Hundreds of people rushed to the North County coast Saturday to witness the "spooky" effects of a tsunami that never quite arrived.

Members of the Oceanside Yacht Club said they could see the subtle influence of the earthquake off the coast of Chile in the rising and falling water level of Oceanside Harbor about noon.

"We had a number of us looking at it and saying, 'Look, the water level really is changing,'" said Carlsbad resident Mark Robinson, who was on the upstairs patio of the clubhouse just past noon.

Oceanside fire Battalion Chief Pete Lawrence said the water level in the Oceanside Harbor rose 16 inches above its static level and dropped 54 inches below its static level over a 65-minute period beginning at 12:10 p.m.

"I've never seen anything like it," Lawrence said. "It was very impressive to see that amount of water in motion."

Oceanside resident Donna McGinty said a friend called to urge her to come see the waves in the harbor.

"It was spooky, the volume of water rushing into that harbor in a short period of time," she said. "Then it would get sucked right back out like it was going into a vacuum cleaner."

Lawrence said the elevation changes were easily visible to the naked eye. He said they appeared to be a result of the tidal surges associated with the tsunami.

The National Weather Service issued a tsunami advisory for San Diego County early Saturday morning after the West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska, predicted that the 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile could generate waves as high as 40 inches at Malibu and Santa Monica beginning at 12:25 p.m.

Although nothing hit at that time, the center warned that tsunami surges could strike up to two hours after the estimated arrival time. Tsunami experts used a network of buoys to monitor the water along the Central American coast.

Beaches see rises

Tina Stall, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said 1- to 2-foot water rises were visible along North County beaches later Saturday afternoon. The advisory was canceled by 5 p.m. Saturday.

Local undersea conditions could have caused the maximum tsunami to vary in height between 24 and 40 inches at various locations along the Southern California coast, according to U.S. government oceanographers.

In North County, no injuries or property damage were reported but a marker buoy was displaced in Oceanside Harbor.

Lawrence said officials were concerned about strong coastal currents that could result in damage to boats. He said a pair of boaters were forced to abandon attempts to recover a boat in the harbor because of the rapidly rising water level.

Just to the south, several people had gathered on the Oceanside Municipal Pier, which was not closed to the public. One of those was Brad Steffens, who said he wanted to witness the expected surge.

"Even if it was only 2 feet, you still don't know how it might affect the shoreline," Steffens said.

Pointing to some surfers near the pier, Steffens said he also wanted to "see what happens to those kids."

And what would he do if a large wave was seen coming ashore?

"I've got a skateboard," he quipped.

People ordered out

Lifeguards ordered a handful of people out of the water, including two Camp Pendleton Marines with Boogie Boards.

"This is probably the safest place to be," said Shay Stephens, who lives within walking distance of the pier in a ground-level apartment.

Stephens said he learned of the tsunami warning on a Weather Service Web site.

After hearing the wave already had passed by a number of places without causing harm, he walked to the pier to see for himself.

"I figured it was safe," he said. "But if it was going to be 6 feet or something, I'd definitely head to higher ground."

In Encinitas, Lifeguard Supervisor Robert Veria said several people came to the beach to see the tsunami.

"We told people the estimated arrival time (of the wave) and to maintain situational awareness," he said. "Most folks I had contact with were aware of it. Only a couple went, 'Huh?'"

Veria said he heard there was no real threat to the area because it has west-facing beaches, which would receive only a glancing blow from the earthquake to the south.

Still, Veria said the threat was taken seriously. Some people he talked to said they had heard the time the wave was due, and they were planning to leave before then.

Observers reported seeing little surge at the tsunami's predicted 12:02 p.m. arrival time, but lifeguards at La Jolla said they spotted unusual tidal activities at two of its beaches.

"It wasn't dangerous, but the water went out lower than an especially low tide and came back in," said San Diego lifeguard Lt. John Everhart. "That was definitely a tsunami event."

Everhart said the tidal surge was seen around the La Jolla reef and Birdrock area. The guard who witnessed it said the tide flowed out to a minus 2-foot depth and returned to a 4-foot tide level.

"Normally what would take five hours took 10 to 15 minutes," Everhart said.

Everhart said crowds came to the beach "against our advice" and watched the coastlines from a safe distance.

Boaters warned

San Diego Harbor Police warned boaters to secure their vessels and the Coast Guard broadcast warnings over marine radio frequencies.

"We have two boats out, flagging anyone on the bay and telling them of the National Weather Service advisory that they shouldn't be out," said Harbor Police Cpl. Daryl Mullins. "We're telling them to take it seriously and if they can, leave their boats at this time."

The Navy sent two of its ships out of San Diego Bay as a precautionary measure, ordering the USS Dewey and USS Lake Champlain to sea, said Cmdr. Greg Hicks, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy Third Fleet.

Sailors stationed aboard ships docked at the pier were directed to be on the lookout for a surge and to make sure ship stores and property were secure.

Up the coast at the San Onofre nuclear power plant, a spokesman said no problems were anticipated.

"The possible waves would pose no danger to the San Onofre facility," said Southern California Edison spokesman Gil Alexander. "Our protective measures include a reinforced tsunami wall 30 feet above sea level."

Buoys off the coast of Central America led the tsunami center to warn Californians "potential tsunami wave heights to range from 2 to 3 feet across some coastal areas."

"Peak wave heights will likely occur around two hours after the initial wave arrival," the National Weather Service predicted.

The earthquake that struck Chile at 10:24 p.m. Friday generated damaging waves in South and Central America, and prompted evacuation orders on beachfront communities in the Hawaiian Islands.

Tide charts indicate that the normal, celestial ocean tide levels will not be extremely high when the ocean levels are predicted to rise.

The tsunami center uses historical data and computer models to predict tsunami behavior as anticipated swells come ashore. Saturday's forecast, issued at 7:06 a.m., placed the highest predicted waves in California for Santa Monica, where a 3.3-foot wave was possible.

The high tide Saturday was 6.4 feet above average sea level at 7:46 a.m. The low tide was predicted to be at minus 1.3 level at 2:29 p.m., indicating that the tide would be ebbing and relatively low when the earthquake-generated swells materialized.

The last tsunami advisory occurred Sept. 29, but visitors to North County beaches saw little sign of it.

A tsunami did strike the county in 1964 after a 9.2-magnitude earthquake off the Gulf of Alaska. It resulted in a 2-foot wave.