other people to go skydiving. Yupp, I actually did it. Not only that but Claire and I volunteered to go first! We got strapped into out harness and loaded into the world smallest plane, we had to sit on the floors scrunced next to each other!! Our dive instructors we were attached to had these altimiter watches so we could see how high we were as the plane climbed up to our jumping hight of 10000 feet. I was fine up until the door opened. Calire was the first one out, and after I saw her fall and had my feet dangling over the side fo the plane I turned around and I said "maybe this isnt such a good idea". He just laughed at me and the next thing I knew we were tumbling though the air. I free fell for just about 1 min maxing out at 177 KM/HR. Its the most indescribable feeling. Even though you see the ground quickly coming at you, you arnt scared, it dosnt matter becuase your flying. The wind is howling and you literally are FREE!!! Then he pulls the parachute and the wind just stops and its completely quiet. The most pecefull place in the world, just gliding 6000 feet above the world. We jumped over the ocean, but the parachute guided us safely back on shore to the airfield. Not before I got to see a shipwreck just off he beach and some dolphins playing in the waves! I got some pictures of the jump and they made a video of the whole thing for me! I am telling all of you that if you have never done this this you are MISSING OUT. Do it now. Do it for me! Much love...ill post again tomrrow after the bungey jump!!! XOXO