Thursday, January 13, 2011

Zip Line Reviews

Recently, we toyed with the idea of quitting our jobs and becoming zip line raters.  We got a good start into our new venture over the winter break on Roatan and in Pico Bonito.   The kids seemed to like the hands free-style zips where acrobatica and shenanagins were normal fare.  The adults preferred the faster, higher, canopy style zips where braking was necessary...

Zipping over Rio Cangrejal.  Notice the jumbo-sized glove he's wearing.  
 This was his break and he wasn't too keen on it.


One thing that was really cool about our zipping near the Cangrejal River was that we stopped 
by our guide's home and talapia farm.  Here we're all munching on sugar cane, but behind us is 
one of four ponds where he raises talapia.


Above the pond was a tree laced with oropendola nests.  The oropendola is a bird that makes its nest out of grass and soft sticks that is gracefully woven and hangs from the branches of a tree.  To be more specific, the male birds make the nests.  These nests can be used over and over for generations.  Seeing Wilmar's farm, the oropendola nests, and this crazy, ominous bird...


...made the zip line near Rio Cangrejal a big thumbs up for the adults.

However, the kids preferred the zip line near West End on Roatan.  Unfortunatley, many of our action shots from that day are currently unaccounted for.  But here's a look at all the fun we had BEFORE even getting on the cables...



Equipment check for the under-50-pound rider.


Getting to the zipper.


The critics.  

Sorry that we don't have any footage of our aerobatics and shenanigans.  Upside down, superman-style and tandem-craziness were all allowed.  Hopefully those pictures will show up someday.  You'll just have to take our word for it that it was great for the 7 and under crowd - but also a lot of fun for the 30+ crowd...



2 comments:

  1. I have always had the impression that ziplining would be too dangerous or scary for me. You make it looks fun though. I guess my #1 concern would be that everything is attached securely and #2 that I wouldn't be going very fast. Maybe I'll have to check it out someday!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Believe me... we checked the gear carefully and made sure the guides knew what they were doing! Of course, there are never any guarantees to 100% safety, but it was just so much fun!

    ReplyDelete