Right here, Right now. 1st October 2009

Right here, Right now. 1st October 2009 Post Tsunami

Don't worry, don't worry, were all alright!! The south Pacific earthquake and subsequent Tsunami has passed (we hope) and alls well with Pegasus and family. We were in Fiji when we had a call from my mother early Tuesday morning warning us that a Tsunami warning was in place post the American Samoan earthquake. We were anchored off the town of Latoka NW Fiji, well inside the protective reefs. At 0700 I logged onto the SSB net and other cruisers within a 1000 mile radius had heard the warnings on Australian news services. At 0725 the first reports on the net came through of a suck and surge in Tonga. Remarkably it seemed to be only a 1.5 meter surge, and in the Vavau it was felt in the outer anchorages but not in the main town. We expected any surge to be felt by 0900 so waited on board with a few more phone calls from my mother giving more details. At 0930 the local radio broadcast an interview with the Tsunami warning centre in Hawaii who said that any surge in Fiji would be limited to 1 meter maximum and the monitored wave looked like it had passed us by. Remarkably we felt nothing. Feeling relieved we went ashore to complete our tasks before checking out with customs and heading out of Latoka to start the passage to New Caledonia. Sadly the following morning the reception was so bad that I could not hear the SSB net so am unsure as to the extent of damage or which Island had the worst hits. I gather there has been another earthquake in SE Asia, but apart from that info we are in the dark so to speak! Hoping for better reception this morning.

Its now 0520 Thursday morning and we are 160 miles SW of Fiji with 15kts breeze from the south. 2 reefs in main, full genoa and staysail making 6 kts in a 2 meter swell. I'm hoping that the passage will not be too physically demanding and that I can finally settle and catch up with the Blog, which has fallen a little behind. Stay tuned, there will be more over the next few days…….

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