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I’m sure my loyal readers have been waiting with baited breath for another of my St. Lucian vacation posts. Well, you need wait no more, my friends!!!

Since we had no children to contend with and plan our days around, we decided to just get up one morning and go to the rainforest. (Yes, the real thing; not some contrived Disney style set with Styrofoam trees, animated talking macaques, and the like…)

But what might we do in a rain forest on an island far from home you ask? Well, you would zip through the trees on cables! What else??

After a harrowing, twisting, turning, speeding, pass on the left, pass on the right, motion sickness inducing van ride, we were harnessed up and put on the uber-sexy helmets. Fortunately, I had worn my ball cap due to the recommendation of one of the guides who said that for “sanitary reasons” I would need a “lunch lady” hair-net otherwise. Mmmmmm…sounds good…

The harness and pulley equipment were so over done, not that I am complaining, that you could have hung a small car from it without issue. Needless to say, the “fear” of sliding down the wires was quite unnecessary as a result.

The lines were set up that you would zip from one platform high up in a tree to another. In the process, we were traveling hundreds of feet suspended above the forest floor. At most, we were 40-50 feet above the ground and were treated to zipping over rivers, gorges, and viewing the mountains and trees from a very unusual vantage point. The tree limbs were sometimes so close you felt you had to pull your legs in to keep from hitting them.

After riding a few times, I decided to attach my little camera to the harness and try videoing the rides. Below are a couple of these recordings. I will apologize now for my ineptitude at motion pictures. I had to drop the camera at the end of the ride in order to focus on…well…stopping and getting onto the platform. The end of the videos are a little uncoordinated as a result, but you can get a sense of what we were experiencing.

This last video was the longest of the lines at 800 feet. The scenery was flying by quickly, so I tried to get as much as I could in the short timeframe I had. I admit I was looking other places than where the camera was pointed, so things may be a little shaky on the recording.

Just remember, I was doing my best for your benefit! At no other silly family blog will you get great footage like this! Unless the blogger is talented, and travels a lot, and has better equipment, and is more coordinated, etc…

Enjoy!