Linda was disappointed I wasn't going along to dive with Great Whites, but she understood I had more important things to do right now. We finished up the hotel breakfast, and Mom and I sat in the back of our borrowed SUV. Nicholas drove since Carla was not comfortable with driving on the left side of the road.

During the drive, we used his phone to video conference in with the relatives who left early. Nicholas let them know that we would be taking over from Leo today; since he knew them all, he did most of the talking. "Events are driving us to do this earlier than we wanted,...