Our lives and livelihoods forever changed this week when wildfires destroyed our town, our business, our crew's livelihoods, and our retirement plans. We are so thankful the entire team is safe, but we are devastated and unsure what the future holds for our staff and ourselves. Insurance won't begin to cover what was lost and will take weeks if not months to process.
Based on some rumors we heard in the community on Wednesday we had hopes that perhaps our shop had been spared. We walked into town on Thursday, however, and were emotionally destroyed when we found our building gutted and the Extended Horizons II engine blocks sitting on the floor amidst the ashes.
EH was celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Erik started the business in 1983 with a few pieces of dive gear and a Suzuki Sidekick. Over the years we've had the honor of sharing the unique experience of diving, and the beauty of Maui's ocean creatures, with tens of thousands of visitors, hundreds of crew members, and two boats that became true members of our family. Scuba instruction, naturalist education, and environmental conservation have been the passions of our lives.
Extended Horizons was us and we were Extended Horizons, and now it is gone.
A customer was using some tanks and weights on Monday for some dives, and then left them at his hotel before leaving the island after the fire. Here we are with what remains of Extended Horizons today.
Many kind people have reached out to us with unsolicited offers of assistance, for which we are so, so grateful. We have created this SpotFund page for that purpose. Money will go towards immediate relief needs for our staff and ourselves.
Our crew members also stored their personal dive equipment in the building and they will need it replaced if they are ever to resume their dive careers. But even more immediately, they'll need help with food, shelter, and other basic essentials.
And so will we. On top of immediate needs, we have some upcoming medical expenses. We did not plan on sharing this but Erik was diagnosed with cancer earlier this summer. He is scheduled for surgery in Honolulu this month. It's unclear what medical expenses he will face in the months ahead, but all of that is much more worrisome given the destruction of the business.
We are honestly unable to say at this time what the future of EH will be, but the company faces immediate expenses now to even preserve the possibility of that future (e.g. monthly permit and licensing costs).
Thank you so much to all the people who have supported Extended Horizons over the years. Your patronage and friendship has meant the world to us, and has been the joy of our lifetimes. Any help you could offer now will be so very much appreciated.
Mahalo, Erik and Victoria
Armstrong Aluminum Cat powered by Cummins engines and jet drives. 
Transport was memorable! Each crate was over 500 lbs. and the rails for the trailer hung forward over the bed of the truck. With my name plastered in neon along the box sides, we drove back to Lahaina managing to avoid jousting with oncoming traffic. On arrival my friend and mechanic, Ray Catagul, helped us unload with a forklift. From there it was 10 days of assembly to prepare for the big day of bringing her over to Maui. 
The day of her arrival at Mala to be put on the newly built trailer was suspenseful, because we did not know how she would fit, compounded by a defective trailer axle that rendered mounting the sixth tire impossible. 
As we pulled forward off the ramp apron, the axles sagged, pushing the fenders down onto the tires as we screeched through the parking lot. With the wheels rubbing the metal fender covers we limped into a corner for the night. We removed the fender wells the next day, and had to cut notches of the wood off the bunks to avoid the tires rubbing. 
We are excited to have a boat again. She’s only been used as a pleasure boat, so we are slowly going through her and getting safety equipment up to speed, as if she were going to be chartered. After 3 decades of driving Coast Guard certified vessels we know all about what she needs. When working on the boat, most jobs take much longer to complete without a shop, toolbox nearby, and I often finding myself laying in wet dirt and gravel while I work on trailer adjustments.
June 14th is the date they knocked down our wall. 
