Days Inn Barrigada Guam Agana

... themselves before the Marine Corps made it to Guam to attempt to take the island back. We succeeded.. obviously and in less than a month of landing Guam was ours again! The pillboxes were a little difficult to get into but I swam out around climbed a little and squeezed myself in for some pics. I also got a shot from a hill of Asan Beach which is Guam's version of Normandy where the Marines took the first beach of Guam from the Japanese. <br> 

... maybe 10 hikes and hadn't seen one yet. I saw 8 on this trip... Everytime I would come up on one though it would take a look at me and freeze and then one more step on my part and that beast was gone! But I did get some good snapshots of a few that stuck around long enough for me to get a picture. The hike started at the base of the island on the North end which is at around 630 feet and descended down the cliffside somewhat gradually until it met several small coves ...

... the other people and our instructor as well as several white fish that would rather travel around the sectiond off swimming area. Breathing underwater for the first time was just as awesome as every one describes it. The first breath or two is a little crazy but you get comfortable real quick and just start breathing normally and its just a whole different world. We sat down there for about 4 hours in total, following sign language directions from our instructor and learning ...

The scientific crew is divided in 2 groups one is in charge of dredging and the second one is in charge of making magnetometric measurements. The dredge is a device of about 60 cm wide and 2 meters long that collects samples from the ocean floor as it is been towed for about one mile. Once is deployed form the deck of the ship it falls about 60 meters per minute so it takes about 1 and half hours to reach an average depth of 5,000 meters... quite a lot ...

We left our hotel in Yap at 12:30AM to catch our 3:30AM flight to Guam. I arrived at my hotel in Guam at 6:00AM, slept all day until 3:00pm, walked to Kmart to buy some alcohol and vinegar (in an effort to help my ear infection heal and to prevent a similar infection in the other ear I rinsed my ears after each dive in Truk with a mixture of alcohol and vinegar), checked out of the hotel at 4:30 and flew out of Guam at 7:30PM. These pictures are what I could take from my hotel window!

After a final day of work on Wednesday the 28th, we had our final dinner with our new friends. Margaret, Naomi, and Theresa joined us for dinner at Serano's, an excellent Italian restaurant at the Ohana Bayview Hotel. (I highly recommend dinner there, the food and service were first class, and it was not expensive at all!) We finished about 9, and since we had to leave for the airport by 2 a.m. for ...

We headed around to the "back" side of Guam. The terrain is more mountainous, but just as beautiful. We stopped at the Cetti Bay Overlook. This overlook provides a truly breathtaking view of Cetti Bay and the southern coastline, extending south to Cocos Island and Cocos Lagoon. From the overlook the eye follows the valley directly ...

... and the Beaches: Guam varies in terrain from cliffs jutting into the ocean to white sandy beaches and calm bays. There are low profiled light green rolling mountains and dense jungle. The breaks occur more than 100 yards out from most beaches and I've heard that they are very dangerous- hence almost no surfing on Guam. I was warned about riptides and strong undertows right away. Apparently, the reef goes from 3 feet to 60 and the resulting crash can be very ...

Left Kwaj around lunch time, lost two hours somewhere and landed in Guam, via Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Chuuk, around dinner time. Had Outback Steakhouse for the first time in a year. Went to the world's largest K-Mart, had a blast! Flew out the next evening to ......

On our way back from the Philippines, we have an almost 24-hour stopover in Guam. We mostly stay in the hotel in Agana and just rest, eat, and walk around. Most of my memories of Guam seem fused with my memories of Hawaii. When I try to think back ...