This morning we had another earthquake.  This time it was only 5.0, but it was still felt on the island.  I could see the water in my bottle rocking!

Check out the story from a local news station

We are leaving the island today and I will be posting the details of our trip when we get to Japan.

-Allen

This morning (Thursday, March 27, 2008), I woke up around 6am and the entire hotel was shaking.  Needless to say, I was scared sh!tl3ss and woke Susan up to shelter in the doorframe.  This was the first earthquake that I have experienced.  It measured a 5.4 on the Richter Scale.  We were about 15km from the epicenter.  There is no notable damage around here as the buildings are meant to withstand these tremors.  Being part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Guamanians are used to these, but it was scary!

Allegedly, there was an earthquake on Monday that was around a 3.2, but I didn’t feel that one.

Here is the story from a local news station:
http://www.kuam.com/news/27086.aspx

From the USGS site:
http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/last_event/world_guam.html
This shows the LAST earthquake to hit Guam so if you visit this later, you will not see the same quake.

-Allen

Just a lazy day at the beach after the earthquake.  We didn’t go too far out as the water was pretty rough.  Here are a few fun shots with my old Canon S200 and the underwater enclosure.  I guess this is what we look like through a fish’s eyes

-Allen

For our second day, we decided to head north and cover the rest of the island.  Much of the north and northwest part of the island is government owned land.  There was a beach at Ritidian Beach that we wanted to visit, but we were stopped by a police road block.  We were informed that "There is a situation and you need to turn around and go back."  The police officer was extremely polite and friendly.  We found out later that there was a boat found onshore and eight illegal immigrants were arrested.  Check out the news story:
http://www.kuam.com/news/27087.aspx

The map that were given to us by Avis was not very good and was missing a lot of roads.  It was very cartoon like.  Hence our journey in search of beaches on the northern half of the island was not very successful.

We got a little frustrated and stopped at Jeff’s Pirate Cove for lunch.  The maps that were for sale were not much better than what we were given.  It seems like Guam could use a good map maker.  Anyway, I was pleased with the meal and they even played some Phish while we were there!    We ended up running into John (a private pilot from the US that we met last night in the Marriott Executive Lounge).  He had been to this place several times.  It’s a small world and an even smaller island.    At the end of our meal, our waiter told us about Tarzan Falls on Route 17.  His directions were spot on.  "Make a left on to 17 and then drive until you see a lot of shoes hanging from the wire."  We’ve never gotten directions like this before. 

Upon reaching falls trail head we decided to skip the hike as the sign said it was about 1.5 hour hike to the falls and there was not enough time.  Plus there was nobody else in site and we didn’t want to encounter any brown snakes on our own.

We drove south towards a tiny beach that we had past the day before.  While Susan relaxed and took in the scene, I had some fun taking pictures of the different crabs on shore.

Going even further south, we found ourselves back at the Saluglula Pool.  We were hoping that the bacteria levels were lower today, but it was not the case.  That didn’t stop several people from taking the plunge.  Susan and I were not as daring.  We ventured on some different paths that we didn’t cover the previous day.  This yielded a great view from the top of a few tough rocks.  Check out the video below.

Just up the road from the Saluglula Pool was an elementary school that had several latte stones on the grass.  These used to be pillars in the old Chamorro houses.

This was our final stop of the day and went back to the lounge to chill.  We met up with John again and another guy Wade (also a private pilot from the US).  The four of us walked to Ban Thai, a Thai restaurant.  The food was fantastic and very authentic (the same as what we had in Thailand).  Of course I got my chilies and fish sauce (my favorite Thai condiment) to add to the hot factor.  I am sure I will be paying for that later. 

-Allen

I always used to think the US day began on the tip of Maine or Puerto Rico for that matter, but I completely forgot about Guam.

Our day started out by jumping in the car and heading south.  Our hotel sits on the coast of the Philippine Sea (the west coast of Guam) in a section of the island known as Tumon.  I think it means Tourist Hub in Chamorro (the native’s on the island and their language),  Since the island is not that large, Susan and I decided to drive around Guam.  This island is full of history and should be a destination for any WWI or WWII history fanatic.

Our first stop was at a beach that hosted a replica of the Statue of Liberty.  I think this one has a much better view than the one in NJ.

Along our drive we stumbled upon Namo Falls Park.  This appeared to be a small privately owned piece of land that happen to have a gorgeous waterfall on it.  I didn’t feel bad paying $5 each to support the local folks at the park.  Walking a few hundred yard you come face to face with an impressive 3 tiered waterfall.  This is one of my favorite waterfalls to date.  The jungle / rainforest like setting made the ambience even better.  I would put this up there with the Milla Milla Falls that we saw in the Tablelands region of Australia.

After a few moments absorbing this park we drove further south stopping at Ga’an Point to visit the National Historic Park.  On the coast here, there are old guns that the Japanese used in WWII as well as several bunkers that are still intact.  Even though it was a war, I think this would have been a location where I would like to have been stationed.  What a view!

Continuing on the drive we stopped at a convenience store which was next to Taleyfak Bridge. 

It wasn’t until after I climbed down to grab a few shots that I saw this sign…

From here we drove around the southern tip of Guam past Cocos Island and Magellan’s Landing.  Many dispute the point of his landing, but I am willing to accept this as the location. 

Just down the road from this is San Dionisio Church which made for a nice shot as it was in direct sunlight.

Also on the southern point, in the village of Umatac sits Fort Soledad on the coastal hill.  This was used to protect the Spanish trade from pirates in the 1800s.

On the eastern side of the island (the Pacific Ocean side), there is one of the most magnificent sites on the islands (as far as I am concerned), the Saluglula Pool.  This is a must see for any visitor to Guam.  Unfortunately, during the time of our visit a sign was posted recommending not to swim in the pools.  This was due to high bacteria levels.  The pools are checked weekly.

Our final stop of the day was at Talofofo Falls.  It was too late in the day to go into the park and to warrant the $20/person fee.  Instead, I just took a few pictures of the pigs that were running around in the parking lot.  Not something you see everyday on the mainland.  At least in Northern NJ. 

We went back to the Marriott to enjoy the happy hour in the Executive Lounge and called it a day.

Other comments…

I think the gas prices here are regulated or all gas stations are owned by the same company.  Of the dozen or so stations that we have seen the prices are all the same, $4.01/gal for regular and $4.18/gal for premium.

There are a lot of abandoned cars here.  It seems like if you don’t want your car anymore, you just drive it into the brush on the side of the road and leave it there.

It appears that a lot of beaches here are on private property.  The ones that are public seem to have a lot of broken glass.  I am not talking about sea glass that you can add to your collection.  This was cut your foot and get a ton of stitches glass!  Susan and I picked up several pieces walking along the beach and threw them out.

Guam is like the Virgin Islands to the Japanese.  This is a very popular tourist location.  Most of the businesses around the hotel were karaoke clubs, gun clubs, spas, and gentlemen’s clubs.  According to one of the tourist books that lists all the businesses on the island, there are more gentlemen’s clubs than there are Thai restaurants.

-Allen