Tsunami Day - February 27, 2010

2:30 AM Hawaii time my cell phone rang. Jim was calling to tell me that an earthquake had hit Chile and a tsunami was predicted to hit Hawaii late morning. What a call THAT was! Daddy and Abby got up with me and we went into survival-mode! Daddy and Abby went to the lobby and bought most all of the food in the vending machine and brought it back to our room. When they returned to our room, Daddy filled the bathtub with water. I knew we would need some more money, so Abby and I went to the lobby and got more cash from the ATM. (side story...Jim was in Guam about 8 years ago when a very strong hurricane hit and he had $1.50 in cash...enough to buy a poptart! Remembering that he was in a bind, I knew we would need plenty of cash). By this time, Carolyn (my sister) had sent an email about the impending tsunami, so we had her and Jim both getting all the info they could and sending it to us (I had taken my laptop, so we had a steady stream of info coming in).





At 4:30AM Daddy suggested that we go eat breakfast so we could be ahead of the rush when people started waking up and the sirens started going off (6AM). We went to the corner diner and was surprised that there were quite a few people eating. I think some of them had actually not been home from the night, yet! We had a good, filling breakfast and then walked around the corner to one of the 66 ABC stores in Honolulu. Yes, there are 66 just in Honolulu! The store normally did not open until 7AM, but there were several people waiting outside and they had gotten word that the store was going to open early. After waiting for about 10 minutes, the store opened. We went in and bought a jar of peanut butter, loaf of bread, SPAM, several pre-made sandwiches, 2 gallons of water and a few other goodies.

Abby-ism...If you've had the pleasure to spend some quality time with my niece, Abby, then you've heard some Abby-isms. Carolyn said in one of her emails that we would need some food of sustenance. Remember the fried bananas from the North Shore? We had a couple left. When I told Abby and Daddy what Carolyn had said, Abby said "well, we can cut the fried off of the bananas"! I split a gut laughing at that! Here is the photo of the fried bananas again.



Back in the room I checked the latest email updates and we watched the news. The table in our room became Tsunami Central, complete with a map of Hawaii, map of evacuation line, computer, pen, paper and phone. Abby took a little nap and Daddy read the newspaper. Remember the post from last night when I said we saw the demonstration outside the Hawaiian Hilton? Well, Daddy read in the newspaper that it was Karl Rove they were demonstrating against.





Around 8AM we decided to walk to the beach. The tsunami was supposed to hit about 11:14AM, so we had plenty of time to beachcomb! A lot of people were down there doing the same thing we were...just looking at the ocean and imagining the water pulling back into the sea and then rushing onto land. Intense. Because boats do not feel the effects of a tsunami, they were leaving the harbor and just going offshore to wait. We took some photos and walked around a while before going back to the hotel. An hour or so later, Abby and I went down to the street and it was eerily quiet. No cars, no people, no businesses open...and it was about 10AM! Really weird.




They pushed the tsunami arrival to about 11:30AM. About 11AM there were reports that Hilo (on the Big Island) was seeing a little tsunami action. We could see a small portion of the beach from our hotel. The gauge we used to see if the water receded, was the tops of the palm trees. We could see where the water receded a small amount. And then...it was over. About 2PM the all clear was given!



We had to go from survival-mode to get-to-Maui-mode. We were supposed to have left on a flight at 9:30AM to Maui. Jim took care of the hotel and car reservations and I rebooked a flight. We gathered up our belongings and got to the airport early hoping we could catch an earlier flight. So did everyone else. We got on our 6PM flight. It was a short 30 minute flight over there. Picked up rental car, drove to other side of island, find hotel, park car 4 blocks from hotel and then we were ready for a drink! What a day. I didn't realize it during the day, but it had been stressful. I never was nervous about the tsunami. I had a calmness about it...but now...I wanted a drink or two! Supper and back to the hotel. We stayed at the Pioneer Inn in Lahaina. This was my 5th time to Maui, but I had never stayed in Lahaina. I thought it would be nice to be able to walk around the shops at night and to restaurants.