Sea Caves

Carlton and I had one more boat dive left on our dive membership, so we took advantage of that last weekend. This time we headed to the south end of the island to explore Toguan Bay, which had some caves, and Hap's Reef.

Leaving the marina

Some views of the island as we make our way to the first dive site.

Toguan Bay has a few caves that you can swim through which was really cool. Some tight spots though - Carlton got a few scrapes getting too close to some of the reef as we were making our way through. The water was a bit murky but we did see two lion fish.

Anemone right under the buoy for the boat.

Small starfish

Carlton entering the cave

Looks like a bunch of lips with orange lipstick

Small clam wedged into the reef

Large lion fish about 1 foot long

Carlton got a great video of the first lion fish we saw. The second one we saw was a bit harder to photograph because the water in the cave was so murky.

Heading towards the cave opening

Carlton following the light

Interesting reef formations

More reef life

Very vibrant clam!

Our next dive site was Hap's Reef which was only about 60 feet around the perimeter. Somehow, we got turned around once we got underwater. We followed some other divers from the boat for a bit but they didn't seem to know where they were going either (it's a bit difficult to communicate underwater), so we headed out on our own. We explored the reef we found but once we came back up to the surface we realized that we had not explored Hap's reef. We had missed it completely and explored another area. We still found some interesting reef formations and once we got back on the boat, we actually had a dolphin sighting when we were heading back. I did not get a picture but it is the first time we have seen dolphins since we moved here last year.

Random outcropping

Green sea star shoved into the reef

Sella Bay

Carlton is home now and will be hanging around for a while, so we took advantage of the long weekend!  On our last hike (up Mount Jumullong), the couple we ran into told us about a couple hikes in the area that they really enjoyed, so we decided to try one of them. Monday we hiked down to Sella Bay which is on the south coast of Guam and the site of the ancient Chamorro village of Sidya.

It was a very jungly hike and somewhat slippery in some areas where the mud was packed hard. Going down to the bay was fairly easy and right at the coast you come to the Old Spanish Bridge.

One of the creek crossings.

Wild orchids along the trail.

Looks like pineapple but they're on trees...

Sella River that flows under the Spanish Bridge

Spanish Bridge

Spanish Bridge

I call these jellyfish flowers. No idea what the actual name is.

Bridge with the coast in the background.

More of the jungle along the trail.

View along the trail.

Then we walked along the coastline for a bit to check out the area. Very interesting beach with rock all along the water, so not very friendly to bare feet. The rock is either volcanic or limestone, so very craggy and sharp!

Coastline

Interesting rock formations

Random huge rock/mound on the beach

More of the coastline

There are six parachutes going into the water, top left.

Funky rock!

Several areas of rock with these cool colors!

The landscape of rock

More funky colors in the rock

Ancient beehive oven remains

Fireworks flower (our name for it)

Spanish bridge from the coast

The coastline had a lot of interesting rock formations and tons of hermit crabs along the way! We brought our bathing suits but after checking out the sharp rocks along the water, we opted to stay on the land. There is supposed to be other ruins of the ancient village to see but we could not locate them.

The hike back up the trail was challenging. It didn't help that we lost track of the trail ribbons at one point and realized that we were no longer on the trail. So we spent a good fifteen minutes backtracking to find the trail before we could continue. There is a 440 foot elevation change with this hike and I definitely felt all 440 feet on the way back up!! Could also have something to do with the 88 degrees and 80%-ish humidity. We were definitely sweaty at the end of that hike!! Not to mention very happy to get into our air conditioned car! Another hike on Guam has been conquered!!

Whirlwind Visit

Carlton was finally home for a few days and so we got out to do some sightseeing! It was nice that he didn't have to work while he was home this time. I took him to a place called Leo Palace, which is where the Khaki Ball was held. I only got to see a small portion of this resort when we were there for the Khaki Ball but as we were driving in, you could see that the place is huge!

It's a resort but they also have condos where people live. It is also a popular venue for sports camps, concerts, Balls, and other big events - there was a fitness competition there just last weekend! It's easier to show you:

This is the front of the main hotel portion.

This map shows how big the place is.

So the picture of the map may be hard to read but they have two fields for baseball, two for soccer, two for softball, a golf course, a competitive swimming pool, a waterpark and a regular recreation pool. They also have a gaming area inside with billiards, darts, ping pong tables, and a mini bowling alley. They have a mini lake as part of the landscape. The place is just huge!

The back side of the main hotel with part of the lake showing.

The chapel for weddings

My handsome hubby!

Cheesy selfie!

Closer view of the back side

More of the lake with more artwork

Closer look at the artwork

Back side of the hotel with the lake

The entire main hotel with the lake

The condos across from the main hotel

These photos were taken on our hike to Mount Lam Lam which turned into a hike to Mount Jumullong. Both hikes start at the same trailhead and about three fourths the way up the trail splits. We turned to go to Mount Lam Lam but after being on the trail about five minutes, a couple guys saw Carlton above the grass and yelled to him that we should turn back. Both were carrying rifles and were apparently hunting wild pigs. Since we didn't want to a) run into wild pigs or b) get shot by the hunters, we chose to go back and hike Mount Jumullong instead.

Mount Jumullong is the second highest peak in Guam at 1,283 feet. Mount Lam Lam is the highest at 1,332 feet. Mount Jumullong is also very popular with the Catholics on island that trek up to the top every Good Friday. The top of the "mountain" has several crosses on it and there are crosses along the trail as well. Turns out this is not the best time of year to hike this trail. We were lucky it didn't rain on us but it was very muddy and wet...I was up to my ankles in mud a few times along the trail. So the trail was pretty slippery in many spots - it was either really muddy or you were walking on limestone that had been smoothed out by copious amounts of rain. Needless to say, it was an interesting hike! Here are some pics:

Before the hike, this is Cetti Bay from an overlook

Trailhead

Freshest dead Brown Tree snake I have seen yet!

Most of the trail is overgrown with sword grass.

More views of the coastline from the trail.

Plaque at the base of the largest cross on the top.

Largest cross, at least 20 feet tall.

Other crosses near the big cross.

Gotta have the cheesy selfie!

View from the top.

All the crosses.

View of the top from the trail.

Last view of the coastline from the trail.