When Business Trips Come With Fins: A Morning in Maui

So having to work in Hawaii off and on for nine weeks is not a bad gig. Some business trips are all meetings and airports. Others—like the ones to Hawaii—come with snorkel gear in the trunk “just in case.”

Between site visits, emails, and conference calls, we would sneak in random dips in the ocean whenever we could. There’s something about slipping into the water before or after work that resets your entire mindset.

On the final morning of one trip, we decided to get in one last snorkel before flying out. The sun was just starting to rise over Maui as we parked at Black Rock, grabbed our fins and masks, and jumped in.

The water was glassy, the sky streaked with pink and gold. As we kicked out with the jagged rocks to our right, one of us remembered sunrise is feeding time for sharks—and that the sunlight was flashing off my watch like a dinner bell. We laughed nervously and agreed to keep an eye on each other’s backs.

After about 30 minutes, just as we were deciding to head in, we saw it—a long, dark shape gliding between us and the shore. Then another pass, closer. We froze, treading water, watching it move in slow, deliberate arcs. The shape grew larger as it circled back again.

And then, just as it turned toward us—one shape became three. Not sharks, but spotted eagle rays, elegant and enormous, wings undulating like slow-motion birds in flight. They swept past us, turned once, and continued gracefully out to sea.

Only then did we realize we’d been holding our breath. We laughed, swam back to shore, hosed off the salt, threw on collared shirts, and headed straight to our meeting—still half in awe, half in disbelief that a business trip had just served up a front-row seat to one of nature’s quiet miracles.

This is just a reminder, you can always find time for adventure when on a business trip.

Ken