Skydive Monterey Bay — Attraction in Marina

I decided to try skydiving for the first time after a friend recommended Skydive Monterey Bay. Initially, I had a good impression of them (minus a woman in the office who was condescending when I didn't know to bring my completed paperwork from one part of the office to the other). They seemed really organized and professional and I had a good impression of the instructors. My instructor was pretty quiet but I didn't think much of it, as long as he gave good instructions and got me down safely I didn't really care. He went over the jumping and landing instructions with our group quickly so I was going to ask him to review the landing again but he said he'd go over everything again on the plane so I didn't bother. But then, when we got on the plane, he hardly said two words to me. I didn't want to pester him so I just kept waiting for him to review the instructions with me again but he didn't. I looked around the plane and all the other instructors were hyping up their people and seemed really supportive and friendly. But mine just kept to himself (except for when he had to get footage of me for the GoPro because they try to upsell the premium video package once you land which comes with footage from the instructor's wrist camera) Then, all of a sudden it was time to jump and I was trying to ask him about the landing but we were at the door and jumping. I was grateful that they don't give you time to hesitate but then he was tapping on my shoulder and I couldn't remember what the first tap was supposed to indicate because we hadn't reviewed the instructions on the plane. Luckily, there was a photographer jumping at the same time and he was showing me with his arms so I remembered to put my arms out. I think it became clear after the free fall that I was shaken up and my harness was so tight around my upper thighs that it was hard to think about anything else. In his defense, he tried to loosen my harness which helped a little but once he pulled the parachute, he didn't really say anything else to me until he told me to put my feet up as we were about to land. I pulled my feet as high as I could but the harness is restrictive and I didn't put my hands under my knees to hold them up so as we landed, my feet touched down which inadvertently caused me to fall to my knees and my instructor to fall on my back. I knew it was my fault so I immediately was like "I'm sorry!" but he didn't say anything and he seemed annoyed. So as I'm trying to stand up, I can feel blood running down my leg and no one even asked if I was ok. The photographer was standing there trying to get the GoPro footage for my post-dive interview as I was trying to figure out what the heck just happened. I didn't expect to be coddled, but a simple "Are you okay?" would have been nice. I was honest and told the instructor and the photographer that I didn't love the experience and they just awkwardly high fived me and were like "great job, hope to see you in the air sometime!" Honestly, I've NEVER posted a Google review and this is something I've wrestled with for a few days but decided to do it because I couldn't stop thinking about this experience. The best part was meeting and chatting with other people who...

They urge you to pay with cash cash cash and that really is off-putting, and it's only a $10 discount, which is not significant at all. For paying with cash that they urge you to pay with, and in several emails before you get there. This experience is not for family trying to watch. This kind of experience is for a person who actually wants to skydive. They have a very prison like area for the family to watch the parachuters drop in. For paying over $400 for the experience, I believe the family waiting should get a good area to wait to be able to capture some good pictures of the landing and the experience. If you pay for pictures, they photobom, you with almost 500 pictures and maybe a handful of them are useful. It's a waste of money just to pay for the pictures. But I am glad we got a few good ones. Also, I thought that they would print up the pictures and different things for you there, and they do not do that. They send you a file for video as well. That was a little off-putting because it's so expensive. They also tell you not to bring your dogs to the airport, make you feel like it's kind of illegal, but then somebody has two dogs in the airport area in their car getting in and out. That's just not fair and setting a bad example for the rules that they have set. Their customer service at the actual hanger, I would give three out of five stars. When they try to explain where you park for the landing, it's really not good directions at all. I even asked a county worker, and he was baffled by the directions that they copied on a piece of paper. There's a middle-aged woman with glasses that is really rude who works in the customer service area. When asking her questions, it's like she doesn't have time nor cared at all to answer them. I'm giving this review and overall 4 out of 5 stars only because of the experience my partner actually received from the parachute instructor who was on her back and with her. He did do some kind of flipsy do at the end. That really made her sick, but she said she would do it again.So, it wasn't that bad. They definitely market your experience, and every part of it, like video and pictures and even have an envelope waiting for you after your skydive, attached to the skydive certificate, that urges you to tip your skydive instructor, and the skydive is already super expensive. So they need to make better package deals, in my opinion. Thanks for having 0 deaths and getting my partner to the ground safely. That is priceless, and they definitely...

Overall very pleased with the experience! The only issue I have is due to the wait times, which were not accurate when we were told how long it would be before actions started. We arrived early before 8 to get the paperwork started and were told that training would take place at 1015, which is pretty reasonable and understandable, however it did not start until 11. This wouldn't have been a big deal if they had just told us that it was more likely it would be around 11, would have had more than enough time to run some quick errands with a 30 minute buffer. This was also the case for editing, it took over twice the time they quoted (still an impressive time to edit all the videos!), just a bigger issue of the timing they told us of being way off. Other than this one complaint about timing I have nothing else other than good things to say from here on out! My jumpmaster was Lutchey, he was amazing, very supportive, and fun. I felt comfortable having him as my jumping guide with my tandem dive. Once everything gets moving for the jumps it runs smoothly and efficiently. The plane loaded us with props spinning and taxied as soon as the door was closed. We had an expedited climb to 18k feet and soon the door was open and I stepped to the edge to fall out of the plane. The 90 seconds of free fall was amazing and the view was out of this world! being able to see all of the bay and then inland towards the hills was surreal. Then the chute opened and Lutchey had fun flying our canopy to the ground in spirals and gave me some control as well so I could do some basic movements with his guidance. I went with the complete video package and the amount of angels they got of me and my group was impressive! They even edit the video for you while you wait, it is impressively fast for the time it take for them to go from a raw video to a complete 6 minute video. I was impressed with the video but also asked for the raw files so I could do my own edits to videos as I saw fit, and I liked this option. TLDR: Great experience, ask for Lutchey as a jumpmaster, the video/picture package is amazing, only complaint is the timeline they give as an estimate is off, which can be an...