Where did you skydive and how many times have you gone?
This was in Cloverdale, CA in mid-2001. I've only gone once. It was tandem and a jump from ~13,000 ft because I wanted the one that provided the longest freefall. I've never jumped solo.
I have to say, that was (at the time) the absolute most exhilarating and adrenaline-inducing thing I'd ever done. I was on an adrenaline high for an hour afterwards. The only thing that rivals it is the other thing I mentioned--riding a motorcycle on a racetrack.
I've considered going again, but am having trouble finding anyone who wants to go with me. Also, for tandem jumps there's a weight limit and I'm >250#, which can be over the limit for most places. I almost had it arranged one year with coworkers for as soon as I lost enough weight to do it here in SoCal, but then that (the necessary weight loss) never quite happened.
FIFY
Funny thing... The whole ride up in the plane I was calm. I didn't really get the butterflies until they opened the door. And then, having the instructor strapped to your back, you sorta penguin-waddle yourselves to the door. So I'm hanging out the door of the airplane with one foot on the wing strut step ready to go. At that point in my mind I knew I was past the point of no return, but the fear was absolutely bubbling up and freezing me.
To me it FELT like the pilot tilted the wings and basically threw me out of the plane. Or maybe the instructor just pushed. Not sure. I don't think I made any conscious or deliberate move to exit that plane, but then we were out.
And the craziest thing? Once out of the plane, all the "fear" portion went away and it was just pure exhilaration.