
Skydiving adventures reach new heights in Mackay
A sky-high adrenaline adventure has moved to Mackay offering island and marine life views on the way down.
Airlie Beach Skydivers operations manager and chief instructor Jason McGregor said they made the move after coming across the Lakeside Airfield at Bloomsbury.
The pilot with more than 700 hours of flying experience said they jumped at heights of up to 15,000 feet (about 4.5km) to land on the beach at Midge Point.
"What's good about Midge Point is you get a beautiful view of the 74 islands of the Whitsundays," Mr McGregor said.
"We look directly over the top of Hamilton Island and Whitehaven Beach in the background.
"We get a lot of seawater activity.
"We're constantly seeing big sharks, big turtles, big whales."
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Having jumped out of an aircraft more than 5000 times, Mr McGregor said it still gave him a buzz.
"My personal take and view on it is you get a 20 minute scenic flight over the Whitsundays which is like meditation in itself," he said.
"Then you get to sit up above the world and look down upon it and all your worries seem to disappear once you open that door and get out of the plane."
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Fellow pilot Tom Sage said the Midge Point dives offered a fun, beautiful and "very unique" experience.

Airlie Beach Skydivers offers tandem jumps from the age of 12 with parental consent, as well as skydiving and accelerated free fall courses.
They also operate a shuttle bus from Airlie Beach to the Bloomsbury hangar.
For more information, head to 1300 SKYDIVE.
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