2010-2-27 tsunami!!!
Sat., Feb. 27th, started pretty early for us. At 6am workers at the
ocean front resort we're in (Kauai Beach Villas), knocked on our door
and basically told us to get out----now! With the 8.5 earthquake in
Chile a couple days ago, we knew there was a chance of a tsunami
reaching us, so this evacuation wasn't a surprise. Our first stop was
Walmart. Not for water and food supplies like just about everybody else
there, but for snacks---plus I'm looking for new snorkel fins. No luck
with the fins, but did find snacks. We also checked out K-mart for the
fins, but had no luck there, either. So we headed to breakfast at
Dani's---along with half of Lihue! They were busing tables like mad.
Our wait for food was a bit lengthy, but they had a full house. We also
noticed lines of people waiting for gas for their cars. That sort of
surprised us. We wondered were people were going to drive with a full
tank of gas if the island was hit hard. I guess we weren't expecting it
to be as bad as many of the residents did--but what experience do we
have with tsunamis out in the mid-west?! Fortunately, the tsunami pretty
much fizzled out by the time it got to Hawaii.
Because of the
tsunami, we decided to check out the train ride at Gaylord's. With roads
being closed all over the place, we were somewhat limited in where we
could go. Couldn't go towards Kapaa since the highway was closed at
WAilua. Couldn't go to any beach since police were turning people away.
So the train ride seemed a logical choice.
We hadn't planned to do
this excursion, but I am happy we did it. Some people think it's kind of
corney---or good for kids, but I thought it was a nice photo op, too. We
had a discount card, so we were able to get 24% off on our fare, so it
only cost us $13@ for the 40 minute ride. This is the old train we were
on.
The ride took us through their many fields of fruit crops. Here we are by the pineapple fields.
Then
it took us to their animal pastures. Here we were at the wild pig
pasture. They let us off the train here and let us feed the pigs (from
the other side of the fence from them).
Another last look at the animal pasture.
more views from the train.
lots of gardens throughout the property
wonder what kind of horse this is---seems really stocky
more of the grounds
even a few fish ponds
and back to the Gaylords Plantation house.
After
the train ride, we headed south. All the time the radio was covering
the tsunami. By now it was past noon, so we were curious to hear what
had happened in Hilo and Kauai. Although the ocean apparently receeded
from the Napali a bit, there were only about 1 foot tsunami waves here
on Kauai. Hilo had about 3 foot waves, I believe, but there was no
damage to any of the islands. Tim and Faith called and said all was well
there on the Big Island. Lots of roads were closed so they were hanging
out on a lava field and in the jacuzzi in the jungle. They went into
Hilo for dinner after the warning was lifted and said there was no sign
of high surf.
We continued south. About 1pm we stopped for lunch
at Brick Oven Pizza. I love their pizzas, although they are spendy at
$19 for a medium 1 topping pizza. But it was good. Someone had even
brought in a tv so we were able to watch the news about the tsunami.
About
2 we were heading back towards Lihue to hit the movie theatre when the
radio said the warning was lifted and the roads were reopened. With
that, we decided to forgo the movie and just head back to our condo. The ocean looked pretty much like it normally does by Kauai Beach Villas.
The
state parks are suppose to be closed for the rest of the day so
snorkeling was out, so we decided to walk part of the new bike/walking
trail along the east coast. We had walked the part from just north of
Kapaa to Kealia Beach last year. So this time we started at Kealia Beach
and headed north.
Surfers were enjoying the "tsunami" at Kealia Beach.
It's a fantastic paved path!
Can't get much closer to the water then this!
I'd read that Donkey beach was a nude beach---
I guess it is!
By the time we headed back, the sun was setting to the west and turning the clouds here to the East beautiful colors.
it also happened to be a full moon!
The moon even rose right around sunset.
the pier where business was done way back in the day when this area was a salt producer and sugar cane producer.
For looking East, it really was a pretty sunset!
looking South
Checking out the full moon rising, again.
almost back to the car, and almost dark---except for the light of the full moon.
looking SW for the last of the light.
Certainly was a different kind of day for us here. But interesting in it's own way. Got to do a couple things I probably wouldn't have done if there was no tsunami---like take the train ride and walk the path on the East side. Like they say, "when life gives you a tsunami---go take a hike". Ok, maybe they don't say that, but maybe they should!
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