Tourists lined the lanais of high-rise hotels and sightseers clustered along Hawaii's cliffside highways to take in the spectacle of a potentially destructive tsunami that turned out to be more like an undulating tide.

Roused by sirens at 6 a.m. yesterday, people across the state scrambled for supplies and cleared out of evacuation zones before the 11:20 a.m. arrival of the tsunami, triggered by a 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile.

Most people outside the inundation zones heeded warnings and stayed home after a rush to buy supplies. By late morning, urban streets were deserted and the sands and surf of Waikiki Beach returned to their natural splendor, without tourists or beach umbrellas.

“;You're never going to see this again,”; marveled Jeff Gryde as he snapped pictures of the vacant shoreline from the second floor of the Outrigger Waikiki. “;You couldn't do this even if you were shooting a movie, clearing the beach like this. Well, maybe Bill Gates could.”;

Most people took in the event from their living rooms, watching live television footage of the ocean rising and falling in places like Hilo Bay, where it churned back and forth several times.

“;We clearly had a tsunami in the water and we had to evacuate,”; said Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach. “;I think we dodged a bullet.”;

  Thousands Gather On Tantalus Ridgeline

 

The Tsunami Warning prompted thousands of people to evacuate their homes and gather up on Tantalus Drive.

[ Watch ]

 

The center issued a tsunami warning at 12:46 a.m. Five hours later, it forecast the first waves would reach Hilo at 11:19 a.m. and Honolulu at 11:52 a.m. At 10 a.m., the center predicted Hilo could be hit by the largest waves, as high as 8 feet.

The tsunami arrived on time, reaching Hawaii at 11:20 a.m. but it proved much smaller than expected. Wave heights rose 2 feet 10 inches in Hilo Bay and 3 feet 1 inch in Kahului, the highest surge in the state. In Honolulu, the water rose 10 inches at 12:20 p.m.

The warning was canceled at 1:38 p.m. A state of emergency declared by Gov. Linda Lingle will remain in effect until tomorrow to allow the state to collect any damage reports. There were none yesterday.

“;We were extremely fortunate, and thank goodness our state came through this without any reported incidents,”; Lingle said. “;Our hearts go out to those who lost their lives and those injured in yesterday's earthquake in Chile.”;

Hawaii's last tsunami evacuation was in 1994.

A tsunami generated by a 9.5-magnitude earthquake off Chile in 1960 killed 61 people in Hilo.

Ed Teixeira, vice director of state civil defense, praised the way Hawaii's people responded yesterday, attributing it to “;a sense of kokua in our islands.”;

“;It was such an orderly experience,”; he said. “;People were following instructions.”;

Hilo and Kahului airports and the reef runway at Honolulu Airport were closed during the warning. Boats cleared out of harbors early in the morning, standing sentinel a few miles offshore, out of harm's way. On Waikiki Beach, a cordon of four police officers riding buggies took to the sand with loudspeakers to warn everyone off about 10:35 a.m.

“;Get off the beach! Hayaku! (Hurry up!),”; an officer repeated over a loudspeaker. “;Go back to your hotel, third floor or higher!”;

One man who later defied directions got a lot of attention. Thousands of Waikiki tourists with ocean-view rooms gazed as the sole swimmer waded out into the middle of the break, jumping over waves in glorious solitude. Firefighters in a helicopter eventually buzzed over and shooed him out.

Ethan Chang, events and activities manager at the Outrigger Waikiki, said guests were calm. “;A lot of them are just taking this in stride. Nobody is panicking.”;

The morning was frenzied, with residents stocking up on gasoline and food. At Pali Safeway, check-out lines snaked throughout the store. By 8:30 a.m., the sandwich bread was gone, save for two lonely loaves of Jewish rye on a bottom shelf.

On the Waianae Coast, city “;evacuation”; buses trolled shoreline areas, giving free rides to anyone who needed to get out of the inundation zone. About 550 people gathered at Nanakuli High School, on higher ground. Another 250 evacuated to Leihoku Elementary School, 70 to Waialua High School and 40 to Kailua High School.

Levi Esene played cards with his relatives under an open canopy tent in Nanakuli High's parking lot. A neighbor had alerted them to evacuate. “;We feel pretty safe up here,”; said Esene, wrapped in a towel for warmth in the morning chill.

Along Nanakuli Avenue, some residents climbed atop the roofs of their homes to check for signs of the tsunami. In town, sightseers flocked up Round Top Drive for its commanding views of Waikiki, the swarm of cars slowing traffic on its famed hairpin turns.

Spectators spilled out of scenic overlooks on Pali Highway, parking along the cliffs. Smoke swirled from the break-down lane, but it wasn't an overheated engine. A group was firing up a hibachi for a picnic.

On Kauai, onlookers gathered on a bluff at Hanalei Bay. Longtime residents said they had never seen so much reef exposed as when the water receded yesterday. Residents, no strangers to natural disasters, took the news in stride.

“;We've been through Hurricane Iniki, so we're highly aware,”; said Brian Duncan, an employee at the St. Regis Princeville Resort. “;Everybody's very friendly toward each other. There's a calmness you may not see other places because of our experience.”;

On Maui's North Shore, residents and tourists alike headed upcountry from the coastal area along Hana Highway. All of Paia was evacuated, a blow to Mama's Fish House Restaurant and Inn, which had expected about 550 diners last night.

“;That's a lot of people to turn away,”; said Tami Joslin, general manager of the eatery. “;Everything we do is made to order. It's fresh fish. If we can't use it right away, we can't use it.”;

Nonetheless, she was relieved. “;We're happy that the restaurant is still standing and everybody's OK,”; she said. “;That's the main thing.”;