We’ve just come off our dramatic pause waiting for Hurricane Irene to blow the coast down.  (An intro: @HurricanIrene “After blowing the whole east coast, I guess you could call her a #Whoricane.”)

I’ve heard comments about the lunacy of halting Manhattan for a comfortable breeze and some light rain.  I’m not a cynic.  I’ve seen a house sink into a bay with my own eyes;  it’s impossible to be jaded after that.  Friends did the math and broached the subject - (shifty eyes, furrowed brow and leaning in a little bit closer) “So… ah, you were in Hawaii for the tsunami?”.  I was.

Calm Before the Storm (Photo by Linda Decker)

I had three months of company with neighbors or visitors fleeing the winter snowverkill.  March 10, I moved from my ali’i suite Hilo-side to a tranquil sunset sail on Kohala Coast with a guest, then to drop them off at the airport and check into my Kona oceanside condo.  I had one night alone to unwind before a hot date arrived the next day.  Calls start coming in and alarms start going off.  With a postcard sunset, I was calm and maybe lulled into disbelief.  I just couldn’t fathom doomsday with the island underwater.  I was brought back to reality with a shrill jolt:  tsunami warning.

Tsunami Sign (Photo by Linda Decker)

I packed as much as I could into the next nine minutes before evacuation to higher ground.  “Prepare for eight foot waves.  Like a brick wall.  Not the kind you surf”, I overheard.  I had not yet met my new Kona-side neighbors.

Thousands of locals and tourists flocked to Keauhou shopping center parking lot.  (All the boats arriving didn’t bode well.)  Many of them had a pillow, a blanket and Japan tsunami footage seared in their brain as they sat on cement.

I was lucky to have a car, charger, water, food, flashlight, one petite suitcase and friends online.  Nine pm.  Tsunami sirens sound every 30 minutes as we stare out at the pitch black Pacific Ocean.  “Hawaii dark” I call it.  We have six hours until the massive wave reaches the islands, March 11, forecast for 3 am.  We heard tense, static-ridden radio reports.

Tsunami Evacuation Site (Photo by Linda Decker)

Sirens now shriek non-stop.  I try to get a signal long enough to see if my guest made it off the island or is stranded.

I post pictures and engage in repetition of the above for the next ten hours.

At 7:00 am, we applaud as a coffee shop opens and rations what they have on hand.  We’re released from the parking lot at 10:30 am after they relocated a beach-worth of sand off a Kona thoroughfare, Ali’i Drive.  Overall, the islands were fortunate.  Kailua-Kona was the hardest hit with $15 million in damage, including hotel, houses and boats, but fortunately no death.

My outgoing guest did make the last flight off the island;  my incoming guest arrived on time.  We strolled through Kailua Village and saw hundreds of helpers wrangle furniture from the ocean, shovel sand from shops and share knowing smiles as we passed.  They asked me to share their story.  Now, we can help celebrate recovery.

Guess who’s named “Best Lux Travel Destinations”?  Maybe you can celebrate first hand with a little luck and giveaway from King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel!

What near-disaster or recovery stories do you want to share?

Huzzah!
TraveLin
“Princess of Luxury Travel, Purveyor of Hidden Gems”

Linda Decker
Great Lakes Events
(312) 404-5800 or (773) 354-1563

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