Fwd: We're all in the same boat. A tsunami story.

Begin forwarded message:

I was here in Hawaii the night of the disastrous earthquake in Japan.

Mike and I are coming to an end with our epic sailing adventure of 2 years and we've been back and forth from Hawaii for the past 3 months, 

so when the tsunami arrived here... I was actually on the boat by myself as Mike had to fly to California the week before.

It was a lovely evening and I was listening to some music, exchanging messages with my friend Heather when... Mike called and said " are you ok?" .  I said "yes, why? what's up?" he said "there's a tsunami warning"!

Not the first one for me. Had one in Tahiti and one in the island of Raiatea in French Polynesia during these passed two years.

But still...  not a pleasent feeling thinking I'd have to go through another one, on my own!

Next thing I knew the terrible yet familiar sound of the tsunami sirens went off , the live music next door stopped and everybody around me started to prepare their boats to go out at sea or secure them as safely as possible. Which is exactly what I was going to have to do knowing I could not take our boat out :(  

So here We are. Apple staring at me in total confusion and me thinking quickly of ... where to go , speaking on the phone with Mike and text messaging with my mum in Italy....

I looked at Apple and said "No worries, We have a plan". 

I started to loosen the ropes and make the boat ship shape so once "Apple" the boat was as ready as I could possibly make her for the big waves,

I finally walked away from the marina . "Apple" the dog still completely confused by the Tsunami sirens , police cars driving around evacuating the area....

I have to admit... I was getting a little nervous!!

I looked up at the higher hotel building...  and walked straight to it! I checked in and got a room at the 23rd floor! 

But here's a little twist to the story..... 

They were not that helpful at the hotel ILIKAI!!  Apart from one lovely lady that realized I had nowhere else to go and tried to help while trying to get out of her work shift and go home.  They charged me 190$, with no breakfast included and made it difficult because of my pet.....!!!  thanks for being so accomodating in a state of emergency!! Ok, sorry I'll just walk back out and bring back my pet to the boat and hope she's ok while I pay for a room cause you won't allow people to just sit somewhere safe and wait?!  Funny in the meantime you're watching Japan falling apart on the news. And yes, I understand some of you need to go home before the area gets evacuated and they close off the streets.... so what about we all just  help each other quick?!.... It was pretty shocking. And they refused to give a room to the guy after me, they said to try the residence.... I can assure you the hotel was not full... cause I saw not very many lights on and was told so by other guests! 

Everyone else at the marina was very helpful as they checked on me and made sure I had a plan. I could not believe the people at the hotel Ilikai! 

I didn't have the time to walk around and look for a better place, had returned our rental car and could not drive away... and all I could think in that moment after seeing the way they handled it there was "who knows if I can find another room somewhere else anyhow" time was grunning fast... so I stayed.

Well...there I was in my room. Apple finally relaxing with her tennis ball, my mum happy I had found a safe place and Mike sweetly checking on me through skype... the phones had stopped working during all that. 

And me....? getting terrified by CNN who kept on showing the images of Japan and saying "only 3...2 ...1 hour to go till the first wave will hit Hawaii...and who knows how big that wave is going to be at that time!!! They're evacuating the coast but letting people stay in the higher floors of the hotles... will they be safe?!.."  Please shut up! Keep the news simple and stop creating panic ... we do not need more of that!  

I went to the top floor where other guests had been sent up from the very first few floors and  were waiting to see what was going to happen . 

It was surreal. All quiet in the streets . Only the tsunami sirens going on every hour , some random cars still moving around after the police had stopped evacuating and... the guy over the hotel speakerphone giving announcements like , I kid you not , "We're under tsunami warning. Umm... Do not go in the sea"!! 

Anyways, Apple entertaining and chatting with strangers ... The tsunami hit .  We could  see very little from the window that overlooked the marina so finally exhausted went back to bed.... Had to wait till the morning to go check out the boat ... my lovely ever-moving home for the past two years.

After a few hours of sleep, while walking back from the hotel I could see the debris in the water....it was dirty and for hours and hours still surging up and down and it took almost all day to return to normal. The boat was still moving around but had a little damage so I could not complain....at all!!!!!!

Incredible how still today there's so much dead fish floating around... so many puffed up dead puffer fish around here....  poor things.

I also found out that while many friends of ours went out at sea, and returned only later on in the morning others decided to stay in the marina to watch out for their own vessels. Our neighbor being one of those cause his boat  engine was down ... He was  frightened while waiting in the silence after the evacuation and confirmed it was madness when the water went up smashing boats into each other. Repeatedly. But he was fine. Our marina was ok ... unlike others that lost their docks... and other parts of Hawaii that did get quite a lot of damage :(

I will not forget this night , the images of the disaster in Japan will forever be impressed in my memory mixed with the feelings of what was happening around me and all I can say is ... thank to whomever it may concern I am good and was blessed by a happy ending!!

My thoughts go to all the people that had to go through those hard moments and have suffered from it 

and my heart entirely to the people in Japan.... 

Veronika