September 30, 2009 an 8.3 magnitude earthquake shook Samoa. By 8:00 a.m. Suva, Fiji was expecting a 5' tsunami. It was right at that time of day that we heard about it. Located on the west side of Viti Levu in Fiji, we never saw any draw out or rise in the water level for the next 2 hours. At 9:00 that morning we entered the Customs Office to check into Lautoka. No one was the least bit concerned. They had the TV on which covered the devastation in Western and American Samoa and soon went on to other world news. We were certainly amazed that an earthquake of that magnitude wouldn't have sent a huge tsunami southwest as well as north. Apparently the West Coast of the US was on high alert and experienced a small wave. We received an e-mail from a Portland friend with the National Weather Report with specific times and warnings of the tsunami for countries all over the Pacific Ocean including Oregon, Washington and Canada.

We experienced high winds yesterday and so never left the boat. The radio waves and e-mail lines were jammed all day making it impossible for us to send/receive e-mail until late in the day. We are grateful for the concern of those who have communicated with us, alerting us to their concern for our safety. We heard on the radio last night that some of the cruisers are headed to remote islands in Tonga with supplies. The reef markers near the coasts got washed out. We'll hear more as time goes on.

Meanwhile, we're enjoying Musket Cove on Malolo Lailai Island, 12 miles west of Viti Levu. The island has many resorts here with lovely lawns and low buildings and lots of palm trees and tropical plants everywhere. SCUBA diving is popular here. We saw lots of very large reef fish including the Clown Triggerfish on our first dives, more to come.