Update 2pm: Hawaii tsunami warning canceled; no damage seen in Islands. It is great to hear that tsunami passed without any damages and we also had a chance to see some tsunami effects in a safe small scale demo from the ocean.

Water in Ala Wai harbor raised and droped about 7-8 inches within 20 minutes or so. Now it is slowly raising again. It is strange to see that the actual tsunami effects came at the moment when people already started walking outside and boats started to return.

Here is a shot when it started. I marked a level to which it raised.

Here is a shot with water at the highest level.

And here is one more when water receded again leaving wet mark on the stones.

I’m watching KHNL (hawaii news) now and they just showed water slowly receding from Hilo bay and then surging back. But it was at most one feet water level difference. So looks like even if there was a tsunami it was a very small one. And without TV I doubt anyone would notice it. False alarm… Correction: it doesn’t mean that it is safe to go outside until warning is cleared!
Update 11.59am: watching hilo bay now – and it looks like water is running out of it quite fast. So there maybe some wave coming in.
Update 12:56pm: seen some water change here in Honolulu – about 1/3 of a feet. Still pretty empty outside. Warning is still in effect. Even though Honolulu Advertisers writes that Isles appear to have been spared there is still chance that more waves could come.
Update: 1.05pm: KHNL is showing some interesting pictures with some Hawaii reefs being exposed by tsunami. “Hilo Bay is continuing to fill and drain every 20 minutes, said warning center oceanographer Nathan Becker.”

I’m in Honolulu, Hawaii on short vacation right now. And I’m staying in the hotel right in front of the Ala Wai bay in Honolulu.

Today I was woken up by a very loud alarm at 6am today and police car going circles around the bay with a following message: “Attention. Attention. This is a message from management. Tsunami warning has been issued. Please immediately leave the bay.”
Also I overheard couple people talking downstairs that this tsunami warning is the most severe since 1964 and they strongly recommend boaters to evacuate to the nearest shelter. It should be safe for anyone higher than 3rd floor. I’m on 5th so hopefully it will be ok…

I’ll keep you posted. If tsunami comes I should have front view to it from my balcony. You can follow it on my twitter account

Even though it is interesting to watch real tsunami from the safety of 5th floor (I hope this statement is true) I still wish that the wave won’t come. Entire state life is completely disrupted now. So many people had to change their plans and evacuate…

Video of Ala Wai bay and loud tsunami siren alarm. It sounds every 30 minutes and it is very loud…

Here is a photo from my room. I never saw so many boats in the ocean here in Honolulu (even during Friday fireworks)…

Here is another photo of boats leaving Ala Wai harbor to avoid damage from the tsunami wave.