Thankfully, the tsunami wasn't 'the big one'

Brada Kelley is guest blogger today. He reports on after the excitement this weekend in Hawaii.

This turned out thankfully to have not been the "big one." Historically, that point of origin, Chile, has been devastating for Hawaii. It also means that the next might be big. I was up all night track info on the web, etc. and went to the boat about 5:30 a.m.

I decided, based on numbers I was seeing from Easter Island and other places not to take the boat out. But as the morning progressed and the harbor emptied, I felt a little lonely. There were quite a few other boats in the harbor and one guy actually stayed on his boat. Not too smart. You never know. I watched from the hill above the harbor along with 20 or 30 others, including police, fire and newspaper reporters.

We had lots of surges and current as the waves came through. A bit more intense than the one we had after the recent Samoa quake and wave. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said that at Nawiliwili, the wave was 1.2 feet (2.4 crest to trough) with a 10-minute period.

Went back down at the 'all-clear' and adjusted lines. We sat on the boat and had a beer as the other boats began to return. Lots of excitement as we would be 3 feet below the cat walk and in a couple of minutes the surge would lift the boat 2 feet above.

Brown water surging in and out, in-line with the slips but cross-wise to the approach. I saw 4 boats T-bone into the end of cat walks as the surge pushed them sideways as they tried to negotiate their way back in. But no damage and no one hurt, a grand Chinese fire drill.

The lifeguards in this photo watched the waves from the shore on Oahu.

It was a beautiful sight seeing the boats off shore, some hadn't moved in some time. Flat water with light Trades blowing. These experiences remind us that we are all connected in a primordial way. The earth moves in Chile and 15 hours later we experience the effects in Hawaii.

Mother ocean closes roads and shopping centers. Makes people go the Walmart in the middle of the night, stand in line to buy toilet paper and bottled water, sit in line to fill gas tanks. At least, that's what some did in Honolulu.

All's well!

Thanks all for checking in.

Brada Kelley, Kauai