Wednesday 12th September 2001, Maui HI
After the horror of yesterday, we did our best to shake off our depression by booking the four open water ‘check out’ dives that would complete our PADI Open Water qualification.
We packed ourselves a picnic, and set off on a drive through the rainforests of the north coast. We had intended to reach Hana, but after 20 miles or so of twisty coastal road – in some places so narrow that we had to give way to vehicles coming in the other direction – we gave up. We found a secluded beach at Honomanu Bay, waded through a stretch of shallow water and ate our sandwiches on the stony shore, watching the surf.
That evening we drove to Lahaina, where we had arranged to meet up with Mark Atilano, who was working on Maui.
Naturally, the events of yesterday dominated the conversation as we ate in Bubba Gump’s (yes, honestly, the restaurant is themed around “Forrest Gump” …). Still, Mark was obviously looking forward to Gina’s visit later this month, when – hopefully – the airports would have re-opened and travel would have returned to normal.