John is absolutely correct about how dangerous these tsunami heights really are compared to the "wave" heights that we hear of so very often. The authorities here on the Islands did a great job in every aspect from notification though evacuations and eventually the "all clear". I referred to this as the Tsunami Scare because that is how they are refering to it here both in the media but also the authorities. I also want to say that the locals definately took this warning serious. At the 1:00AM update when they first decided that there was something comming, many locals started the process of filling the car and ice chest then moving to upland parks. By the time of the first Tsunami Siren at 6:00AM, the local stations were already documenting how the upland parks were filling - quickly. Long before the authorities shut down all the coastal roads, they were deserted - locals already had made their move upland.

I just thought that I would share our MINOR inconvenience because many knew that we were here, I thought that this community could use a short "good" story, and I thought that there was information that we all could use while traveling.  For example, how to you keep in touch when you are not home, do not have a car, and do not have access to TV - use the FM reciever in you MP3 player.  Emily had totally forgotten that she had this available and it proved to be very helpful to listen to them monitor the event in real time.

The ocean is still doing very strange things like raising and falling nearly two feet within an hour. One needs to be very careful going into the water, but we will be fine. We send our love to all and remind you to pick up my vacation slack.

Bob, Emily, Spirit Allie, and Spirit Cherry.

With all our concern and prayers focused on the very unfortunate people of Japan, it is sometimes forgotten that Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States was also hit with a Tsunami. At Kahului on Maui, the first surge made it 1/3 of a mile inland and the third surge was the largest in the Hawaiian chain. Additionally, there were homes washed into the ocean on the big island of Hawaii. There was also extensive damage to many of the harbors in the islands. I am sure that John (Maxidad) saw significant damage to the harbor where he works. Their trip to NorCal was well timed.

For us, this was the second year in a row of tsunami warnings during our visit. This year’s warnings proved to be an even greater threat. A required evacuation from all the condominiums in our area was declared at 11:00 PM on Thursday, just as we were already evacuating. We spent the night on the ridge, Kahana Ridge – Maui along with the thousands of others on that ridge, just 0.4 miles from the condo but at an elevation of approximately 160 ft above sea level. It was a cloudless and moonless night as we attempted to get some rest while watching the stars and listening to the reports. At just before 7:00 AM on Friday, as the fourth surge was going down, we returned to the condo. I immediately headed out to the beach and it was a very scary scene. The ocean was still more than 7 feet above the normal high tide levels, much like a bathtub about to overflow. Remember, this is not wave heights, but rather a raise in the overall height of the ocean as far as the eye can seen. The maximum surge height at our location was over eight feet. Later that day while walking the shoreline, I could watch the ocean level raise and fall more than one foot in less than ten minutes.

By the time we left for the Kahului airport late Friday afternoon, all the roads were open and we did not have any delays on our return home. However, considering our track record, two tsunami warnings in the last two years, and approximately three tsunami alerts during other visits to Hawaii during the last ten years, one might want to make sure what, if any, travel plans we have to Hawaii before booking your own trip.