Hafa Adai (How's it going? - Guam)

Getting ready for a dive...

Japanese Defense Caves

We began the morning with a dive at San Luis Beach on Big Navy.  Near the beach where we entered, we saw Japanese Defense Cave Fortifications.  In 1944, hundreds of Japanese sought refuge here from attaching US Marines.  We also saw a brown tree snake trap!  Brown tree snakes are an invasive breed that have destroyed much of the natural bird habitat on the island.  The snakes were introduced to the island accidentally as stowaways on ships.  They are poisonous, but rarely bother humans.

Brown Tree Snakes

Fish Eye Marine Park

Tom looking into the window

Our second dive of the day was really cool!  It was also a shore dive at the Fish Eye Marine Park.  It is sometimes called the Piti Bomb Hole.  The collapsed underwater caves create a great spot to dive and a great home for marine life.  A highlight of Fish Eye is the underwater observatory.  On the upper deck, you have a 360 view of the ocean, and from the bottom deck, you have 24 viewing windows to observe the marine life and divers!  Jill, Austin, and Lil Brett were in the observatory, while we dove.  We could see them through the windows!

Lil Brett inside the window

Ritidian Beach

We spent the afternoon at Ritidian Beach!  The water is crystal clear and the sand is pure white!  It was a beautiful beach!  The boys had fun finding albino hermit crabs! 

Pacific Island Beach Club

For our fifth day, we headed to the Pacific Island Club.  It’s is a hotel with a water park.  We were able to buy day passes that included the water slides, pools, boat lagoon, and buffet lunch.  It was a fun day! 

Austin, Lil Brett, Toni, Brett, Tom, Jill

We had a wonderful time in Guam and the best hosts!  I am not sure if we will ever get back to Guam, but we have memories that will remind us of the great time we had. 

Cheers to good friends and a great time!

Our travels back to Washington State were not without the usually troubles.  We left Guam on time, but the plane had trouble with the de-icing gear half way through the flight.  We had to turn around and return to Guam and switch planes.  Needless to say, we missed out connecting flight from Japan back to the states.  When we arrived in Japan, it was the same crew that we had trouble with on our flight out.  They were very nice and put us up in a hotel in Narita.  They even gave us vouchers to pay for all our meals.  We had a 24 hour stay in Japan before we would return home.  The boys had stayed with Brett’s parents and my mom and were very glad to see mom and dad!

***Because of the frustration with our flight from Japan to Guam, I wrote a letter to Continental.  Remember they had said our seats had been given up, but Brett flew to Guam with the seat next to him vacant.  When you write a complaint letter of any kind, be sure to specify what you would like for compensation and include any receipts.  Don’t just complain about the situation.  In our case, I asked to have my ticket refunded.  They not only refunded my ticket, but half of Brett’s!