Anchors Down – Tsunami Warning

While we were still a couple miles out of the Atuona harbor, I was picking up a couple boats on AIS, and I recognized one of the names, Senta.  They weren’t anyone we had ever met, but they often checked in on the radio nets, and I was quite happy to see someone familiar.  So, I hailed a couple times on VHF and finally got a response.  Turns out it wasn’t the owners on board, but a hired crew to bring the boat here.  The guy was really nice, told us there were 12 boats in the anchorage, and that he would be happy to help us with our stern anchor when we got there.  12 boats.  I’d seen photos of the anchorage at seminars back in Mexico, and 12 seemed like a lot.  Everyone was likely using stern anchors both to keep the boats pointed toward the harbor entrance, into the swell, and also so that everyone would fit.

When we arrived, we went immediately to the back of the anchorage near shore, because with a shallow draft and all, that’s just what cats do.  We found a nice spot in what I felt like was too shallow of water, but there was room, and we totally nailed the bow/stern anchor setting.  Alex and Brenden are such a good help at this, and since EVERYONE in the anchorage was watching the new boat come in, it’s good we didn’t give them any drama. 

Our Euphoria was temporarily disrupted when a siren alarm started going off.   Now, we knew about the earthquake that had happened off the coast of Chile (thanks Colin), so our first thought was, “oh no, tsunami!”  No one else in the anchorage seemed to be taking any action and there wasn’t any radio traffic about it.  So, I radioed Sandra, the agent on shore who would help us with our clearing in process the next day.  She assured us it was just a test, and there was nothing to worry about.  What a relief!  We couldn’t imagine having to haul up anchor and head back out into the ocean right after we had gotten there. 

Later we learned that is exactly what had happened to people the day before.  They had a real tsunami warning and evacuated the harbor.  I guess they learned they needed to test their system as a result.  The skipper from Senta stopped by and we had a chat, and it turns out it’s a totally different Senta, not the one we knew of in Mexico after all.