Earthquakes and sea states

Hearing about the earthquake in Hawaii brings back a flood of memories for me and very pleasant ones at that. Several years ago I was sailing aboard a 50 foot sailboat around the Big Island during a vacation charter. We had decided to try and sail around the Northern tip of the island to see some of the scenic side on north east side. It would require us to sail all night to reach the area. I said I would help with the sailing and actually wound up doing most of it on a beautiful windy night. We sailed very close if not over the center of yesterday's quake. But, the memory for me was being at the helm of the boat at 3 am and suddenly feeling that I was not alone. Then in a few minutes I began to hear noises coming from around the boat. It was a few scary minutes before I figured out that the sounds were the breathing of a pod of dolphins that were swimming along the sailboat. Yes, I was certainly no longer alone on that dark night.