OK, I have always had a huge fear of heights. It doesn't bother me to fly in a plane, unless it gets super bumpy. I don't get on tall ladders very often, don't stand close to the edge when on mountains, buildings, etc. I have to fight the fear when others are close to an edge, especially loved ones. We went to the grand canyon and I had a hard time watching my kids and wife get anywhere near an edge, even with a guard rail. My kids are small and I kept picturing them falling through/over a rail and plummeting to their deaths.
Anyway, on to the point, we went to Newport Beach, as we do every year, in June. My wife insisted on going para sailing for her birthday. I told her no way, but she wasn't asking... So we get to the docks and she pays for both of us to go and I tell myself that there is no way I'm going up there. I figured that the para sailer gets about 100 feet off the water. Once we got on the boat and started talking to our crew, I asked how high they take you and they said 400-450 Feet off the water!!!
So, as I watch my wife floating high above the water, I start thinking this is a once in a lifetime thing to overcome my fear of heights. So I did it.
Getting strapped in, I was a bit scared, as you can tell:
It was fun once I was in the air a few feet:
Up pretty high in this one:
It was surprisingly peaceful up there. I didn't like when the parachute caught a gust and I started rocking, but the rest of the time it was quite nice. You can't hear anything other than the ocean and wind up there. I could see all of Balboa Island and Peninsula. It kind of gave me a nice perspective on life to see everything so far away. I realized that the small things that upset us are so small in the right perspective. /end cheesy philosophical insight
I highly recommend para sailing (not around cliffs, though) to those that are afraid of heights. It's way high, but not scary once you get up there.