New Year's Day in S. Korea

While Ruthie and I enjoyed a 70 degree New Year's Day in Georgia, Brian went snow skiing in South Korea. Here are some photos from his trip!

Tweed's Cave and Double Reef Beach

You can hike to a secluded beach here on Guam and have the entire place to yourself. It is very relaxing. Last Sunday, Brian and I hiked to Double Reef Beach. We packed water, snacks, sun screen, and books for the adventure. The hike to Double Reef beach was about 2.4 miles and about 340 feet down through the limestone forest. We were the only people there although we did pass one family on our hike out. We crossed spider webs every couple of feet. Brian isn't a big fan of spiders and the hike was a little stressful for him...

On the trail to Double Reef beach, we passed Tweed's cave. Here's a little description of Tweed's cave from "The Best Tracks on Guam":

Nearby is where US Navy radioman George Tweed hid from the Japanese during most of their World War II occupation of Guam. He successfully evaded the Japanese with the help of Chamorros. From October 22, 1942 until his rescue by the US Navy destroyer McCall on July 10, 1944, he was sheltered by Antonio Artero in an isolated rocky crevice within the coastline cliffs on Antonio's ranch.

From what I understand, Tweed was radioing information to the US about what the Japanese were doing on Guam. The day he escaped, he radioed the Navy boat near Guam. When he could see the boat from the shore, he swam out to meet the boat.

the top of the trail

me reading on the beach

Brian reading

the secluded, shady beach

Do you see the monitor lizard?

a common tree along the trail

the limestone forest

coconut palms

me looking for the most stable route

GEAR Race - December 2009

There are a series of races on Guam called Guam Extreme Adventure Races. The first six are short, and then the grand finally can last almost 24 hours. The racers follow a trail through the jungle marked with chalk, flour, and red flagging. Yesterday, Brian participated, and the race was super muddy...check out the photos below.

our friend Julie before the race

the trail head

Brian, his partner Matt, Julie, and her partner Noemie

Matt and Brian

Boonie Stomp to Fonte Dam

Julie and I did a short hike to Fonte Dam. The dam was built in the early 1900s, and the spillway was actually brick. You can see the spillway behind us in the first photo.

Murky Diving at American Tanker

Last weekend, my friend Julie and I braved the waters to do a little scuba diving. There was a really high surf (9-11' swells) due to a storm off shore, so we dove in the harbor. The water was really stirred up, and as a result it was silty and created poor visibility. A guy on our scuba boat had a super nice camera, and he took the above photo. Surprisingly, it turned out pretty well despite the poor conditions. In the photo, the driving room of the American Tanker (I don't know the proper terminology) was right behind me at about 60 feet deep.

Sea Turtle

My boss recently took this photo in Sipadan, and I thought it was pretty spectacular!

Sunrise, Sunset, and the Green Flash!

On Friday, Kelly and I got up at 4:45 AM to watch the sunrise over the Pacific. Thankfully, the weather was good and the sunrise turned out really nice. Later that day, we watched the sunset from a pizza place AND we saw the green flash. The entire time I've been in Guam I've heard people talking about the green flash. It is a green light that happens at the instant that the sun completely passes the horizon. I've been looking for it over the past couple of years, but I had never seen it until this past Friday. Although we didn't get a picture of the green flash, you can look it up on wikipedia.

In one day, we watched the sunrise over the Pacific Ocean and watched the sunset over the Philippine Sea, a pretty complete day in my opinion!  The first three photos below are from the sunrise and the rest are from the sunset.

Orote Point and the Spanish Steps

The Spanish Steps at Orote Point drop 100 feet down a steep trail on north face of a cliff to the shoreline below. It is speculated that this trail was created to allow water to be hauled up to the Spanish forts from the well at the base of the cliff.

Kelly hiked down the Spanish Steps with my neighbors Juliett and Carrie this past Tuesday while I was at work.  The following photos are in reverse order!

along the beach at the bottom of the cliff

the old Spanish well

the old Spanish steps

scaling the limestone rocks along the trail

Juliett and Carrie scaling more rocks!

from the top of the trail

Ritidian Point Beach

Ritidian Point is on the north end of the island and is also a National Wildlife Refuge. We parked in the jungle right next to the beach and enjoyed the sun for a couple of hours on Thursday.

Hike to Pagat Caves

Pagat was the site of an ancient Chamorro village, and artifacts found at Pagat date back to before Christ. These caves include freshwater swimming holes and were formed by moving groundwater that dissolved the limestone rock.  Although we didn't swim, we did scale the limestone cliff down to the caves to check them out.  

on the trail

inside the cave 

looking out from inside the cave

looking into the cave

Sella Bay

Kelly, Juliett, and I hiked down to Sella Bay on Wednesday. The weather was beautiful. Once we'd hiked down to the bay, the water was calm so we donned our snorkel stuff and headed into the water.

Kelly and me

along the beach (volcanic rock)

more of Sella Bay's rocky beach

an old Spanish bridge

Sella Bay from the jungle

Juliett and me at the Spanish bridge

Juliett, Kel, and me

me along the trail