it was about 4 pm when i was underwater here in palau. i come up to take a breath and i hear cathy, junior, fonz, and KB yelling at us to get back to the boat. what? shark again? i look back down for fish and i hear them calling us again. the pull the boat up and cathy says “big earthquake in japan! tsunami coming!!!” what? the tsunami was predicted to hit palau at 7:25 pm and we were out in the middle of the ocean at 4:30. we got everybody on the boat, and head in full speed as we were 1.5 hours out to sea. so many things racing in my mind as we had limited information. as soon as we got in, i asked our driver eri-chan and all she said is “japan taihen,” which pretty means “oh my gosh!” i will never forget that feeling in my stomach, heart, and soul….
after being glued to the tv last night while checking emails, i learned that the worst isn’t over yet. the nuclear plant is dangerous, aftershocks are still happening, and gas and food is at a shortage. people are running away from chiba to get away, my friends i talked to seem confused, and there are many unanswered questions. i’m sure it will be a while to get more information and news. one good thing that happened was they found a man 9 miles out to see floating on his roof of his house for 2 days. it’s stories that those that keep the faith alive. let’s all work together to overcome this natural disaster….
photo by james oshiro.
as for the surf reports from hawaii, not now. let’s just pray for japan and its people….
