09-Jan-2005 -- I, Joseph Kerski, Geographer, had been on the Island of Maui all week to co-teach a My Community Our Earth with the Association of American Geographers , ESRI, and the Maui Digital Bus. As the workshop emphasized sustainable development, geography, and water resources, incorporating Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and GPS technologies and methods, a confluence trek seemed particularly appropriate. I carefully laid the groundwork via telephone while back in Colorado and also after I had arrived on Maui with Captain Jim of the boat Kihei Boy. I had found Captain Jim from the narrative of his visit with Dave Brooks to 21 North 157 West.

We were scheduled to leave Kahului Harbor on Sunday morning at 5:00am. I was looking forward to my first water-based confluence since my English Channel expedition with Gordon Spence the previous April. During our final telephone call, Jim asked me what would be a fair price. I thought about what we had paid the fishing boat captain the previous April, and so I mentioned $80. After a pause, Jim said he could not afford to take anyone on the water for less than $800 for an entire day. Dismayed, I said that regrettably, I could not afford the trip cost. Being a landlubber from Colorado, I had no idea it would be so expensive.

I took some photographs from the shore and I leave this confluence to someone who can afford it. I told myself that I was on Maui, one of the geographical wonders of the world, and despite not visiting a confluence, it was still a beautiful place to teach and to be.