I didn’t count on to swallow my body weight in saltwater on a visit to luxe Necker Island, but right here I’m, zipping alongside the paradisiacal shoreline atop an underwater scooter, my laughter constructing with every wave wallop. The system, a combination between a miniature jet ski and a bobsled, thrusts riders above and under the water at as much as round 12 miles per hour. Between gliding undersea like a mermaid and stomach laughing whereas driving waves on the floor, the scooter has me bursting with childlike pleasure.

As a lifelong thrill seeker, I’m like a child in a sweet store right here on action-packed Necker Island. Sir Richard Branson’s personal escape within the British Virgin Islands could also be recognized for its luxurious—plus its myriad celeb company—however as I’ve discovered all through my five-day go to, that’s solely a part of the draw. The opposite? Journey sports activities. The 74-acre getaway gives kiteboarding, e-foiling, crusing, seaside Olympics, diving, biking, and underwater scootering—and infrequently a number of of those actions in the identical day. 

Journey-centered journeys like this aren’t new for me, however in recent times, my want for pace—or actually any jolt past the pandemic’s stay-at-home consolation zone—went into overdrive. I constructed my travels round motion, and in some circumstances excessive, sports activities, comparable to windsurfing in Bonaire, bungee leaping over Victoria Falls, deep diving to Key Biscayne’s shipwrecks, and tenting on the Greenland Ice Sheet. As journey journey’s post-pandemic growth reveals, I’m not the one one chasing adrenaline and awe in nature.

Curiosity in excessive sports activities, also referred to as “laborious adventures,” soared within the years following 2020. The trade is anticipated to proceed climbing, and will double by the tip of the last decade. “Lots of our purchasers are bored of the strange,” says Jimmy Carroll, co-founder of luxurious journey journey model PelorusPelorus. “They’re on the lookout for one thing utterly out of the field that challenges them.” 

Some have discovered inspiration in journey docuseries like HBO’s surf-centered 100 Foot Wave, launched in 2021. The addition of recent sports activities in Tokyo’s summer season Olympics in 2021, together with browsing, skateboarding, and sport climbing, solely upped the intrigue. And, with the introduction of recent motion sports activities, like kiteboarding, on this summer season’s Paris 2024 Olympics, curiosity in journey sports activities may spike even additional—and resorts and journey outfitters are prepared.