I started this nanharter.com website in 1999 with my Fiji trip report while I was teaching Introduction to Computers at Maui Community College. Since I was teaching basic web page design, I had to learn a little myself and it motivated me to create this site. Since then it has grown to be a way to share my life and photos with family and friends. I have recently been back in touch with high school and college friends, and that reminded me there is a gap in the information on the website–most specifically how I got to Maui.

Most of you know I worked for Bell Labs in Colorado and got my Masters in Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Then I moved back to California in early ‘80s and worked for Xerox advanced development in Palo Alto. Then I was in the initial group to start up ParcPlace Systems.

I decided to follow my dream and traveled around the world in 1989 to 1990. What an incredible seven months of travel. Maybe I will get around to writing about that trip sometime. Upon returning, I worked for Sun Microsystems in Palo Alto while I decided what I wanted to do. My next dream was to live on a tropical island in the Pacific where I could see the sunset every day.

After much research, I first moved to Tonga, South Pacific, in 1994 because I had read in a travel book “see Vavau before the developers discover it and ruin it.” I enjoyed the island and the people, but I found that although I could respect the culture, it was not one I could be part of (and there was no easy place to live and see the sunset on Vavau.) I next moved to Rarotonga, Cook Islands, and made some very good friends, but again it wasn't my island (no great beaches for sunset.) I got my Rescue Diver and Divemaster ratings while there. Also I spent a wonderful four weeks living on a sail boat at Palmerston Island with friends; the lobster and parrotfish were plentiful and delicious. I returned home Maui, Hawaii, and found I spent in one week what I could live on for a month in Cook Islands! Wasn't sure Maui was my island, but if it was I was going to have to work.

After visiting family and friends on the mainland, I thought I would try out the Caribbean, so I headed to the Virgin Islands to see if my island was there. The ocean is beautiful and diving great, but life on land was just too dry after living in the lusher Pacific. I had a fun time crewing on a sailboat from Tortola, BVI, to St. Petersburg, Florida to return to the US. I got my Dive Instructor rating in Florida, and within three weeks had returned to Maui in August 1995.

I worked full-time for Maui Dive Shop teaching diving both from shore and boat for almost four years. Afterward, for several years I continued to teach scuba privately part time while I did other things part time. Now I just dive for fun and enjoy amateur underwater photography. I think the other pages of the website tell the story of my Maui life and also of meeting the love of my life, Neil Rhoads.

At first I said, “I don't know if Maui is my island but I don't know anywhere I would rather be.” Now I just say, “There is no place I would rather be!” We live on the ocean facing west and have beautiful sunsets every night!