The Leap of Faith
I have been to a few water slides. They are all fun, exciting and exuberating. For someone like me who gets sea-sick easily and doesn’t enjoy either snorkeling or scuba diving, water slides are one of the fun things that I really like to do.
“The Leap of Faith” water slide at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island is one of its kind. Shaped as Mayan Temple, it is a 60 foot high slide with a nearly vertical angle, connecting to a crystalline under-water tunnel in a lagoon filled with sharks.
Too embarrassed to back off after standing in the long line to the entry of the slide, I crossed my arms and closed my eyes, and took a leap of faith down the slide… I heard myself screaming in a voice so horrible that I have never heard before. The next thing I felt was that my body was like a bomb shooting out of the under-water cannon. I remembered thinking of those sharks around me… they must be amused to see things like this every day!
Before I could take another breath to scream again, I found myself dropped in a calm-water pool, safe and unharmed. However nerve-racking the experience was, everything finished within 5 seconds. It was indeed a leap of faith!
Atlantis, travel, Bahamas, Paradise Island, vacation, water slides
“The Leap of Faith” water slide at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island is one of its kind. Shaped as Mayan Temple, it is a 60 foot high slide with a nearly vertical angle, connecting to a crystalline under-water tunnel in a lagoon filled with sharks.
Too embarrassed to back off after standing in the long line to the entry of the slide, I crossed my arms and closed my eyes, and took a leap of faith down the slide… I heard myself screaming in a voice so horrible that I have never heard before. The next thing I felt was that my body was like a bomb shooting out of the under-water cannon. I remembered thinking of those sharks around me… they must be amused to see things like this every day!
Before I could take another breath to scream again, I found myself dropped in a calm-water pool, safe and unharmed. However nerve-racking the experience was, everything finished within 5 seconds. It was indeed a leap of faith!
Atlantis, travel, Bahamas, Paradise Island, vacation, water slides
posted by Helen Wang @ 8:36 PM
24 Comments:
At January 03, 2006,
Anonymous said…
Great post! I have been to The Leap of Faith water slide. It was a shock the first time. After a while, I love it!
At January 21, 2006,
Maya Cassis said…
wow....sharks!!man...i would have screamed in the same tone.
At January 22, 2006,
Helen Wang said…
It was really fun, actually! I hope to go back sometime.
At February 22, 2006,
Stephen Schneider said…
I've seen the ads on TV. It always looked like fun
Thanks
At February 23, 2006,
Enoch Allen said…
These are some breathtaking images. Thanks for putting these on here.
At February 23, 2006,
Steve Hughes said…
Cool picture and a fun story, Helen. Makes me want ot SLIDE!
At February 23, 2006,
Wilhelmine Estabrook said…
Sharks? Gulp.
Being a person terrified of heights (higher than a strawberry) and caves and mines, I think I'll just enjoy your fabulous photos.
Wilhelmine
At February 23, 2006,
Laurie LeBlanc said…
Helen, it sounds like fun (although you probably wouldn't catch me doing it!)
At February 23, 2006,
Diana Raabe said…
Sounds exhilarating but scary! My children would love to get me on this slide but I'm with Wilhelmine. I love the pictures!
At February 23, 2006,
Helen Wang said…
Thanks, everyone, for your comments. Whilhelmine, Laurie, and Diana, I don't blame you :-). It's really nerve-racking. But now I miss it and I wish I did more.
At February 23, 2006,
KR Craft said…
I, too, really like the pictures with all those dark, slithery sharkies who must, in the end, get bored with all those humans they see on a daily basis. It's so frustrating how all the good rides last seconds after waiting an hour. But... queues are part of life.
At February 23, 2006,
Helen Wang said…
KR, it wouldn't take an hour in the queue, though. It's probably about 10-15 minutes depending on the day and time.
At February 23, 2006,
Robert Ferguson said…
I would be in the "how do I get there to do this myself crowd." I laughed out loud imagining you screaming...I always like to wait at the bottom of slides like this to watch other people come off the rush...I'm probably twisted for enjoying this as much as I do! Ha!
At February 23, 2006,
Bonnie L said…
OMG...That looks so beautiful, and so much fun!!! I would love that Helen. I'm glad you "went for it"!!!
At February 24, 2006,
Betty K said…
Helen, my extended family vacationed last weekend at a hot springs resort in Montana. Both nights, the temperature reached 26 degrees below zero. The teenagers in our group had a great time freezing their hair into fantastic dos. All of us except the four-week-old baby went down the warmwater slide, an enclosed translucent tube that started six stories above the level of the outside 94-degree warm pool and descended in a 350-foot spiral, ejecting us into the pool. My grandson George went down the slide 70 times. I went once and enjoyed it in a thrilly, scared way. I yelled loudly on the way down; so did George, each time, in a kind of screaming gargle that left his voice gravelly the next day.
The slide at Atlantis looks scarier! So almost perpendicular, like one of the waterslides at Disneyland. I should think in that setting you might have thoughts of being sacrificed to a Mayan god. Thank you for sharing.
At February 26, 2006,
Helen Wang said…
Betty,
Thanks for sharing!
At February 26, 2006,
David L said…
Helen -
I want to go - I want to go! Pleeeeeease!!??? Damn - that sounds like fun! Thanks for sharing!
At February 26, 2006,
Kathryn Esplin-Oleski said…
Stunning. Sounds like a lot of fun. Thanks for doing the article.
At February 26, 2006,
Lisa Lundin said…
I want to know who your travel agent is!!!
At February 26, 2006,
Helen Wang said…
Lisa,
We are the vacation owner there. We planned our own travel.
At February 26, 2006,
Dawn Matley Maselli said…
Beautiful photos. Thank you for sharing this experience!
At March 05, 2006,
deborah l. said…
COOL BEANS! & good for you for not backing out! but then, a true 'fraidy cat would never have traveled from china to become an american citizen, either. double good for you :)
At August 21, 2006,
bellevoce said…
Wow! That sounds exhilarating! I can most definitely imagine the fear with sharks encircling you. I bet it was a lot of fun though!
At August 23, 2007,
Anonymous said…
if yore scared of it you are whimp im8 and i loved it first time
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