Yes, I Jumped from the Stari Most (Old Bridge) in Mostar, Bosnia

Sometime late last year I bought the Lonely Planet Guide to Eastern Europe. I knew back then that I wanted to visit the Balkans- especially the former Yugoslavian countries. There aren't many pictures in a Lonely Planet, but one of the pictures in my edition was of the Stari Most (Old Bridge) in Mostar. It's about 68 feet high and was built in the 1500's. According to local legend, daring young men have been jumping from it since the very beginning to impress the local gals (which are really beautiful by the way). According to the guidebook, the Mostar Diving Club oversees jumping nowadays- they charge 25 Euro and you get a certificate. I knew when I read the article that I wanted to go for it. I guess I missed the part where it said "daring YOUNG men...." The article didn't say anything about cowardly middle aged guys!

Anyway, I made it to Mostar last Saturday afternoon (May 10). After I found a place to stay, I started wandering around in the Old Town when I first laid eyes upon Stari Most.

Sure enough, there was quite a crowd on the bridge and there were several scantly clad local Divers (guys with speedos) hanging out and working the crowd. What they do is take up an offering from all the gawkers and then they jump. And of course, they are happy to take your 25 Euro if you're "daring" enough...or stupid enough to fancy that you can imitate them.







I only saw one guy jump on Saturday. He made it look pretty easy. Actually, he looked like a Navy Seal or something to begin with. I kept coming back to the bridge all day long trying to decide if I was really going to do it. I messed around and waited to late though because they quit diving about 6 pm. I told of the divers I'd be back the next morning and he gave me one of those, "yeah, right" looks.

So I woke up Sunday morning and made my way back to the bridge. I was catching a 12:00 noon bus to my next destination, so I really didn't have time to think about it too much. After a few minutes of staring at the water, I told the Diving Club guys to sign me up.

This would be a good place to say this: There aren't enough Attorney's in Bosnia. If there were as many Attorney's in Bosnia as there are in the States this wouldn't be happening long before someone would be sued like crazy. I didn't sign anything. The only preparation I received was when they poured 2 liters of ice cold water on me before I jumped to get me acclimated. It had crossed my mind that the water would be so cold upon impact that I'd open my mouth to scream and then drown. Little did I know that the coldness of the water was the least of my worries. They guy loaned me a short wetsuit and instructed me to drop down feet first and keep my hands at my side or covering my crotch.

I climbed over the edge of the bridge where the bystanders were all whispering "honey, come watch this old guy...he's going to kill himself." I don't know if that's exactly what they said...it was in Serbian and my translation is a little rough.

I never was any good at mathematics. You'd think I would be... I took most of my math classes in high school and college TWICE! You're welcome to figure out the exact numbers if you like...I know the speed of falling objects is something like 32 feet per second for the first second and then squared each second thereafter until you reach terminal velocity which is maybe 200 mph for a freefalling skydiver. I wasn't high enough to attain terminal velocity...in which case hitting the water would have been just like hitting concrete.

I figure my speed was maybe 45 mph and I was freefalling less than 2 seconds. What was I thinking when I was on the bridge? I was thinking..."ok, I can do this. Other people have done this. I can do this. All I have to do is take a step." And I was thinking...what about holding my breath? The guy told me not to hold my nose, so I was a little concerned about that. I was wondering should I take a big breath before jumping or just before I hit the water? I was wondering if I'd hit the bottom of the river (supposedly 15 feet deep).

As best as I remember it I took a big breath and stepped off the rail and I remember thinking, "man, I'm dropping fast". I remember being very tense...I don't know if that helped me or not. I think it contributed to my whiplash hurting so bad. I didn't remember looking down as much as I was, but they got one picture of me and I'm looking down all the way...that's why I felt like I landed on my face. Because I did!

I got off balance about halfway down and was leaning forward and to my left about 10 o'clock when I hit the water. My hole left leg from the but to my calf is one BIG bruise. My tailbone still feels like it's broken. My nose was making funny clicking sounds when I moved it from one side to the other all day. I busted my lip on the inside at the top of my gums. I think the rushing water got under my top lip and pulled it up over my head as I was going down the water. I may have hit the bottom with my left side, but I don't remember doing so.

I remember coming back up pretty easy and having plenty of breath. I remember breaking the surface but then going into a slight bit of panic as I started swimming back to the shore. After a few seconds I realized I was probably going to live and that people were clapping from me from the bridge and the shore... that's when I pumped my fist in the air. That probably looked cool until I made it to the shore and begin washing the blood out of my mouth. That's when I could hear people saying, "see, he almost killed himself" in Serbian as they were walking away in apparent disgust.

Somewhere in the world there is video footage. A Serbian Broadcaster was there and filmed it and they interviewed me for some tourism thing afterwards. I wish I would have taken a picture of my face right after I got out of the water...the fat lip and red face was extreme!

But all's well that ends well. I survived. I would have regretted it if I hadn't done it. My name is supposed to be on a webpage, but it's in Serbian and a little difficult to figure out (www.mostari.ba) and I dont' think they've updated it since last year!