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Dropzone: South America: Venezuela: Skydive Venezuela

Skydive Venezuela

Average Rating:

3.67 out of 5 based on 9 user reviews

Dropzone Summary | Reviews

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Location:
aeropuerto de higuerote

Address:
100 km from caracas
higuerote,
Venezuela

Contact:
+58 416 614 2209
giantri@gmail.com
http://www.skydivevenezuela.com (4714 Hits)

Last Updated: 2006-11-09

Aircraft:
antonov 28

Training: AFF, Tandem

AAD: Not Required

Hook Turns: Allowed

USPA Membership: Not Required

Rates:

AFF:	1000 VEB
Tandem:	180 VEB
Jump Ticket:	13 VEB to 15000 ft

Description:

We are 30 minutes away from La Tortuga island, one of the most beatifull places to skydive.

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Facilities:

Gear Rentals
Gear Sales
Rigging Services
Covered Packing Area
Creeping Area

Video Rooms
Coaches
Load Organizers
Restaurant

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9 Reviews Written

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Vamos a volar (Lets fly!)

Skydive Venezuela Rated 5 by: Portuguese77 on 2007-10-29

Pros: Fast plane, people, views, price
Cons: Bleeding mosquitos!

Professionalism
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It’s been only one week since I arrived in Venezuela and it has been, so far, a very positive experience. I am a bit of a DZ "Bum" and I just arrived here from spending the last 3 months in Russia (Kolomna). For me, the best DZ in Europe, by far. The problem with Russia is that after September you will surely freeze your ass off and when the winter begins, you can expect temperatures of minus 30. Not good jumping conditions in any language. So, where to go from September on? I picked Skydive Venezuela as it is in the Southern hemisphere and the season is starting where in the rest of Europe is finishing.

Arriving to Venezuela - I was picked up from the airport free of charge by Giancarlo, one of the Co-owners, free of charge and stayed in his house for a couple of days. I’m not sure this is usual treatment for all tourists but it was a good surprise and a nice welcome note to the country.

The DZ - I arrived on the scorching heat with my shorts on Saturday morning. A few loads were already up. Getting all the paper work done and getting clearance to jump took me about 30 minutes. There are 2 big packing areas, one restaurant, one little shop, restrooms with full equipped showers a equipment and souvenir shop upstairs and a good few tables outside where tourists sit and point up and the manifest (Which has permanent air conditioning in case you need to cool down: this place is hot!)

Planes - The plane they have here is the Antonov 28 with tailgate, one of my favorites and will get you to 13.500 in about 13 minutes. They also have a Cessna 206 that will go as high as 10.000
The DZ is open every day of the week as long as there are enough people to operate the plane. This means that the more people you travel with, the more chance you will get to jump every day. Just 2 weeks before I arrived there was a big Brazilian group here, and they actually got a second Antonov to accommodate for it. In case there are not enough people to operate the Antonov you can always jump the 206 and get your "adrenaline dosage" from it.

People- The people are really nice and friendly and are ready to help you when you need it. I arrived here with no accommodation booked and have been staying in the house of the DZ people, and was made feel welcomed all the time. Already went to a couple of barbecue parties with DZ crowd and there is a good vibe within this dropzone. Also, thera are some of the best freeflyers in the world here and you can sure learn a lot from them.
Ah... lets not forget the bikinis. It’s always good to have some eye candy in between jumps :)

Money - BRING CASH with you (euros or dollars preferred) and DONT USE CREDIT CARDS or you will be screwed by the Venezuelan banks and the exchange rates. The official Euro/VB rate today was 1 Euro/ 3089VB. I got some money changed yesterday with the help of the DZ people for 1 Euro = 6000VB

Accommodation - There are a few places to rent around the DZ. There is also a bunkhouse in the DZ itself and they got a new 7 bedroom house to rent in the centre of Higuerote for around 20 usd per night per person. (And it comes with a swimming pool)

Overall - This is Venezuela. It is bathed by the Caribbean Sea, its average temperature is around 30 degrees, and has Chavez as president!
This DZ is a reflection of all of this and much more I expect to discover over the next 5 months I’ll be spending here.

You can’t expect to do 15 jumps per day and get everything working clockwise. Actually, I hope they don’t. If I wanted maximum efficiency and everything working as clockwise I would have joined the army. You have to relax and get into the pace of things, this is the Caribbean! This is also one of the reasons of its uniqueness and charm.
So far, highly recommended!

I’ll get back to you in 5 months
Blue Skies

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(Review ID:4212)

If you're very patient with people, can smile even when somebody openly takes you for a fool...

Skydive Venezuela Rated 1 by: Caveatemptor17 on 2007-04-25

Pros: Nice jumps on Tortuga (if you're lucky!), fast Antonov
Cons: A depressingly un-planning, un-caring, incompetent organisation

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Spent 2 weeks on the DZ beginning of 2007.

Had planned on 8-10 jumps/day, some sun, pleasant evening parties and a decent DZ buzzing atmosphere. All I got was the sunburns, from waiting and waiting and waiting.

Yes there is a fast Antonov, but it only takes off when the DZ boss decides to turn up on his DZ (yes, his, as in "it's mine and if you don't like it take a hike") with a couple of his friends. Never announced, never sure he'll ever come. Other conditions to meet before the Antonov moves: wait for the incompetent & lazy pilot to finish his lunch and nap, and for the courageous mechanic to stop working on that left engine every single day. Last, you might want to make sure the aircraft's license has not run out.

DZ-wise: a fantastic potential. Very convieniently located 2h from Caracas, by the sea in a resort that's supposed to be popular with decently wealthy Venezolanos, you would think the place should be swarming with jumpers and chest-enhanced Venezolanas! Think again: the DZ boss decides overnight to increase the price of the jumps several dollars, and the jumpers migrate elsewhere. No jumpers, no boss, no Antonov, no enhanced chests.

After a few days of applying that sunscreen lotion you reluctantly get a few jumps from the Cesna, that will barely reach 10,000ft before the lazy pilot (yes, same guy after his nap and before his afternoon break) insists that you exit his aircraft. Not a bad idea though, considering that the night before the poor aircraft and its engine were in bits in the hangar with three guys banging on an un-identified piece of metal...

By the way, enjoy this jump from the Cesna, as next week it leaves the DZ for some remote place in the jungle.

Therefore you fairly quickly start hitting town and beach in the hope to find a good reason to enjoy your holiday. But anyone who has some experience of decents beaches around the world will put the Higuerote area at the very bottom of the "average" list. Not only that, but you soon realise that the lack of motivation, planning ability and competence that you found on the DZ is actually fairly widespread in the area, including in the most expensive hotel around (Do not book anything at the Fiesta Inn Aguasal: bunch of crooks, very poor service, no hot water for 2 weeks, high prices).

Rather than bore people with more abuse I shall finish on a good note: Isla Tortuga is, indeed, one of the prettiest places on earth to jump. 1h on the cesna from the DZ right in the middle of the ocean, Tortuga in itself is almost worth the trip from Europe or the US. Pristine water, coloured reefs, white beaches everywhere, cheapest langostas on earth. However, convincing the DZ boss to organise jumps over there is not easy at all, and likely to be cancelled at the last minute for any invalid reason. Be aware.

Some stats:
2 weeks on DZ. 4-5 jumps/day on average and I was lucky, half from Cesna half from Antonov. US$16/jump, US$6/packing I think, US$100 for each airport transfer. 2 jumps on Tortuga. 3,232,574,223 hungry mosquitos had a bit of me.

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(Review ID:3833)

One of my best vacations ever.

Skydive Venezuela Rated 4 by: Storhemulen on 2006-02-23

Pros: The good life!
Cons: I don't speak spanish = incommunication!

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Mañana.

Just came home from three weeks of sweet bliss.
I stayed in the new bunkhouse, clean and cheap(6$/night)with good beds. Be warned though, the locals had a tendency of turning the a/c down to 16°C at night, that will give you the sniffles.

The AN-28 is a bit noisy but very fast.
Jumping was good, but its not really the place to go if you want to do 100 jumps a week yet.
Actually one of the biggest problems was lazy jumpers! I'd wake up at 7:30, look at the clear skies and still not be jumping until 9-10 because everyone was busy lounging around having breakfast in their luxury hotels.
Also, people had a hard time showing up in the loading area on boarding call.

Load organizing was a bit messy, consisting mostly of stuffing wingsuiters and solos in first.
Also I'd recommend getting a floatation device. I was exiting above the sea more often than not.

I did a few coach jumps and was treated real well. I learned lots!

Jumping over Isla la Tortuga was just breathtaking!

The town of Higuerote is nothing special really, most people where very friendly and there was decent food to be found almost everywhere. The shops all carry the same chinese copies and of course there's a liqorstore every 20 meters.
I found plenty of internetcafe´s, they all had decent connections and the prices were next to nothing.

Now I'm going to get some spanish lessons.
See u guys next year!

11 of 39 people found this review helpful:
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(Review ID:2888)

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