Beyonce Jumps Off A Building in NZ, I Jump Off A Cliff (sort of) in Tali Beach

A few months ago, we went to Tali Beach in Batangas. The highlight of this trip - cliff diving.

A few things you need to know. I'm afraid of heights and I can't swim that well. I drowned on the first day of swimming class and as a result I've become more cautious and reluctant to swim (let alone jump) in places where I can't stand on my feet. Anything beyond 5 feet of water, I panic.

The Mental Prep
My friends climbed to the ledge that was around 15-20 ft. above the water and started jumping one by one.
When they came out of the water alive (i tend to imagine and exaggerate various scenarios in my head), I thought, this wasn't so bad. Another friend who didn't know how to swim also went for it. For a moment, I was worried he wouldn't resurface, but he did. He managed to hold onto the rocks at the side to keep himself afloat (w/c I don't really recommend, he had cuts on his fingers after). After seeing him, I started to believe that I can make the jump as well... but not from the same ledge.

The Shortcuts
To lessen my fear of heights, I chose to jump off a lower ledge
To lessen my fear of drowning, a friend agreed to jump ahead of me, wait for me in the water and promised not to let me drown.
Another shortcut would be to have someone in the water carry a floater before you jump in.
Don't wear the floater before you jump in, there's going to be resistance and you might get hurt. Also, you will naturally resurface.

The Jump
I was standing on the edge of the ledge and was trying to remember the things I read on the internet on how to cliff jump without getting hurt:

• no chickening out
• relax
• keep arms on the side close to the body
• feet first into the water.
• once you're in the water breathe out through the nose

My friends' cheers and jeers from the background sounded so distant. The next thing I knew I was jumping into the water - all thoughts left my mind and the fear went with it. That was such a moment of clarity and it was amazing to have nothing to think about and just let my body do what it wanted.

Hitting the Water
It was a matter of seconds when I felt myself suddenly in the water. I opened my eyes and I felt like this:

Excerpt from the Novel: "I did not choke. I felt the coldness of the water - if it was water pour into my nose and my throat, felt it fill my lungs. But that was all it did. It did not hurt me. I thought, this is the kind of water you can breathe. The second thing I thought was that, I knew everything."

I had that defining moment in the water where everything was so calm until I remembered that I had to resurface. Instinctively, my legs kicked in a cycling motion pushing me upwards. I was scared for a while that it was taking a little longer than I expected to reach the surface but no sooner than that thought came, I found myself breathing air again.

The waves were a bit strong so it was such a relief to have someone steer me back to safety. There was no ladder and we had to climb onto the rocks and rely on our friends to pull us out of the water. My other friends took a few more shots at cliff jumping but I decided conquering two fears in one day was good enough for me.


A FEW THINGS YOU MIGHT FIND USEFUL

HOW TO GET TO TALI BEACH:
HOW TO CLIFF JUMP WITHOUT GETTING HURT