Evacuees

Dozens of cars, people, pets and boats retreated from the coastline to our neighborhood to wait out the potential tsunami. We don't have an ocean view from our house, so we packed up a shade tent, lunch and binoculars and headed up the hill to join the crowds to watch for waves. Our house is just a stone's throw above the tsunami evacuation zone.


Alii Drive during the evacuation- normally it has constant traffic. I bet once they sound the all clear and let people return to their houses and hotels, it's going to be a giant parade down there.

Small Kine Tsunami


Chris and I set up our shade tent on an empty lot with a view of Kahalu`u Beach to watch for tsunami action. Just a little while after the tsunami was projected to hit (around 11:00 a.m.) we could see swells filling up the bay, then water receded. This happened several times over about a two-hour time span. It took about five minutes to fill the bay once it had been emptied. Watching the water recede was pretty fascinating- lots of rocks were protruding that I have never seen exposed and are usually under several feet of water. The tsunami occurred during a very low tide, I speculate this may have prevented water from rising too high and causing damage. It was interesting to watch. I think many of the people in our crowd on the hill wanted to see more action, but were happy, overall, that nothing got broke and no one got hurt. A tsunami generated from a 1960 Chile earthquake killed 67 (I think) people in 1960.

After 1:00 p.m. we decided it was safe to head to the coast so we blew past the civil defense guy who was supposed to be blocking the road to the ocean and we took a ride along Ali`i Drive. We took some close up pictures of Kahalu`u but the ebb and flow wasn't nearly as dramatic as it had been earlier. Ali`i Drive, which winds along the coast at sea level, was desolate. No cars, very few people, empty beaches, parking lots were void of cars and hotels were closed and gated. Quite a contrast to the practically bumper-to-bumper traffic I sit in on Ali`i Drive daily. I never knew a tsunami could be so peaceful.

Water drained from Kahalu`u Bay, leaving rocks exposed that are normally a few feet underwater. Second photo shows the bay filling back up. (click photo to enlarge)



After the biggest swells had struck, Chris and I took a ride to Kahalu`u (same bay as pictured above) and noticed there was still some ebb and flow. The two following pictures were taken just a couple of minutes apart:

Chile

Our prayers are with the people of Chile today. I can't even imagine what an 8.8 magnitude earthquake feels like and I know we're going to be hearing a lot of bad news from that area in the days to come.

We're under a tsunami warning here in Hawaii. The sirens sounded at 6 a.m. this morning and it may be the first time I have heard them in the past ten years other than the monthly tests. Our house, and my parent's house, are above the tsunami zone and we aren't expecting excitement here on the west side of the island. The Hilo side (east side) has had significant damage from tsunamis generated in Chile before, so we'll see what happens. We're just hanging around the house now and maybe we'll find a place with a view so we can watch if any waves hit.

The tsunami sirens been sounding every hour since 6 a.m. today.

Relief From the Torturous Office Chair

Chris and I both felt particularly stale after sitting through another work week so we hiked a couple of miles above the highway in search of lava tubes. We're about ready to give up on the Kiholo flow because its lava tubes have too many cave-ins, making the caves too short. The hike helped get the blood flowing through our legs again, but crawling around in caves was a bit uncomfortable for my sore, stiff, office neck. Does anyone else's body object to sitting in a chair for 8+ hours per day? I made my very first visit to a chiropractor today because my neck has been stiff for the past two weeks and I said, "nuff, aready." Our bodies just weren't made to sit at a desk- and that mainly explains why I haven't been updating the blog as often as I would like. Don't worry, I haven't gotten sucked into social networking sites or reality TV.

I don't want to sound like a complainer because I like my job and I am still finding fun in life pretty much anywhere I look. On a recent Saturday I saw four endangered species- a Hawaiian Monk Seal sleeping on the beach, several Humpback Whales breaching and spouting, a Green Sea Turtle swimming and a pod of Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins gliding right by me. Wouldn't you know it, I left my camera at home that day! Didn't they teach me anything in journalism school?

One of many caves we explored on our last caving day. Notice Puu Waa Waa in the background.