The only clothing you need for jet skiing is a swimsuit and a coverup to wear before and after and possibly rosary beads. My swimsuit is old. It is made by Jantzen. It has lasted me a good 15 years. Jantzen always, and still does, makes excellent, long-lasting swimwear. Mine still fits and I still wear it.
Years ago, my husband and I were in the Turks and Caicos and went jet skiing. We putt-putted around. It was slow and easy and very controlled. Very relaxing. A line of about 15 jet skis following one another at a safe distance, never going at high speed. Sort of like baby carriages being pushed in the park by their mothers.
Well, jet skiing has changed. We made reservations to go jet skiing at Coco Cay, Royal Caribbean’s private island near Nassau, and found ourselves on something of a frightful ride.
But all went well.
Yes, jet skiing has changed a lot since our putt-putting days. We were required to take a safety course before getting on the Sea-Doo jet skis. We all had to wear life jackets. Then we were asked if we wanted to go fast. All arms of the fellow jet skiers in the room shot up into the air, except for my husband and myself. Mentally, we are in our 50s, but physically we are in our 70s, late 70s. We looked across the room at one another wondering what we had gotten ourselves into.
We were led out to the Sea-Doos and mounted them. They were comfortable. We were told how to use the throttles on the handle. The instructors helped us back out of the parking spaces.
Too late for us to chicken out. We had paid a good sum for the excursion and were sitting on our water demons ready to go. And go we did.
If you’re on CoCo Cay, look out there on the water and watch the jet skiers. They are going fast, fast, fast. There is a leader, you are in a row, but there is a great distance between each jet ski for safety reasons. They are going fast, fast, fast.
Did I tell you they were going fast???
We went a little distance into the water and met in a group circle, our group leader watching, looking us over. I bumped into someone else’s Sea Doo because I hadn’t figured out how to get it stopped. With a little help, I got the thing stopped before I knocked someone off their ride or broke someone’s leg when I ran into them.
Nervous Nelly on a jet ski. We were put in formation, with my husband and myself being the last two. There was a professional follower who came behind the line of skiers. She was to make sure we all kept up.
I lost my hat. I hated that. It blew into the wind behind me. I never saw it again. It drowned. My hat died. I lived.
We couldn’t keep up. I held on with my knees, like I was riding an angry horse. Squeezed those knees until they hurt.
There are reefs out there in that dark water so you have to follow the line. The line of skiers became farther and farther in the distance ahead of us. The official follower urged us on. We slowed more and more.
With age comes sanity. We knew we were far out of our depth, but we hung in there and finished the ride about ten minutes after the YOUNG ones in front of us did. There was a lot of hootin’ and hollerin’ and much laughter when
we finally arrived at where they were already stationed with their jet skis. Yes, the old folks had finally made it.
It was exhilarating. It was scary. We will never do it again. Many will.
I discovered later that jet skiing is considered risky by the insurance industry.
We don’t regret going on those jet skis. We just will never do it again. We built a four-board horse fence around a two-acre property we once owned. We will never do that again. Some things in life are just not do-overs.
If you are extremely brave, courageous, have the will of an adventurer, would go into an arena alone with a starving lion, would fight Mike Tyson or join WWE, then jet skiing at Coco Cay is for you.
OR, if you are simply young, then jet skiing at Coco Cay is for you. Young, that’s the key. Lithe, agile, aching for the wind in your face, the water spraying around you, jet skiing at a high speed is the thing for you. This is a young person’s sport,
to us.
If I had a bucket list, which I do not have, but some people do, I would suggest that you do that part of your bucket list at an early age. Get it behind you. Mark it off your list. If you survive.
Thanks for reading.
Jet ski and have fun.
Trish
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