Bungee into the Abyss

If it looks unsafe, it probably is.  That’s what I have often thought while watching extreme sport types jump 80 meters head first into the Corinth Canal.  For 60 Euro you can pay Zulu Bungy to jump from the old national road bridge and hang suspended above the canal for a couple of minutes.  It is interesting that bungee jumping at the Isthmus has become a main attraction in its own right and forms one of the main memories of the Corinthia that Greeks and foreigners take away.  Also interesting that Zulu Bungy has made something of the history of the Isthmus in their advertisement:

LIFE HAS CHANGED, SOCIETY HAS CHANGED,  THE WORLD HAS CHANGED. TO FIND ONE`S WAY, ONE HAS TO UNCHAIN HIMSELF, HIS MIND, HIS SPIRIT AND HIS BODY. IF YOU ACCEPT LIFE AS A CHALLENGE: TO DO MORE, TO KNOW MORE, TO SEE MORE, THEN YOU ARE PREPARED FOR THE FUTURE. WE OFFER PARTICIPATION IN A DIFFERENT CHALLENGE: TO BUNGY-JUMP INTO ONE OF THE GREATEST, MOST HISTORICAL AND FAMOUS PLACES IN THE WORLD. -THE ZULUBUNGY INTO THE CORINTH-CANAL – IF YOU TRAVEL TO GREECE, ATHENS OR PELOPONNESE, DON\’T MISS THIS UNFORGETTABLE ULTIMATE OUTDOOR-EXPERIENCE.IT WILL BE THE HIGHLIGHT OF YOUR TRIP .NOTHING CAN DESCRIBE THE SMILE ON YOUR FACE AFTER YOUR JUMP. BUT YOU WILL REALIZE THAT: EVERY CHALLENGE YOU UNDERGO WILL BRING YOU ONE STEP FORWARD IN LIFE. GET READY! CONTACT US AND A FRIENDLY TEAM WILL ASSIST YOU TO HAVE THE EXPERIENCE OF YOUR LIFE!

But the site is indeed a popular one.  The Isthmus now numbers among the premier destinations in the world for this kind of extreme sport (see 20 amazing places to bungee jump) and I’m finding YouTube videos of canal jumps increasingly filling my Google alerts.  Check out, for example, this one here and here.   This one proves what an old friend had once told me (and which I did not believe)—that you can ask the operators for enough cord to hit the water.  Sure enough, as Zulu’s website notes, “WATERTOUCH AVAILABLE THAT WILL ALLOW YOUR HEAD TO JUST KISS THE WATER.”  Awesome. 

Here are pictures my wife shot in 2007 of a jump in action:

My favorite Isthmus bungee video is the one posted on extremesportvideos.net which is set to the cool background track ‘Ciao Bella.’  As one person commented on that video, “i did it , and is one unforgetable experience.”  Another said “supercool! Corinth Canal is THE place for bungyjumping!” 

This memorable experience of the Corinthia, by the way, is not encouraged for pregnant women, individuals with heart conditions or bone problems, and very large people, among others.  If it looks unsafe…