guam – Page 2 – JD's Blog

Another Gratuitous Sunset Post

I discovered when trying to show you all the sunsets that I have seen that I can only post forty at once. I use a free WordPress site for my blog, and apparently there are limitations (which is fine, because it’s free.)

Anyway, here are the rest of the sunsets I wanted to show you in my June 5th post.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

(Note: We have an Airforce Base at the tip of the island and sometimes they play in the sunset.)

Nine.

Ten.

Eleven.

Twelve.

Thirteen.

Fourteen.

Fifteen.

Sixteen.

Seventeen.

Eighteen.

Nineteen.

Twenty.

Twenty One.

Twenty Two.

Twenty Three.

Twenty Four.

Twenty Five.

Twenty Six.

Twenty Seven.

Twenty Eight.

Twenty Nine.

Thirty.

Thirty One.

Thirty Two.

Thirty Three.

Thirty Four.

Thirty Five.

Thirty Six.

Thirty Seven.

Thirty Eight.

Thirty Nine.

Forty.

Of course it’s always better to see a tropical sunset in person. So, maybe some visit me in Guam and come see one!

Tarzan Falls Hike

Off route 16, there is a trail head for Tarzan Falls. Once you park in the lot by the windmill, you start your hike.

There are a lot of trails, but all of them go down to the falls.

I recommend taking the trails to the left, because they are drier.

If you go to the right, you’ll be on trails mostly used for ATVs and other vehicles. That makes deep ruts which fill with water.

Either way, you’ll get down to the top of the falls.

The first set are very pretty, and also small. Usually there are a lot of people at the top, so you should be able to get someone to take your picture. This is our hiking group!

When you follow the posted sign and climb down, you’ll see the largest of the falls.

Make sure you have good hiking boots, because there is a lot of mud.

Also, be sure to wear plenty of sunscreen.

There is a swimming hole, so bring a bathing suit if you want to swim.

If you plan to go onto the rocks, use caution because they are very slippery.

There is a rope swing on the left side of the pool for swinging into the water, but again, be cautious of the rocks.

After you see the big falls, head downstream along the smaller trail.

There are two more sets of waterfalls that you can get to.

I recommend bringing snacks, so that you can eat when you get down to the end of the trail.

There are lots of good spots to swim or wade. There aren’t many fish, but you may see tadpoles or fresh water shrimp.

The hike is only 1.4 miles total, but bring lots of water. It’s a long and difficult hike back up.

This is one of the easier hikes on Guam, so it’s excellent for beginners.

Hamamoto Fruit World

Hamamoto Fruit World is a tourist attraction on the island of Guam.

It’s really geared towards Japanese tourists, but anyone is welcome.

I am a real lover of plants, and I thought it was exciting to get the chance to learn more about the plants that live on the equator.

The park it basically a long, looping road.

You can use your own car, or you can take the park shuttle.

I recommend taking your own car. That way you can take as long as you want to see things.

We actually ended up stopping and getting out of the car a lot, so we could have a closer look at the plants.

In particular the coffee plants (above) were fascinating to my husband. He loves coffee.

Of course, I like the agave, since that is what is used to make tequila.

The park is located off route 16, and the road there is a little rough.

Once you get there, you can enjoy the small garden before doing the looping drive.

Also, there are places to take picture with the very of the center of the island.

You will see all kinds of flowers, bushes, and trees.

My favorite is the ginger. The plants are beautiful, and they come in red, pink, and white.

Ginger is used as a spice, but it can also be used in tea.

Some of the best fruit on Guam is the Dragon Fruit and Mango, but we also have star fruit and other exciting things you don’t find outside the tropics.

Hamamoto fruit world is a wonderful place to see what kind of plants live in “Zone Nine,” or the equator.

We also have pineapple, wax apple, herbs for tea, and all sorts of other exciting things.

Remember sunscreen, since there are places to get out and walk.

When you pay, you will get a small information packet so you can identify the fruits.

It was $3 per person to tour the place, so it’s certainly the most affordable thing to do on Guam.

It’s fun trying to figure out what plant goes with what picture.

Some I had seen before. For example, coconuts and bread fruit grow all over the island.

Other plants, like the sugar apples, were new to me.

Before you leave, be sure to stop at the gift shop.

They make their own honey, Popsicles, and other products from the fruits in the park.

Plan on spending about an hour there, although you could spend all day if you really like plants!

Inarajan Falls

The town of Inarajan is most famous for a set of pools fed by ocean water that are good for swimming, and also some nice views.

Malojoj Falls is more of a hidden gem. You drive up to the middle school, and park outside the fence. There’s a road into the jungle, and you follow it out of the trees and into the open plains.

The red dirt is pretty and the tall grass is full of ground orchids.

You can even find passion flowers at the right time of year.

If you follow the trail, it will take you over a stream and into a bamboo forest.

Keep going down hill, and you’ll come to the falls. I recommend bringing gloves, because there are ropes you need to hold to get down the steep parts.

The falls are bigger after the rainy season, but they are nice any time of year.

There is a set of smaller waterfalls when you first come down the slope, and then if you go upstream, you’ll see a taller waterfall.

There’s a nice little spot to sit and listen to the water, and there is even a hammock (above you can see my husband laying in it.)

The owner of the land is fine with people visiting, as long as they clean up their trash. Make sure you pick up after yourself. If you sit and relax for awhile, you will see butterflies come up to drink from the lower falls, and to eat from the flowers that are planted all around. It’s a really nice place to spend an afternoon.

Again, make sure to bring lots of sunscreen and water! Wear plants because some of the plants have thorns, and definitely A hat for crossing the sunny plains.

Dive Off Agat

On Guam, most dives are off of a boat.

This is because it’s hard to walk out past the reefs with tanks on.

Mostly, we have bays with a reef at the edge. The good diving is past the reef. However, it’s typically a long walk.

Thankfully, it’s not very expensive to get on a chartered boat dive.

I got my certification through MDA, and so I go on their boat dives.

There are other companies, but they all go the same places.

It’s a small island, so there are only so many places to go.

Ocean Views From Guam

I thought some of you might like to see pictures of the ocean from my time in Guam, so here are a few of the best.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

Eleven.

Twelve.

Thirteen.

Fourteen.

Fifteen.

Sixteen.

Seventeen.

Eighteen.

Nineteen.

Twenty.

Twenty One.

Twenty Two.

Twenty Three.

Twenty Four.

Twenty Five.

Twenty Six.

Twenty Seven.

Twenty Eight.

Twenty Nine.

Thirty.

Thirty One.

Thirty Two.

Thirty Three.

Thirty Four.

Thirty Five.

Thirty Sex.

Thirty Seven.

Thirty Eight.

Thirty Nine.

Forty.

Tropical Sunsets

Guam might not have clubs or a lot of job opportunities, but it does have beautiful sunsets. I could post a picture every few days, but it seemed better to put all the sunsets in one Gratuitous Sunset Post.

So here is that post. Please enjoy forty sunsets from me to you.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

Eleven.

Twelve.

Thirteen.

Fourteen.

Fifteen.

Sixteen.

Seventeen.

Eighteen.

Nineteen.

Twenty.

Twenty One.

Twenty Two.

Twenty Three.

Twenty Four.

Twenty Five.

Twenty Six.

Twenty Seven.

Twenty Eight.

Twenty Nine.

Thirty.

Thirty One.

Thirty Two.

Thirty Three.

Thirty Four.

Thirty Five.

Thirty Six.

Thirty Seven.

Thirty Eight.

Thirty Nine.

Forty.

Forty One.

It turns out that Forty is the maximum amount of photos that this format allows me in one post, so there will definitely be a part two.

These were taken all over the island, but mostly at various spots in Tumon Bay (where I live.)

Gab Gab Snorkel

Gab Gab beach is a lovely place to snorkel. It’s on the Navy Base, and it’s a hard coral reef with lots of beautiful fish and turtles.

At first I couldn’t figure out why everyone said it was good. I was trying to snorkel from the beach wading out.

However, if you go around to the pool and take the stairs, you can go out past the reef. That’s where the real excitement is.

It is always dangerous to go past the reef, so make sure that there aren’t high winds. Those will cause currents, and that can be a problem.

However, when it is safe and the water is calm, it’s a wonderful place to go.

I had never been snorkeling until I came to Guam.

It’s a steep learning curve trying to study all the names of the fish.

After all, in Arizona there isn’t much call to learn fish names.

However, it’s really a beautiful place to check out, even if you can’t name the fish afterwards.

Fish Eye Marine Park

Since I loved to Guam, I feel like I spend a lot of my time underwater. One of the best places to do that is Fish Eye Marine Park.

Grab your snorkel and wade out under the bridge. When you get into water that is too deep to stand, start swimming to the left.

This will bring you through an ancient forest of coral, and give you the opportunity to see a lot of cool fish.

Normally, you wouldn’t want to feed the fish in the ocean. However, they already feed them as the fish eye tourist attraction, so sometimes I bring along some rice or peas to give them.

They are so used to eating food from humans that they swam all around and it’s cute.

I am trying to learn all the names of the fish, but unfortunately the locals want to teach me the Chamorro words. That’s not something I will ever use outside of Guam.

Once I find a fish guide for this (very remote) part of the Pacific Ocean, I will try to caption future fish pictures with the names of the fish.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of things you can see at Fish Eye.

I think this is a butterfly fish.

And, I know this one is called a flounder.

As for this little guy, I know he’s a rainbow parrot fish.

This seems to have a shape like a damsel fish.

And, this one I do know. It’s a Picasso Triggerfish. They bite, so avoid them.

Here’s a star fish. Ours our blue, but usually they have five arms. I am not sure why this one has six.

And, this is a Picasso Triggerfish with a Wrasse. I really enjoy the different kinds of Wrasse, but I don’t know all their names.

Whatever this one is, it has a great pattern. Shame they’re always digging up the sand so it’s hard to get a good picture.

This is another kind of Triggerfish, but I don’t know its name.

And this is a soft coral forest full of fish. This is to the left of the Fish Eye, swimming into the Piti Bomb Holes. However, there is a lot of soft coral to the right of the bridge as well.

Some of the bomb holes are very deep, but there are lots of shallow places too. Don’t be afraid to swim over the deep parts to get to the shallower parts.

You can go all the way out to the second reef, which is past the Fish Eye bridge and the Fish Eye structure at least another 100 meters.

There are great views and huge coral forests covering a huge area, so look around a lot!

Where is Guam?

Guam is a US territory located in the Pacific Ocean.

The United States took ownership of Guam from the Japanese during WWII, and since then, the islanders have been trying to work with the US government in partnership.

The island’s current status is a U.S. territory, and it has a huge U.S. military presence.

All children here in Guam learn about the United States in school, but I had never heard of Guam until my husband orders here in 2015. This leads people to constantly ask me when I was we moved to Guam:

“Where the hell is Guam?”

This questions is so common that the local dive shop sells shirts with that phrase and a map. By the way, this is an amazing place to dive or snorkel. It’s also just an amazing place to hang out at the beach. Guam is beautiful.

I like to find out everything I can about a place as soon as I get there. When I moved to South Korea it was easy since I could just look things up online. Guam is a different kind of place. People still draw maps on paper with a pen as they tell you where to hike or swim. It’s a little like traveling from the future to the past, but you won’t here me complain. I’ve never been the only person on a beach before, and since I moved here, I’ve been the only one on several beaches.

At first it was hard to adjust, because it is a very small island and it is very isolated. That means giving up things like most fresh fruit and vegetables (which don’t grow well here because the island isn’t volcanic).

However, the most I explore, the more I like it.

I will make sure to tell you all about the exciting things that I learn about Guam here on my blog.

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28