So I was there!
Yes, it was one of those strange decision I made that morning to meet my student later than what we have planned. I was planning to dive with my buddy, Steve Varas, to complete his EANx course at 10am. Well, it was the day after Xmas, so we thought we would get into the water off Kata Noi Beach at 10:30am instead. And so it went with the rest of the story, the first high tide rolled in at about 10:25am, I missed it. I arrived to see the rest, the blunt of the second and third waves. Our little dive shop, about 100m from the water break was destroyed. miraculously, no one got seriously hurt on the entire beach. With all of us running around and yelled at all of the curious & dumbfounded tourists taking video & photos on the beach, we managed to clear everyone safely to the second floor of the Kata Thani Resort. The photo above was taken in February 2005, just 2 months after the Tsunami.
So, now it's 3 years later. I vividly remembered what the entire day was like. My memory of the second wave was just simply me noticing that the horizon was at the middle of the 20m tall coconut tree when I looked out toward the sea... The rest, it is still a blur of action, sound, movement, crashes, cries, and then confusions... It changed our community in Kata forever. I'm still waiting to see if it has changed me.
