I got married on September 7, 2002. For our honeymoon, my new bride and I went to the island of Maui.

April's not a diver, but did understand that I was going to do some diving while we were there. Coming from the cool waters of the Pacific Northwest, there's no way I could pass up the chance to dive in the warmness of Hawaii.

The first challenge was finding someone to dive with. Looking around at various dive stores, and reading flyers, I concluded that the majority of the diving I encountered was touristy. Groups of twelve people, one instructor, experience levels ranging from advanced to baby bubblers. It was also expensive - $65 to $80 for two dives - sometimes not including your equipment rentals. Most of the stores weren't set up like I was used to - no equipment was displayed, didn't have that dive store feeling to it. I was a bit disappointed.

Doing some research on PADI's website, I found a five-star PADI dive center not too far from the condo. Same rating as my "home" store. Off we went.

Maui Dreams Dive Co. was exactly what I was looking for. A dive store without carpeting on the floor, equipment on the wall, and people standing around actually talking about diving. Chatted with Tom for quite some time, he let me copy down a bunch of locals looking for dive partner's numbers in hopes of finding a local diver looking to go out, and wouldn't mind me tagging along.

I called, no one called back.

Went back to the store, and this time talked to a different lady (I really wish I remembered her name.) I told her that I wanted to break down and pay $65 for two dives. Unfortunately, all the shop dives were full and there weren't any openings until the day we left back for Washington. Yes, I was disappointed, and I guess you could see it in my face because one of the guys hanging around the store asked me when I wanted to go diving. We chatted about when, my experience levels, how long I was there for and what I wanted to see. Barrett is a dive-master in training and was willing to let this crazy cold-water diver dive with him this weekend.

And so my Maui diving adventure began . . .

IMAG0030 IMAG0031 IMAG0032 IMAG0033 IMAG0034
IMAG0035 IMAG0036 IMAG0037 IMAG0038 IMAG0039
IMAG0040 IMAG0041 IMAG0042 IMAG0043 IMAG0044
IMAG0045 IMAG0046 IMAG0047 IMAG0048 IMAG0049
IMAG0050 IMAG0051 IMAG0052 IMAG0053 IMAG0054
IMAG0055 IMAG0056 IMAG0057 IMAG0058 IMAG0059
IMAG0060 IMAG0061 IMAG0062 IMAG0063 IMAG0064
IMAG0065 IMAG0066 IMAG0067 IMAG0068 IMAG0069
IMAG0070 IMAG0071 IMAG0072 IMAG0073 IMAG0074
IMAG0075 IMAG0076 IMAG0077 IMAG0078 IMAG0079
IMAG0080 IMAG0081 IMAG0082 IMAG0083 IMAG0084
IMAG0085 IMAG0086 IMAG0087 IMAG0088 IMAG0089
IMAG0090 IMAG0091 IMAG0092 IMAG0093 IMAG0094
IMAG0095 IMAG0096 IMAG0097 IMAG0098 IMAG0099
IMAG0100 IMAG0101 IMAG0102 IMAG0103 IMAG0104
IMAG0105 IMAG0106 IMAG0107 IMAG0108 IMAG0109
IMAG0110 IMAG0111 IMAG0112    

[2002 Index]