By far, my favorite tv show of all time is The Office. There is so much comical genius packed in the show. The show would never survive in today’s society, but thankfully we got through the show before people started going crazy.
There is a scene from one episode in which the boss, Michael Scott, drives his car into a lake because he is trying to follow the directions of the GPS. Take a look:
Well, apparently, that happened in real life recently in Hawaii. Two tourists learned the hard way when they drove their car straight into Honokohau Harbor in Kailua-Kona, following a wrong turn suggested by their navigation system.
The incident happened on Saturday and was captured on video by Christie Hutchinson, a local sailboat owner who witnessed the whole scene. Hutchinson told The Washington Post that she was sitting on her boat with her husband and friends when she saw a silver Dodge Caravan drive past them and plunge into the water.
“It was so confidently done, they didn’t have a look of panic on their face. They were still smiling,” Hutchinson said.
The video shows the car’s windshield wipers still working as the vehicle slowly sinks into the murky water. The two women inside the car, who were reportedly sisters from Texas, did not seem to realize the danger they were in. They remained buckled in their seats while water started to fill up the car.
“Pretty sure that wasn’t supposed to happen,” Hutchinson says in her video, while other witnesses shout at the tourists to get out of the car.
Luckily, the crew of the Nanea sailboat, which had just returned from a day of sailing, jumped into action and swam to rescue the women. They helped them escape through the windows and carried them to safety. Another pair of men tried to save the car by tying a rope to its back, but it was too late. The car quickly sank into the harbor.
Hutchinson said that the tourists were trying to find a Manta Ray Snorkel tour company in the harbor and had been following their GPS directions when they made a wrong turn into the water.
“I think they just must’ve taken their eyes off the road for a second,” she told Hawaii News Now.
The tourists were not injured in the incident, but they were shaken up and embarrassed. They declined to comment to the media.
This is not the first time that GPS directions have led drivers astray. In 2022, a man in Canada drove his car into a lake after following his GPS instructions. In 2021, a woman in Belgium drove 900 miles across Europe instead of 90 miles to her destination after trusting her GPS too much.
The lesson here is simple: don’t blindly follow your GPS directions. Always pay attention to your surroundings and use common sense when driving. And if you ever find yourself in a similar situation as these tourists, don’t panic and get out of the car as soon as possible.
