We were suddenly shaken out of bed at 7am by an 8.3 earthquake, only to realize that some of the loud rumbling we heard outside was actually the sound of massive rocks crashing down the cliff directly above the small lodge we were sleeping in. I grabbed my shoes and ran outside, looking back to see car size boulders crashing down the cliff toward us! I also noticed Cheri wasn't right next to me. I yelled at the top of my voice 'Cheri, RUN! RUN!!!!!! She was uncertain and didn't realize the rumbling was from the cliff, but was immediately aware of the Tsunami threat and was wondering why we were running TOWARD the beach. She quickly figured it out and ran out to join us, but I was terrified she was going to get crushed. The lush jungle covering the cliff slowed the momentum of the rockfall, and the trees were all shaking violently like a T-REX was running through there. After a minute, the ground stopped moving and the rockfall finally subsided.
We were all immediately concerned about a possible Tsunami. Ben and Deb run the Vaoto Lodge and they said it must have been a huge earthquake, because they had a 7.2 earthquake last year that didn't cause any rockfall or ground shaking like this one did. I agreed, having lived in California most of my life, and this was much bigger than the biggest earthquakes I experienced there. Cheri and I decided it was safe to run back into the lodge to get our passports, cash, water, camera, rain gear, and first aid kit and then Ben, Deb, their daughter Rain, Cheri and I jumped in the back of their pickup with their 5 dogs and 1 cat and raced on the island's one dirt road up to a low pass between the island's two peaks. This was about 150 feet above sea level so we felt pretty safe there. Then we waited and turned on the transistor radio.
No mention yet of the earthquake. Then, about 10 minutes after we got to the highpoint, we could see the ocean was beginning to act strangely. It seemed like the entire ocean was turning into a fast moving river, rushing and swelling up around the island and the gigantic peak of Olesega Island looked like a small rock in a big river. The ocean near the shoreline was sucked out into a giant eddy, then like a slow motion movie, came rushing back in. I couldn't really believe this was really happening. 'There it is! Tsunami!!' We were high on the cliff and couldn't see the beach through the trees very well, but we could see the rush of water heading into the beach and then the sound of palm trees being crushed. The water drew back into another whirlpool but this time the turquise blue water was brown and full of debris. The water sloshed around another 15 minutes and then it was over.
5 people who live down near the coast came running up the hill, their clothes soaked to their chests. They were caught off guard by the Tsunami and ran up the slope but couldn't get up quickly enough. They all grabbed onto palm trees and were buffeted by the wave and debris. When the water receded they ran up to the pass. From the pass we could only see the north side of the island and feared the worst for our place on the south side. We drove down and saw where the wave had washed over the road, but by a stroke of good fortune, the gentle hand of God or dumb luck, the Tsunami was only 10 feet high in front of Vaoto Lodge and it didn't cross over the tall sand/grass barrier between the lodge and the sea.
The power went out and we have been cut off from communication about the Tsunami except for first hand accounts from Debs relatives in Pago Pago. It sounds like the Tsunami destroyed two of the places we stayed at this week before we got here to the remote and beautiful Ofu Island. This is our first chance at internet access since the Tsunami and we are anxious and concerned to see the extent of the damage we have been hearing about.
We plan to stay here 3 more days before moving on to Apia and Independent Samoa, but we are not sure what we will find when we get back there. Standing on the Vaoto Beach today, you would never know we had a Tsunami here and it is a bright and sunny paradise. But tension certainly hangs in the air. Why we were spared from the full force of this Tsunami (which came from the south and should have decimated this south facing beach) is beyond us. We are only 50 miles across the ocean from Pago Pago harbor where the massive devastation occurred. We feel lucky but uneasy here in paradise.
Thanks for all of your concerns about us and for keeping us in your thoughts. We plan to write back from Apia, Western Samoa in a few days. We are steeling ourselves for what we will find when we get there. We have already offered medical services to the villages of Ofu and Olosega here, but none is needed. We also offered to help out in Pago Pago, but transportation back there is not possible right now. It sounds like we will be able to leave on Sunday Oct 4th and then we will see how big the bullet we dodged really was and see if we can offer any help there. We'll update when we get to a better (faster) internet connection. -Mike and Cheri 10/3/09