By spring of 1977, a new chapter began. Doug had liquidated what remained from the theft and traveled to Maui to visit a friend on his way to Indonesia. While in Indonesia, he visited his sister there and started to buy uncut opals to bring home. He came through Hawaii a couple of months later on his way back to Colorado where he worked for a jeweler in Denver.

In the spring of 1978, he returned to Indonesia, stayed for 8 months and  went on a journey through Asia in search of gemstones. The following February found him in Germany learning valuable skills from German master goldsmiths.  After some time there, he went back to Colorado and traveled through the West looking for a new home.  

Eventually, in November of 1979, he came back to Maui and began working there in the jewelry trade for over two years. After that, he worked in Honolulu for ten years and there met his wife, Elizabeth whom he married in 1989.  Doug and Elizabeth moved to the Big Island in 1992 and settled in Ahualoa where they have lived since.