Our morning began on a lazy note, as we both slept in and missed the sunset. Feeling too tired for a run on the beach, we spent a leisurely morning at breakfast and sending banal emails off to our families.

We had a new guide this morning, one who said he wasn't feeling too well and that he'd been out drinking until 5:30 trying (unsuccessfully) to pick up an Australian girl, then was woken up at 7am. So we went to Maui Thai wall, which was probably the closest climbing area to the resorts, right off the beach and immediately next to the 1-2-3 wall.

Maui Thai wall doesn't have as many easy climbs, so it wasn't too busy and the beginning climbers crowded around 1-2-3 wall nearby. One of our first climbs of the morning led us up into a cave with a great view out into the bay.

Nabeel was climbing a variant on our previous route, avoiding the cave, while I hunted along the water's edge for a good picture of him. After snapping a shot, the guide and I both looked back at the bay and noticed the water had run out to low tide levels very suddenly.

Almost immediately we heard people yelling from further down the cliff line and climbers began running in our direction inland. Nabeel called down to be lowered, while I grabbed our cameras and backpacks. People were now running by us rapidly and I checked on Nabeel to see he had very quickly untied from the rope and we joined the rush off the beach.

Looking back I could now see a wall of breaking wave and foam entering the bay and coming ashore. That was the last I saw of the waves as we entered the jungle, running along a concrete pathway. Just off to our left was a steep and rocky trail with exposed tree roots and everyone was hurrying upward to higher ground. Climbers, hotel workers, and swimmers were all rushing upwards as fast as they could. We continued on to the top, not wanting to stop and block the pathway for all those behind us trying to head up as well.

On top we looked around for a viewpoint, then a comfortable place to sit in the shade. Making do with a dirty slope, we sat around with a bunch of other climbers and tourists wondering what to do next. A few people had cell phones and were trying to get in touch with friends to find out what was going on.

The basic details began to emerge: a large earthquake in Indonesia, the resulting tsunami, and huge waves reported at Phuket and Sri Lanka. Rumors of aftershocks and more waves were passed around, always coming in another 30 minutes or another hour.

Staff members from one of the resorts, went down and brought up bottled water and rolls for everyone waiting on the hill. I grabbed a roll and was disappointed to find it covered in coconut. I hate coconut. Somehow, that roll ended up tasting pretty good.

From our vantage point, we could see some damaged boats off Phranang beach, but we could also see the dry concrete pathway below. So we knew the waves hadn't swept over the whole peninsula.

Slowly people began to trickle back down and around 4pm, Nabeel and I started down. We passed a few families working their way slowly down the treacherous slope, and eventually I could see the pathway just below us. Looking to my right I stopped and took in the scene of several climbers and many of the climbing guides preparing to lower a body wrapped in mats down the rocks on a stretcher. I stood still for a moment taking this in and realizing just what the tsunami was going to mean in loss of lives. I wondered about the helicopter we'd heard flying overhead all afternoon and how many wounded and dead it had carried out of Railay.

I couldn't just stand there and gawk however. I jumped in and lent a hand to help carry the body down to the pathway. Once on level ground several people carried it down the beach toward the landing spot for the helicopter. We talked to our guides and discovered that they'd pulled my rope down from the wall and Lek offered to climb the route Nabeel had to abort to retrieve the equipment left on the cliff.

I felt very wrong standing on the beach and rock climbing. I wanted to tell everyone that we weren't doing this for fun, we weren't going ahead with our vacation, we were just getting our equipment back.

Lek told us that people were going up to the Rock Bar near Diamond Cave wall to spend the night on higher ground. We returned to our bungalow to pack whatever we could loosely consider "survival equipment". In the process of grabbing all the water bottles from the fridge, the two Heinekens called my name. Considering the power was off and the need to calm my nerves, I listened.

We made out way down the beach to King Climbers were many of the other clients were sitting around waiting to move en-mass to higher ground. While waiting we saw a group carry another dead body by. A tourist walked by and said "where is everyone going, and why are you just sitting around here?" I asked if he was really looking for logic after all that had occurred.

Nabeel and I left for the Rock Bar and saw that the Diamond Cave resort was still serving meals, so we stopped in for a few orders of fried rice. Sitting around on the patio was at first relaxing then more disturbing. People here acted like nothing had happened and went about playing in the pool and laughing. As soon as we finished our meal, Nabeel and I quickly left.

The large clearing near the Diamond Cave wall looked something like a outdoor concert mixed with a refugee camp. People were spread out everywhere, unsure if they'd be spending the night here or returning to their rooms. Before we could search for our own spot of ground, we ran into Lisa and LeeAnn who we'd meet earlier. They said they had a space staked out and they'd share it with us. Then they ran into Cooper, who they'd also meet earlier and found out he had a room at the Diamond Cave resort. Begging a space on their floor we got invited up, including another two (Carmen and Joanna). Suddenly, 6 of us joined Cooper and Aileen in their room. Each of us took the opportunity to clean up in their bathroom and we sat around sharing our experiences of the day and wondering what would happen next.

Joanna and Carmen remembered they had a reservation at a hotel near by, so we went down to send email to our families and check out the room. Sending an email by this evening was one of the goals in the back of my mind all day to let my family know I was okay. I knew my dad would be waking up in Colorado and turning on the news by nowa.

The other room turned out to be just as far from the shore as Aileen's and Cooper's, so we (Joanna, Carmen, Nabeel and myself) moved over there for the evening. In the room next door, was two honeymooning couples and they had a TV with CNN World. We invited ourselves in and sat around watching an hour of the newscast. For the first time I realized just how widespread the tsunami damage was and how lucky we'd been. It was hard to watch the news and my gut pinched tight everytime they showed video of waves breaking through buildings near the shore.a

I slept little that night, lying awake wondering how we'd get off the peninsula, thinking about all those people who were worse off than us and wondering if there was more I could have or should have done in the immediate aftermath to help out.