Top 5 Skydiving Bucket List Ideas

Heeeeck yeah! You just did a tandem skydive — and put a great big neon checkmark through the number-one item on your personal bucket list! We couldn’t be prouder of you for doin’ it. Maybe, however, that check mark has just gotten you excited to find out what might be behind that incredible blue veil you just brushed aside. Your initial tandem jump might just have given you a taste for freefall. If you’re wondering what to do after your bucket list skydive, we have an idea: create a skydive bucket list. Consider it a subset of the overall to-dos, right? Here are some super-cool skydiving bucket list ideas to get your cogs turning…

1. Earn Your Solo Skydiving License

Whoa, right?! When you showed up at the dropzone for your first tandem skydive, you might not have imagined how possible it is to wriggle into your very own parachute and jump solo — but it is, and if you’re curious about it, you should sure’s heck pursue the idea. 

Pursuing your entry-level solo skydiving license – the USPA A-License – is a challenge for true adventurers and the journey of a lifetime. When you graduate from the program, you’ll be the proud holder of a “golden ticket” that will allow you to jump with your own parachute (and your rad new friends!) almost anywhere on the planet.

2. Jump From a Hot-Air Balloon!

Leaping out of the basket of a hot air balloon is, without any question, one of the very coolest skydives you’ll ever make. Since a balloon is quiet (aside from the loud “poofs” of the burner) and doesn’t have any forward speed, it feels like jumping from a steady platform a-way up in the sky — a totally different feeling from jumping out of a plane. One thing’s for sure: No matter how many skydives you have from a fixed-wing aircraft, jumping out of a hot-air balloon is wildly, thrillingly different — and jaw-droppingly beautiful.

3. Jump Out of a Helicopter!

The jury is in: Helicopter jumps are another gotta-have on your post-license skydiving bucket list. In much the same way as a hot air balloon jump, a helicopter won’t have the forward speed of a fixed-wing aircraft. That dynamic makes the experience deliciously different. There’s another thing, too: On some helicopters, you can even hold on to the rails like a set of monkey bars and drop off into the sky with a huge smile on your face. Cool, huh?!

4. Take a High-Altitude, Low Opening Yahoo!

HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) jumps are also on the bucket lists of most experienced skydivers. HALO skydiving requires participants to breathe supplemental oxygen on the plane ride, to dress for some seriously chilly temps way-the-heck up there and be very smart about their jump planning. Some HALO jumps can start up at a whopping 26,000 feet — double the normal exit altitude at most dropzones — an altitude from which you can totally check out the curvature of the Earth.

5. Land on a Tropical Beach!

Another radical item for an experienced skydiver’s bucket list is the classic beach landing: Where you go straight from the plane to a beach vacation. Skydivers will travel looooong distances to check these off, as they most often happen at skydiving “boogies” (special events) in tropical locations. Beach landings often require a higher level of solo skydiving license than “normal” jumping – but once you get there, you’ll land with sand between your toes and proceed directly to the tiki bar. Not bad, right?

Of course, there’s only one path to the start of an experienced skydivers’ bucket list — and that’s to become an experienced skydiver. Learn how to skydive with Skydive Orange and we’ll get you started on the right foot!