A Tsunami, Really?!

Dad opens the door to our room and says, “We’re not going snorkeling in the morning”. We had finally arrived in paradise after a full night layover in Los Angeles and 10 hours on a plane with 4 tired kids in tow ranging from the helpful ages of 14 months to 11 years old. Even though my mind and body were aching to fall asleep this woke me up. Dad NEVER cancels snorkeling in the morning… something must be wrong. My husband and I drag ourselves out of bed, tip toe over the sleeping kids on the floor, and knock on Mom and Dad’s door.

They are watching the news about a tsunami that just hit Japan. It is one of those moments that you feel you are watching something made by James Cameron, not something that is real. I don’t know why, but I am shivering. In part because Mom keeps the air conditioner on high (maybe she misses Wyoming nights), in part because I am so tired my body is in shock, in part because I am so overwhelmed with emotion for the Japanese people, and mostly because the Hawaiian broadcast reporter is stating that the wave is making its way to Hawaii. My husband says “Isn’t there a Tsunami Evacuation Zone Sign with a guy running from a wave as you drive into the Waikoloa Beach Resort Area?” Dad says “Yup”.

So the four of us put our heads together. The reporters are telling us that the wave should be here around 3:07 am. We have some time, it was only about 10 pm. The first thought was, well, go to bed, set the alarm, and then see what the reporters are saying. Well, what time do we set the alarm? As we discuss this we keep moving the alarm up until we would only be sleeping for an hour or two. Then we begin discussing the possibility of this being as big as the one in Japan, and what we will need to do to be prepared tomorrow. All of a sudden, things like water, food, phones, airplanes, etc seem pretty important. Finally, we decide that we will sleep better not worrying about a wave crashing over our little ones even if that means sleeping in the minivan, so we decide to pack everyone up and head to a church building that we attend while on vacation that is up on higher ground. As we are packing up the car we can hear a very faint horn that is warning us that we are under a tsunami watch, but I am thinking, if it wasn’t for Mom and Dad I would have slept through the whole thing (which in the end would have been just fine!)

We carried the kids to the car with blankets, threw our luggage back in the car (because hey! everything is still packed up!) and start up the mountain. As we caravan (3 minivans full, oh yeah, my husband’s sister’s family surprised us and got a condo near ours, so might as well take them up the mountain with us!) we stop at already overflowing grocery stores and pick up food and water. Next, we stop by ATM’s and grab cash in case we have trouble running credit cards tomorrow. Oh yeah, call my sister who is at home and let her know that we headed to higher ground and off we go. At the church there are more stranded tourists and luckily the missionaries are there to open up the church building. So we do have bathrooms and a hard floor. My husband opts to sleep in the car since the kids seem to be oblivious to the whole thing, except for our 14 month old who is threatening to wake up the other three, so I get to take him into the church building and attempt to soothe him.

In the end, the tsunami did come, and did do some damage to parts of the Big Island, but not a thing to the Fairway Villas. We woke up (or did we ever sleep?) early morning, listened to reports on the radio, realized that everything was fine, drove back home, unpacked and fell to sleep for a couple of hours, oh yeah, the baby slept some, he is ready to play, AHHHH! We continued with a great vacation, saw whales, snorkeled with a Manta Ray, all of which some of us had never done before and had a great story to tell when we got home.