Picturesque Outings in Guam

Tailafak Bridge in Agat...one of the few remaining stone bridges built by the Spanish to create a coastal road to link Hagatna (the capital of Guam) with the southern villages

Josh getting ready to snorkel at GabGab beach...our first snorkel outing since our gear arrived from CA, and undeniably the prettiest place EVER to snorkel. In addition to all the awesome fish, there is an enormous wall of coral where the reef drops off that is possibly the neatest thing I've ever seen in my life! (I need to get an underwater camera!)

Latte stones at the old Governor's Complex...there are many latte stones (stone posts with rounded stone tops) around the island, which are remains of the earliest Chamorro culture. Their true purpose has been lost over time, but it is believed that they were used as foundation pillars for houses.

Josh playing with a cannon at the old Governor's Complex...fortunately, it wasn't loaded!

An impressive, though somewhat foggy, view of Hagatna (Guam's capital) from the old Governor's Complex

Ritidian Point...A memorable and unique outing, because you don't park in a jive old parking lot, you get your own private picnic area in the forest that opens up into one of Guam's most pristine beaches.

Pristine...there's no other word!

Beautiful waves...unfortunately inaccessible because they are still breaking on coral

Looking from the beach into our little niche in the forest

Two Lover's Point (Puntan dos Amantes)...the legend of this cliff tells of two young Chamorros who fell into a forbidden love. In order to stay true to each other despite family obligations to marry others, they came to this spot, entwined their hair so they would never be separated, and jumped off the cliff into the waiting arms of the sea.

An interesting picture storybook of the legend

The beautiful water through the trees, before you get to the touristy part of the cliff

Mandi at the tip of Two Lover's Point--apparently it's popular to buy a luggage tag in the gift shop and attach it to the monument as a permanent declaration of you and your significant other's love...such a tourist trap!!

You get a beautiful view of Tumon and Tumon Bay from the tip of the point

That's a long way down...

Josh in front of the Navy's section of an octagonal monument at the Asan Beach unit of the War in the Pacific National Historical Park

Josh exploring a rusty old pier at Asan Beach

A beautiful starfish who kept me company while I waited for Josh to return

Another perfect Guam sunset

Isn't it breathtaking?!

I just can't help myself...after 3 years I'm going to have hundreds of pictures of sunsets!

Moving In...

Two weeks ago, Josh and I finally moved in to our permanent housing, a duplex on a golf course in one of the nicest resorts on Guam, and we absolutely love it! I hope to have the house “picture-ready” soon, but before that I’d like to share my move-in experience to benefit any rookie movers out there (such as me!). After hearing many horror stories from friends, family, and even complete strangers, I steeled myself for a complicated, inconvenient, and possibly just plain awful move experience. Now that our move is complete, I can’t say that I have any horror stories to share; all I have to offer is the realistic definition of a key moving term—full unpack.

One of the benefits of the military moving process is that the government covers a “full unpack” by the movers if you choose to accept it. In my naïve mind, it would have been ridiculous to reject the opportunity to have someone else deal with boxes, packing paper, and the inevitable (and quite painful!) paper cuts that are associated with unpacking. So, I gratefully accepted the privilege of having someone else unpack all of our belongings. In my move counseling, I was given the impression that the movers would unpack our boxes, remove the paper and the boxes, and place all items on shelves and counters and in closets. I also envisioned cheery workers… Well, reality isn’t always quite as good as its preceding dreams! I cannot say my workers were cheery about the prospect of unpacking all of my boxes, but then again, I wouldn’t have been either! I can live with grumpy movers. My greatest surprise came when I realized that my move counselors had been more than optimistic when they told me the movers would put items on shelves and in closets. This was categorically not so! Our clothes, towels, sheets, etc. were all piled on our bed, creating a mountain so high that it inevitably toppled over into a mess of hangers and knotted linen. This was a surprise, but at least once the mountain fell we could access our bed to sleep in it. (You have to look for the silver lining!) The kitchen, however, rendered me completely speechless! True to their instructions, the movers did place items on the counter. Once they ran out of space, instead of utilizing the cabinet shelves, they utilized the floor. Thus, my kitchen was rather like a minefield! Somehow, during my move counseling, I got the impression (perhaps I created it myself) that a full unpack greatly reduces the chaos of a move. I can now say from experience that this is purely wishful thinking! A full unpack removes very little chaos from the moving process; in fact, it has the potential to overwhelm you when you see everything you own at once on the floor or on your bed, thereby creating more chaos. What a full unpack does do, is create a very effective way to rid yourself of the box and paper clutter of a move. Moving is synonymous with chaos, it’s as simple as that. Now don’t get me wrong, despite my surprise, I appreciated the movers unpacking our boxes this time, and I will appreciate the movers unpacking our boxes after our next move, as well. However, during our future moves, I will simply have a more realistic idea of what to expect…no horror stories (I hope!), but complete and utter chaos, no matter what!

Spanish Steps Photos

Spanish Steps beach through the trees at the top of the cliff, just before the hike begins


Spanish Steps cove, looking toward the beach


Looking out to sea from the cove


Josh inspecting one of the many large coral formations peppered throughout the cove


Standing in the water, looking back towards the beach of the cove


A speedy Moorish Idol


An unidentified fish swimming past some coral


A slimy sea slug...if you make the mistake of stepping on one, it squirts out sticky stuff that is quite difficult to remove, so look out!


Some electric blue fish, an antisocial tan fish, and more coral


The ruins of the Spanish well in the jungle


A beautiful butterfly was kind enough to pose for us


The beginning of the hike up the cliff


Mandi demonstrating the use of the rope on the climb up the cliff...just before the rain began...

Spanish Steps...Snorkeling Heaven

Josh’s and my first big outing in Guam was to a secluded beach on the Navy Base known as Spanish Steps. The beach gets its name from the historical trail leading down to it. The trail was supposedly created for water to be hauled up to the Spanish forts from the well down at the base of the cliff. It must have been a long, difficult haul, for the trail is quite steep. True to its name, there are some steps at the top of the trail, but further down the trail gets rather dicey. In fact, there are some spots where a rope is anchored on trees for you to use as support against slipping. They say it’s a mile hike down, though it really didn’t feel quite that far. Once you get to the bottom of the cliff, you still have a fair way to walk through a true jungle, complete with lizards, hermit crabs, butterflies, and lots and lots of mosquitoes. When you reach the remains of the old Spanish well, you have a choice to make: left, to the snorkeling coves, or right, to the actual beach with breaking waves and a terrific view. You really can’t go wrong, though Josh and I are now partial to the snorkeling coves. They are simply serene! And, due to the effort required to get there, they are almost completely deserted.

Josh and I brought a picnic lunch down the cliff with us, and our first order of business was a quick snack. Then, we wrapped our things up and ran out into the water. We could have snorkeled for hours! There were so many interesting fish swimming around. We saw fish that closely resembled Dori from Finding Nemo, giant sea slugs that looked just like octopus tentacles, beautiful black and white striped fish, itty bitty electric blue colored fish, and feisty gray fish that jumped for joy at the hot and spicy Vienna sausages we fed them. At one point, as we snorkeled over a school of miniscule baby fish accompanied by a few adult fish, one of the adult fish came up and nipped me on the finger. Either he was trying to protect his babies, he was grouchy, or he wanted more Vienna sausages…I’m not sure which! Anyway, we were totally enamored with all the fish. It was amazing to have this huge tropical aquarium all to ourselves.

When we could snorkel no more, we went back to the beach to have our lunch, only to find…giant hermit crab thieves! Except, oddly enough, the only things they appeared to be interested in were our napkins. They had stolen all of our napkins and dragged them over to a nearby rock. I suppose they intended to shred them, but we didn’t give them the pleasure. After we recovered our napkins we heard rustling all around, and many more hermit crabs began coming out of various parts of the jungle. We must have offended them! In the future, perhaps we’ll bring a spare napkin or two as a peace offering…

Despite heavy rainfall that began on our hike up the cliff at the end of the day, Josh and I completely fell in love with all aspects of Spanish Steps. Unfortunately, this particular beach is rarely open due to its proximity to the ship port. In fact, many of the people we have spoken with who have lived here at least a year or more say that they have never been to this beach because of its frequent closures. So, I suppose we were lucky to catch it right away. We’ll have to pay close attention to its schedule in the future, because it’s definitely one we want to return to!

Our first photos of Guam

The view off the balcony of our room at the Marriott, where we stayed when we first arrived on island...since we arrived late at night, this was our first daytime glimpse of our new home! (If you look at the sky, you can just make out a faint rainbow!)


A spectacular sunset at the Marriott


The view off the balcony of our current, temporary apartment at the Alupang Beach Tower...those kayaks from the beach club next door look pretty fun!


A majestic sunset view from our apartment


A resident gecko in the hallway of our building...he's so cute!


Tanguissan Beach on an extremely sunny afternoon


Josh taking advantage of some rare shade on the beach


The source of Josh's shade (a huge block of coral), framed by the inviting Philippine Sea


For any surfers out there, this is the left break at Boat Basin, one of Guam's few surf spots...Josh is dying for his surfboard to arrive so he can try it out!


Guam has a Statue of Liberty, too...right next to Chamorro Village


The Wednesday Night Festival in Chamorro Village, filled with great food and music, lots of people, and plenty of souvenirs


A giant coconut crab (called Ayuyu in Chamorro)...they can live 40-50 yrs, weigh more than 10 lbs, and have a leg span of more than 3 ft! This particular crab is someone's pet...notice the leash, as if it were a dog...


Mandi and the giant coconut crab


The sea pool on the Navy Base...not a bad place for me to lap swim!


Sunset at GabGab Beach on base


Bear Rock, located between two small villages in the south of the island...uncanny, isn't it?!


Tarague Beach, perhaps the most breathtaking beach we've seen so far


Josh at Tarague Beach


Mandi at Tarague Beach


A vibrant beach spider


Inarajan Beach


The Saluglula Pool (a natural saltwater swimming pool) at Inarajan Beach


Various fish from the saltwater pool, including my favorite island fish so far...it looks hypnotizing!



Asan Beach, one of the sites of the US invasion of Guam (when it was under Japanese control) in 1944