Natural disasters

I have no idea why, but ever since I was a small child I have had an irrational fear of tsunamis. I remember when I was about 9 or 10, we were staying at a friend's beach house and some crazy lunatic hit the front pages after he predicted the world was going to end the next day - a massive tidal wave would come and kill us all! Our friend's son, who was about 12 at the time, headed out with his surfboard to catch this monster wave, while I stayed inside and hid under my bed! Of course we have a reason to fear tsunamis now, and no-one will ever forget the terrible devastation of the Boxing Day tsunami which killed 230,000 people across South East Asia.

On my first trip to Tahiti in 2012, I travelled via Auckland and the Cook Islands, and I saw some great sights in both those places. But the holiday got off to a rocky start when my phones started beeping on around day two of the holiday. I was enjoying some behind-the- scenes animal experiences at Auckland Zoo when the Christchurch earthquake hit. Friends knew I was in NZ, but they weren't really sure where I was, so a flurry of texts started arriving alerting me to the tragedy unfolding in the South Island. Kiwis were glued to their televisions for the next few days as emergency service workers fought to save those trapped beneath the rubble.

My next stop was the Cook Islands where the Christchurch earthquake was still dominating the news. I met some fellow tourists on a day trip to Aitutaki who were enjoying the last few days of their holiday before returning to a home that was now uninhabitable. It was a such a sad time for New Zealanders who all seemed to be touched in some way by mother nature's fury.

Now for someone who has a fear of tsunamis, earthquakes are really not welcome news. In the Cook Islands I stayed at the beautiful Kakera Apartments which backed onto a surf beach (and was therefore unprotected by a fringing reef like other parts of the island). Adding to my already irrational fear were the signs dotted all over the island...

TSUNAMI EVACUATION ROUTE

In Rarotonga, there is one road which circles the whole island. The tsunami warning signs were shiny and new (no doubt installed in the aftermath of the Boxing Day tsunami) and all pointed up towards the mountains. I'm not sure whether the signs were reassuring or terrifying! Let's just say that with earthquakes dominating the news, and tsunami signs featuring huge waves dotted along the road every km or so, natural disasters were not far from my mind.

All was well during my week in the Cook Islands, and I caught an Air Rarotonga flight to Papeete so I could pick up my 10 night cruise around Tahiti on the Royal Princess. The itinerary of the cruise was Papeete-Huahine-Sea Day-Rangiroa-Sea Day-Raiatea-Bora Bora (overnight)- Bora Bora - Moorea/Papeete. On 10 March I spent a fantastic day out with Maohi Nui Tours (Patrick's Tours) in Bora Bora, had an early dinner and then returned to my cabin to get a good night's sleep before my second day in beautiful Bora Bora.

While the rest of the ship was still dining, or enjoying a cocktail and a show, I was chilling out in my cabin, flicking through the channels. When I landed on BBC World News, the images being shown were terrible. The Japanese earthquake and tsunami was unfolding live on the screen. I watched with incredible sadness as whole villages were being washed away by a huge wall of water. I was glued to the screen as the devastation unfolded and the tsunami warnings widened. It wasn't until the following 'breaking news' appeared that I realised we were potentially in danger.

Our ship was anchored inside the reef, perhaps 100m offshore from Bora Bora. I watched the television for the next couple of hours as evacuation sirens sounded in Hawaii, which is not that far away from Tahiti. Most on the ship appeared oblivious to the news, as I wandered down to the pursers desk. I asked if the Pacific-wide tsunami alert was anything we needed to be worried about. "We have had no instructions from the Captain. If there is anything you need to know, you will be told." I can't say I was feeling very reassured as I wandered back to my cabin, on my own.

I continued to watch the for another hour or two, but I must have dropped off to sleep. BEE-BEEP BEE-BEEP. I woke with a start to several text messages arriving in the early hours of the morning. Friends in Perth were touching base to make sure I was okay. I took another photo of the television screen... "Tsunami is higher than some Pacific islands" eeeeeeeek!

By this time it was around 4am in the morning, and the tsunami was still slowly making its presence felt across the Pacific. I was sitting on my bed, all alone and wondering what was going to happen when I heard a low, wailing noise. I raced out onto my balcony, and in the darkness lights started to come on around the shoreline as the tsunami sirens on Bora Bora began to sound. Quite frankly, it was bloody terrifying!

I was laying on my bed, half watching and half dozing, when an announcement came over the ship PA around 6am. "This is your captain speaking from the bridge. An earthquake in Japan has triggered a Pacific-wide tsunami. To avoid any problems we will be taking the ship out to open ocean." I was kind of relieved to know that something was being done and we would be okay, but I was also scared for the Pacific islanders.

As the ship moved into open ocean, I eventually fell asleep. When I woke the next morning, the sun was shining and we were back at anchor in Bora Bora. Various parts of French Polynesia recorded some very small tsunami waves, but thankfully no damage was reported. Quite of few of the Americans onboard the ship came from California where boats and seafront properties were damaged, but all in all, the islands of French Polynesia escaped relatively unscathed. I remember feeling very relieved that I was on a cruise ship with a whole bunch of other people. If I had been in my apartment in the Cook Islands when the tsunami sirens started wailing, I would have been on my own, running up a mountain path in complete darkness. There is always a bright side!

If you choose to travel the world alone you should always exercise reasonable caution - but if you worried about the possibility of terrorism or natural disasters, you would never leave your backyard. No matter where you travel, there is always a chance you could be caught up in a flood, fire, or civil unrest, so it is always a good idea to keep contact details for your country's embassy in the same place as your passport. You never know when you might need help.

After the Christchurch earthquake and the Japan tsunami, I started to feel like natural disaster was following me across the world, but it hasn't dampened my love of travel, and it certainly didn't dampen my enthusiasm for Tahiti, where I have been another three times since that first magical trip. Given the events of that night, it is hard to believe that the photo below was taken in Bora Bora, less than 24 hours before those tsunami sirens sounded.

#tsunami #borabora #tahiti #frenchpolynesia