Monday, January 03, 2005
After snorkeling near El Parador
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From the Barba Roja
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At the beach near El Parador, where we went snorkeling (and watched Captain Rotundo).
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Our amazing house in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica. Located on a hill within walking distance to the beach.
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During the Jungle Canopy Zip Line Tour
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Costa Rica Dec 2004 Anita and Tony at Sunset on the beach near Hotel Arboleda - Manuel Antonio
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Costa Rica Dec 2004 John and Jim at Barba Roja
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First Hand Tsunami Account Dec 2004 Phuket
This amazing story comes from my friend Emily's friend Brian:
Dec 28, 2004 Phuket - Tsunami
I am alive and in good health as is my whole family.
I want to thank everyone for their concern and I apologize abouthaving to send out a mass email. I am also sorry that I haven’t been able to write sooner but communication was out on the island. We werelocated on the western shore of Phuket and in a direct line from the epicenter of the quake. On the morning of the event my family was up early at six a.m. to go to the Similan Islands chain of the west coast of Phuket.
We left at around seven and it took us about two hours to get there. Upon anchoring and entering the water the dive guide noticed that there was a heavier than normal current but everything should be fine, only that we should be careful not to bump into any coral as we would hurt it and ourselves. We descended to about fifty feet and just about ten feet before we hit the bottom we were all tossed around by very strong currents, very much like being in a fast flowing river. The sand was whipped up like a blizzard and visibility was diminished to about ten feet. We hit the bottom and then the current changed directions and we were whipped back the other direction. It was apparent that we could not continue at the dive site so the guide gave us the signal to ascend. We all did so.
Reaching the surface we found that the current had pulled us a few hundred yards from the boat. The other dive groups were scattered over large many hundred more yards. The boat gathered us all up and the guides said that this was real unusual. We decided to go to the next dive site and try our luck there. On the way there we passed an island point we were supposed to stop on a beach to have lunch, only there was no more beach. The captain said that it must be due to this abnormal current.
The second dive started out calm and normal, but then half an hour into it another huge blast of sea current hit the group. We were tossed around again and decided to make the ascent up a bouy line. The force of the rushing water pulled everyone’s bodies perpendicular to the line. I saw schools of fishing swimming into the current but going backwards twenty feet or so below me. We got back on the boat and our guide said that this has never happened before, never seen anything like it in the four years that he had been working here, “there must be volcanic activity off of India.” He didn’t know how close he was to the truth.
Not thinking much of the days events we all headed home a bit tired. When we got close to Phuket the captain saw debris floating in the water. We stopped to pick up a cooler and thought that we were in luck because we had scored some free beer. “A fishing boat must have capsized,” he said. Going a bit farther in we saw a table floating in the water, then chairs, then the surface of the water was covered in all sorts of debris. That’s when the boat hand started shouting from the bow. We all stood up and look forward. What had been the beach where we were at was gone. No sand, no lounge chairs or umbrellas, trees uprooted, people milling about, the water was muddied and absolute chaos was everywhere. Locals were yelling at us to go back out to sea as there might be another wave coming at anytime. All the tourist jumped off the boat and we ran up what had been the beach. Wegot to what was left of our hotel. Our rooms were on the ground floor. I found dead fish in my room. Our beds had floated half way out the window.
Luckily the water only came waist high at the higher ground where we were lodged so passports and clothing in the higher shelves weren’t soaked. Wefound out that there were a hundred or so missing divers. Mostly those divers closer into shore, diving at sites that my father, my brother and I were at only the day before. Luckily in the day to come some of these people were found. Many were not. The local fisherman with boats not destroyed did an excellent job. We were very lucky.
The huge waves of water that you may have seen on CNN were taken very near where we had dinner the night before and is the largest tourist area on the island. Undoubtly the place was packed at the time of the tsunami. Coming back to the mainland today there were many peoplebandaged up and looking pretty meak. The hospital that my dad runs here had taken on flights of medivac vicitms most of whom are westerners. I think that we will probably all take it easy the rest of the trip which is another couple of days.
Thanks again for everyone's letters,Cheers, happy holidays,Brian Brown
Dec 28, 2004 Phuket - Tsunami
I am alive and in good health as is my whole family.
I want to thank everyone for their concern and I apologize abouthaving to send out a mass email. I am also sorry that I haven’t been able to write sooner but communication was out on the island. We werelocated on the western shore of Phuket and in a direct line from the epicenter of the quake. On the morning of the event my family was up early at six a.m. to go to the Similan Islands chain of the west coast of Phuket.
We left at around seven and it took us about two hours to get there. Upon anchoring and entering the water the dive guide noticed that there was a heavier than normal current but everything should be fine, only that we should be careful not to bump into any coral as we would hurt it and ourselves. We descended to about fifty feet and just about ten feet before we hit the bottom we were all tossed around by very strong currents, very much like being in a fast flowing river. The sand was whipped up like a blizzard and visibility was diminished to about ten feet. We hit the bottom and then the current changed directions and we were whipped back the other direction. It was apparent that we could not continue at the dive site so the guide gave us the signal to ascend. We all did so.
Reaching the surface we found that the current had pulled us a few hundred yards from the boat. The other dive groups were scattered over large many hundred more yards. The boat gathered us all up and the guides said that this was real unusual. We decided to go to the next dive site and try our luck there. On the way there we passed an island point we were supposed to stop on a beach to have lunch, only there was no more beach. The captain said that it must be due to this abnormal current.
The second dive started out calm and normal, but then half an hour into it another huge blast of sea current hit the group. We were tossed around again and decided to make the ascent up a bouy line. The force of the rushing water pulled everyone’s bodies perpendicular to the line. I saw schools of fishing swimming into the current but going backwards twenty feet or so below me. We got back on the boat and our guide said that this has never happened before, never seen anything like it in the four years that he had been working here, “there must be volcanic activity off of India.” He didn’t know how close he was to the truth.
Not thinking much of the days events we all headed home a bit tired. When we got close to Phuket the captain saw debris floating in the water. We stopped to pick up a cooler and thought that we were in luck because we had scored some free beer. “A fishing boat must have capsized,” he said. Going a bit farther in we saw a table floating in the water, then chairs, then the surface of the water was covered in all sorts of debris. That’s when the boat hand started shouting from the bow. We all stood up and look forward. What had been the beach where we were at was gone. No sand, no lounge chairs or umbrellas, trees uprooted, people milling about, the water was muddied and absolute chaos was everywhere. Locals were yelling at us to go back out to sea as there might be another wave coming at anytime. All the tourist jumped off the boat and we ran up what had been the beach. Wegot to what was left of our hotel. Our rooms were on the ground floor. I found dead fish in my room. Our beds had floated half way out the window.
Luckily the water only came waist high at the higher ground where we were lodged so passports and clothing in the higher shelves weren’t soaked. Wefound out that there were a hundred or so missing divers. Mostly those divers closer into shore, diving at sites that my father, my brother and I were at only the day before. Luckily in the day to come some of these people were found. Many were not. The local fisherman with boats not destroyed did an excellent job. We were very lucky.
The huge waves of water that you may have seen on CNN were taken very near where we had dinner the night before and is the largest tourist area on the island. Undoubtly the place was packed at the time of the tsunami. Coming back to the mainland today there were many peoplebandaged up and looking pretty meak. The hospital that my dad runs here had taken on flights of medivac vicitms most of whom are westerners. I think that we will probably all take it easy the rest of the trip which is another couple of days.
Thanks again for everyone's letters,Cheers, happy holidays,Brian Brown
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