Parasailing in Waikiki Hawaii

The boat runs out past the reef, you are buckled into a harness on the rear deck, and then the canopy fills and the winch lets you go — up and back, quickly and smoothly, until the deck is a long way below and the noise of the engine fades to almost nothing.

From five hundred to a thousand feet up, depending on line length, the whole of Waikiki lies out beneath you: Diamond Head at one end, the line of hotels along the beach, the pale shelf of reef in turquoise water, and the green ridges of the Koolau range behind the city.

It is far calmer than most people expect — quiet, steady, almost meditative rather than white-knuckle. Launch and landing both happen on the deck, so you stay dry the whole way unless you ask the crew to dip your feet in the ocean on the way down.