"I feel the earth move under my feet"
As a California boy, born and bred, earthquakes are nothing new to me, but they are definitely a minor reason I did not resume my life there, after my circumnavigation.
Taking a few minutes to stretch out my back on my bunk yesterday about 4 PM, I felt what I first thought was a squall whipping the roller furled jib around. You know, that motion you get when the headstay is a bit loose and the furled jib kinda wobbles as the wind hits it.
But the jib was in the sailmaker's for a tune-up, and I couldn't hear any wind. By the time these thoughts had passed, the whole rig was shaking violently and the bunk (it was actually the whole boat) was actually bouncing up and down.
I made my way up the companionway to an almost unbelievable sight. Boats behind us in the yard were literally hopping up and down a few inches, coming clear of their jack stands and the keels from the blocks. The tops of the big steel pilings for the slips were moving fore and aft nearly 4 feet! Had any boats been close to a piling I have absolutely no doubt that there would have been major damage. They were just whipping around like the end of a fishing pole when casting.
It lasted maybe 3 minutes and I'm sorry I didn't think to take a video, as it was one of the most amazing things I've ever experienced on a boat.
I've been through numerous earthquakes on boats before, but they were nearly imperceptible. I'm guessing that being tied to pilings in very shallow water may have been the difference.
This morning estimates range between 6.8 and 7.1 (later, 7.3) on the news. We had a few very light aftershocks during the night.
To the best of my knowledge, no boats in the yard fell over, but there was significant damage to the marina restaurant, see pic below. What's the saying, "Cruising is 99% sheer boredom and 1 % sheer terror"? Well, maybe not terror in this case, but certainly a rather unnerving experience.