No waves made it to Waiheke island. The ferries were cancelled for 4 hrs. Quite devestating results for Somoa and American Somoa. Apparently there was only about 5-20 minutes between the earthquake and the first waves arriving on these islands located 200 km from the epicenter. Tsunamis travel up to 1000 km/h. The earthquake was 20-30 km below sea level. The death toll is now believed over 200. NZ and Australia have been sending medical teams and money. But I must post the following, which shows the importance of sailing in NZ culture (nm = nautical mile, not nano-meter in this case)
A Pacific Islands sailing regatta in the Cook Islands has been on tenterhooks after the nearby Samoan tsunami disaster caused over 100 deaths. There are reports of one New Zealand fatality.
The Cook Islands are about 150nm from Samoa, and a sailing regatta has been hosted at Aututaki for all of this week. Surrounding islands have been devastated, where waves of four metres hit.
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