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I Nearly Drowned in Maui
In 1994, I traveled with several friends to Maui. Midway through the trip, we drove fours hours to Hana on the east side of the island. We visited the Seven Sacred Pools, a series of ponds and waterfalls stretching from the mountain to the sea. At the lowest pool bordering the ocean, the pond is split in two by a reef.
I walked atop the reef and noticed a local Hawaiian man diving into one pool, disappearing, then reappearing in the second pool on the other side of the rocks. I entered the water and asked the man what he was doing.
“There’s an underwater tunnel beneath the rocks,” he said. “You can swim from one side to the other.”
“How long is it,” I asked.
“About twenty-five feet.”
“How deep?”
“Maybe six feet,” he said.
“You think I can do it?”
“Can you hold your breath thirty seconds?”
“Yes.”
“Then you can do it.”
I told my friends I was going to swim through an underwater tunnel from one pool to the other. They advised me not to do it. This made me more determined. I was at a point in my life where I was trying to take more risks. Swimming through an underwater tunnel seemed perfect.
