Ouvea
Storyteller
Fri 2 Oct 2009 20:57
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Position, 22.39S 167.25E
John writes:
Just before 7am last Wednesday the radio warned us
that there had been a serious earthquake in Samoa, a tsunami warning had been
issued and all boats were strongly advised to leave the bay
immediately and head for deep water. It certainly got our attention and within a
few minutes 30 yachts were heading out of the bay. Interestingly, the locals,
who all live in low lying areas, seemed not to have
been alerted to the danger. A couple of hours later Radio Australia
broadcast the all clear, as did Noumea maritime radio. Had the Tsunami hit, we
would have been ok out in deep water, but the local population would have been
in big trouble. Nuiatopatapu in Northern Tonga, where the tsunami
struck, had been a group we had planned to cruise to, but bad weather had
prevented us from going there. At least one cruiser was swept overboard from his
yacht anchored in Samoa--there was no time for any warnings there.
We are completing an overnight trip of about 140
miles from Ouvea down to the Isle des Pins, one of our favourite places. Most of
the night we had 15 to 20kts of wind about 20 degrees off the bow. The
Selene has the length and power to handle these conditions
well.
Much more comfortable than with the wind
abeam. We have a line overboard and plenty
of birds working ahead, so hope to catch a nice tuna or mahimahi before
breakfast.
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