Anybody know anything? My boys are chomping at he bit> Thanks.

Hello Tree,

Don't know about Low Key's parasailing... but parasailing is a lot of fun ;). Be sure to give us your report on it should you decide to give it a go. 😀

--Islander

Parasailing is safer than driving in a car. Even if the rope were to break, you would only float gently down to the water and get picked up by the boat. And here they don't drag you across the beach on your face, like in America's Funniest Videos. You take off and land from the deck at the stern of the boat. Kinda like reeling you out and then back in. Very safe and enjoyable.

Our whole family did it last November with a boat out of Sapphire Beach Marina. I can't remember their name, but it was an awesome experience. Like Marty says, very safe. These guys really knew what they were doing. They used different chutes when the wind changed speed and had us go double a couple of times. I would definitely recommend it. We had no reservations in advance - just set it up the day we wanted to go. Make sure and take a camera up with you - the views are breathtaking!!

Carolmo

Parasailing is good fun. I've been out with Caribbean Parasail.

And it's "limin'"- "lymin'" sounds like a dreadful tick-borne illness! 😉

Best,

LR

I used to think that, as it seems pretty logical. But not sure I agree now. I used to go, but then found out there have been some deaths reported from parasailing when the line broke and people didn't hit the water "gently". Parasailing is generally unregulated, meaning there's no licensing, inspections of equipment, no minimum safety requirements on the part of the operators, no minimum qualifications for them to meet, etc. There's also no mention to you about what to do if the line does break.

Last year I went skydiving (as in, stepped out of a perfectly good plane), which is very regulated, at least where I live. I went tandem, strapped to someone who'd jumped over 1300 times. The chute has safety devices that will open the chute at 2500 feet if you don't pull the rip cord. It's inspected regularly. And of course there's also a back up chute. I was given training before I went up, even though in a tandem jump, you're really just along for the ride.

Long story short, I'd skydive again in a heartbeat, but I won't parasail again until there's better safety regulations in place. Don't get me wrong, I loved the times I went parasailing and I want to do it again. It's a unique feeling to be floating around up there. And while I'm not a big advocate of more government intervention in my life, this is one area where I'm not going to take the risk until something is done.

I'll get off my soapbox for now. If you do go, I hope you have a safe and wonderful ride. In spite of what I said, it's a lot of fun!

I agree with woogawooga. We have never done it but I use to be interested in letting my kids try it until I came across some very scary tales of things going wrong and wooga's right, it's just not closely regulated. Just as a personal decision, I wouldn't do it because I'm a little afraid of heights but I especially wouldn't let my kids do it. And yes I agree that just walking across the street is dangerous, and it's great to live your life, take chances and have fun. Also, the chances are greater for getting bit or stung by some sea creature while snorkeling, but the parasailing thing is just a little iffy for me and that's something I have control over.

Now if I can just get DD back in the water to snorkel on our trip. Ever since she saw that LAME show Open Water, she's turned into a freak about it!

wooga: I think that parasailing in the resort areas outside of the US may be unregulated, but this is the litigious USA. They have special liability insurance and requirements here. I have not heard of any accidents resulting in injuries in the USVI in the years I have been here.

Wooga,

I don't skydive, but I live fairly close to Deland, FL which is some sort of skydiving capital, and folks come here from all over the world to skydive.

This year alone, let's see, we had a very experienced skydiver jump out of a plane, and a very experienced pilot hit him with the wing, cut off both his legs, and the man bled to death.

A few weeks ago, one of their planes crashed with 11 on board. Fortunately, they had just taken off, and were only 50 feet in the air, and no one was killed.

I think there was another death earlier in the year, not sure. So, parasailing sounds pretty good to me!

John

I am a skydiver, as well as having parasailed a whole bunch. There has never been a death reported here from parasailing. Why? Because it's very safe...safer than driving in a car, flying in a plane, rollerblading, snorkeling, etc. Wooga, it certainly wasn't here where the line snapped and they didn't hit the water "gently". There is no other way to hit the water when you are under canopy. Gravity takes over, and physics does the rest. You would hit the water at a lesser impact than from jumpinng off a ten foot high boat deck into the ocean.

And there is no skydiving here, closest place is in Humacoa, Puerto Rico. A couple years ago we had a guy during the Chili Cook-off die when a freak gust of wind collapsed his chute at about 100 feet above the beach and he had tons of jumps under his belt. Accidents happen. But,not to woprry about parasailing.

hi, Marty! I've never parasailed but it looks like fun. Where on STJ can one parasail and do they have a website? I'll be there November 24-30. Thanks for your help!

You can parasail from just about anywhere, as the boats pick you up wherever you may be (no, not in Florida! Here!). Just give 'em a call and set it up. http://www.viwatersports.com/parasail.htm

I'm a parasail captain, there are a lot of things being done these days to ensure that everyone runs a safe operation. The only real problems are the foreign entities which still have 0 regulation. Most US operations have gotten very good about self-regulating, many are now members of professional organizations and participate in new safety programs set up by their local coast gaurd sector.

I'd be happy to explain more if you contact me by email. There are some operators in the world who are very unsafe, but the one listed above has excellent credentials. I would go with Carribean before I would go with many other stateside operators.

We parasailed last week, they picked us up at the Westin dock, very safe, lifted off from the back of the boat and got pulled back down when finished. My only complaint was we went out in the open area and went in circles, the view closer to shore would have been much better.

Do it!