Tsunami Events According to Captain Courage

So there we were causally wrapping up the day, when this panicked woman’s voice comes over the radio stammering, "T-t-there is a tsunami coming!" This was followed by radio silence. Then she comes on again and says in the same voice now quaking with panic and fear, "They just came in to the restaurant and said we have to leave that a tsunami is coming.  I don't know about the rest of the fleet but we are leaving right now!”  Again this warning appeared to go unheeded as nobody said anything.  After a few minutes, boats started to call one another to see if anyone knew anything.  And I sent out a message to the family requesting info on the tsunami.  Over the next 10 minutes or so the fleet came alive with questions. There was no real panic, just radio traffic asking what other boats/people were doing, and making plans. Then the message from the port captain came saying that everyone had to leave the anchorage immediately and go 20 miles south. That was all the push the fleet needed, and everyone started asking not if the other boats were leaving, but rather how far out they were going.  By then we had received email confirmation that there was a 5.5 to 6.5 foot tsunami coming from the SSE. So we would receive no protection from the island. It was decided to go out to 100 feet of water for the night. Shannon and Cassidy had the kayaks and dingy up 'muy rapido' and the exit from the dark, reef infested anchorage, was quiet and swift. It is nice to be anchored at the edge of the fleet when you are trying to get your anchor up.

Most boats decided to motor out the required 20 miles. We went out 2 miles, anchored, and watched a movie. Most of the fleet has AIS and when I checked their speed I was impressed to see that they were all going over 7 knots. Pretty impressive!!

After the movie we could still hear the other boats talking, and they were indicating that the port was still closed per the port captain.  But as I said the movie was over, and it was past tsunami time, so we pulled anchor, and went back to port completely blacked out.  On the shore I could see the cop cars with all their lights on patrolling the city, so we remained 'lights out' and went to sleep.

Good times!!!
Courage