No Tsunami

Earlier this afternoon, there was an earthquake in the Aleutian Island chain (red highlighted area) that triggered a Tsunami warning.   Fortunately, nothing happened here.   The earthquake was over 800 miles away in S Alaska.  We are in Petersburg in SE Alaska, which is off the map and way to the right...  

I know that looks close on the map, but it isn't.   There were no warnings or concerns here.   I hope there is nothing in S. Alaska either.

Many of you sent me notes of concern, and they are very much appreciated.   We were alerted and monitoring the situation, just in case.

This is a layman's description of the issue as I understand it...  The energy of a Tsunami is carried in the water column.   In deep water the column is very tall thereby spreading out the energy throughout the column so at the surface there is almost nothing.   In deep water, it's likely that we wouldn't even notice a tsunami wave at the surface.   It's only in shallow water that the energy becomes constrained and has nowhere to go but up, and that translates into the big waves.   The waves aren't normal waves, but more like short-term increases in sea level when they hit shallow water.   This is what is called Tsunami waves.

In the event of an actual Tsunami, if we have sufficient time, we will head out to sea and seek deep water.   If we didn't have time, we'd abandon the boat and head to high ground.   We can always get another boat, relative to getting another life...

Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

We arose this morning at a leisurely 0900.   We enjoyed breakfast and were pulling the anchor at 1000.  Bill said he wanted to learn, so, here, I'm supervising while Bill did the deed.   All good!

We headed to Petersburg, only about 21 miles down Frederic Sound.

A couple of shots of Frederic Sound, just north of Petersburg.

Note the glacier in the bowl in the mountains.   Not sure if that's the Patterson or Le Conte Glacier.

The high peaks and bowls along the mainland are chock full of glaciers, most of which are reported to be growing rather than retreating.

This is the "Safe Water" marked at the north entrance of the Wrangell Narrows.   This is the location of the Boroughs of Petersburg.

See the red & white on the bouy?   That means it is safe to boat all around this mark.   Nice deep water.  

See the sealions around the base?  That doesn't mean anything, but they seem on be on every buoy around here.

Petersburg is a Norwegian Heritage Town, and it shows in the quaint architecture and the names of the stores.

El Zarape, Mexican restaurant.   Kippy found this place last year and it was surprising excellent.   We didn't go yet (hopeful for tomorrow...).

More pictures, proving we were actually here...

Karen spotted this poster in town.  And then took the subsequent pictures of the fishing boats.   Can you match the type of boat in the picture to the diagrams?   The differences can be pretty subtle.

Wait, this one is us!

But you can see some similar design characteristics.  The Selene hull was derived from fishing boats.   This is because fishing boats tend to be exceptionally seaworthy boats.

Relaxing in the sunshine!

Dinner was Karen's world-famous Olive Chicken.   This started in CA, migrated to WA, then to FL, but the recipe is based in the Med around southern Italy.   Therefore, it is a world dish!

Another pretty sunset looking northwest from Petersburg.

Buenas Noches...