Tsunami
Sea Topaz
Duncan Briggs
Thu 1 Oct 2009 02:44
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18.41.349 S 174.07.887 W
We had a few emails today from people who were
concerned about our safety having heard the news of the Tsunami following the
earthquake near Samoa.
We are fine, we were very lucky to be in a safe bay
on Vaka'eitu island, on a good mooring buoy in deep enough water. We were
just having a swim before breakfast when we realized that we had swum quite a
long way, not knowing that the water was going out. We did get back to the boat
without difficulty, but we saw some very strange currents and the tide was
suddenly very low. Then minutes later the water was high again. The water kept
going up and down like this for about two hours. Sea Topaz did not know whether
she was coming or going. There is a radio net on the VHF every morning, that we
we could report in and hear from other boats what was happening to them. Some
boats were scraping the bottom when the water was low, but otherwise there was
not too much damage. A few people went missing on one of the lower outlying
islands.
When it was all safe again we sailed to another
anchorage near Hunga village. We will stay here till tomorrow when we will go
back into Nieafu. We are running very low on food and cash.
 Water rushing
into the bay
Water rushing out again minutes
later Anchorage
near Hunga village, Seatopaz in the bay
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