North London Skydiving Centre — Attraction in Fenland District

Purchased a skydive for hubby last year for his big 50 birthday....he was reluctant to use it and as the date got nearer he suggested I join him so with 3 days to go I booked myself on for a skydive too! Fast forward to the weekend of the jump and the old man decides to have a massive mixed grill meal as his (in his words) possible 'Last Meal', the night before we jump. Now, I'm not sure if this was deliberate or not but it would appear this meal put him just over the weight limit for the jump!!!! 'No jump for you lardy' said the instructors....well; my hubby likes a challenge and decides he's gonna make the jump after all, so takes himself of to a gym (bearing in mind we don't live anywhere near the town and so don't know anywhere) and proceeds to row himself to a 9lb weight loss!!!! That's right, with the help of a change of clothes, a sweaty 4 hour stint on a rowing machine and a few, ahem, toilet breaks, this bloke lost 9 lbs in weight in about 5 hours!!!! Anyway, gets back to the centre, is weighed again....hi-fives all round from the instructors who can't believe he's done it and fast-tracks himself onto the 2nd-to-last jump of the day!!!! Unbelievable Jeff!!! The jump itself was amazing....there is a lot of waiting around as you have to be there early doors for the training and stuff but then you're just hanging around watching everyone else jump which can take a few hours so I suggest you bring a book...or go run a marathon! The amenities are very basic; the cafe sells tea, coffee, cans, chocolate ect but don't expect to get proper grub so take supplies! There are porta-loo style toilets, outside seating (great if its a nice day) and some seating in the cafe. If you're taking children it's going to be very boring so bring entertainment! The 'training' is largely taken up with the sales pitch to buy the photo/video package which is very pricey and which is most likely gonna be view once and then shoved in a cupboard, along with that holiday video of you climbing a waterfall etc.....save ya money, record someone else's jump and pass it off as your own! The jump itself lasts about 10 mins, but the whole process of suiting up, getting up there, jumping and derobing takes about an hour. Loved ones can see you through this whole process and be on hand to capture those before and after moments (again another tip to save on the photo package) The instructors are great, put you at ease, full of banter, make it look like a walk in the park, but also take it very seriously..as they should..... they all have very strong accents so listen carefully as sometimes it took me a min to be able to understand what was being said, but in saying that it's not a deal breaker. All in all, it was a great adventure from (very early start) to late finish! Would definitely recommend to anyone, just make sure to eat light the night before...

Best experience of my life!

Turn up earlier than the arrival time if you want to jump early on in the day. There was a group of 4 of us, and we turned up bang on the time you were supposed to be there, but were numbers 30 onwards to jump.

Training is quick and simple, took about 30-45 minutes total. The staff were unsure if we would all jump due to low cloud coverage, and since it would be a few hours until our turn, we were told we could go off site and come back. We went to a local Costa and by the time we were done and came back the first group had just gone up in the plane.

I'm very glad we weren't first to jump, as it was lovely sitting outside, watching the plane take off, and slowly seeing the jumpers pop through the clouds. You get to chat with other jumpers and ask about their experience, it lovely making a whole day of it.

The people you jump with are so friendly with a great sense of humour. I was paired with Marius, and he knew I was scared and kept me distracted with conversation, which I appreciated. My group jumped at 15,000 ft with one person in the plane with us jumping at 10,000, so we had to "drop" that person off before climbing up to a higher altitude. I was sat next to the person jumping at 10,000 and Maruis had advised I didn't watched them jump, he told me the moment to look away and I did. Watching someone plummet is scary and it would have panicked me more if I'd looked.

Marius then suggested I be the first person to jump once at the 15,000ft point, I'm very grateful he noticed I was probably the most obviously scared person there. Watching my fiance jump, and then my bestfriend, with me being alone on the plane would have been TERRIFYING, so if you're really scared, jump first if you can, I'm so glad I jumped before everyone else, as the longer you wait the worse the fear gets and being sat alone in the plane like my partner did, isn't very nice... but he was fine... he just had the scariest version of the experience watching everyone jump first and being the last one left.

The jump itself was incredible, you find that you can't really think as you fall, in a sense that you don't have time to panick or worry about the parachute opening or not, you're just doing it and it is incredible!

One downside is that the memory card got corrupted and my skydive footage was lost from the main camera guys camera. I did luckily have Go Pro footage from my skydive instructor wrist, so I did have...

Such an amazing day out! Everyone there was so friendly, respectful and absolute pros. The lady on reception was very informative over the phone, advised me to go there as they opened (7:30am) as the weather for the day was a little unpredictable so I was third to arrive (should’ve been third to fly but ended up being first - maybe that’s just my luck hahaha - but the views through the Perspex door were incredible!). Although the safety briefing was comprehensive, there are a few things I would’ve like to have known beforehand e.g photography. They give you under a minute to decide from four options (length of video, photographs etc) which weren’t really explained other than the two video lengths but the photographs were ambiguous, didn’t mention how many you got, whether they’d be printed etc which I think is the reason why people panicked and said no? I brought the free fall only video (emailed via web link afterwards) which was £99, a bit expensive but considering you can take as many photos as you like from it, was a good option for me. It’s a little baffling why the photograph option was more expensive? Maybe something to be reviewed? Another thing I wish I knew beforehand was what to wear, it took a long time to find on their website and when I did, it just said a long top and joggers. It’d be great if they had a bit more information for what to wear at different times of the year as jumping in October in just those would’ve been freezing! Luckily enough I wore my bomber coat that day and was pleased to find out I could jump in it! People wearing tailored coats may not have been so lucky so it would be a good thing to add to the website. Also, earplugs? I know when you’re about to fall out of a plane your ears aren’t the first thing you think of, but damn, anyone that suffers with air pressure on planes (up was fine, down was a different story) it might be worth asking if you can wear them. Not sure if they’re allowed or if they’d even help but a topic to talk about in the safety meeting perhaps or even on the confirmation emails - include a little info on motion sickness too as to remember to take tablets with you! Apart from that, I had an amazing time, and a big thank you to the whole team, especially my diver Marius and...