Monkeying Around at Tarzan Falls

I've had some fantastic days here in Guam. It's been such a treat to be somewhere that English is spoken fluently, I can find food brands that I recognize, and I'm not worried about my personal safety at all.
If there is a downfall to Guam its that you really can't get around without a car, hitchhiking only takes you so far.
I've had two really fabulous days with some memorable moments inbetween.
The first day: We rented a car and decided to drive around the southern half of the island and find some adventure. Initially we were going to head to Talofofo Falls, but after finding out you had to pay $20 to get in, we decided to find our own fun. The southern drive is extremely scenic and beautiful with some definite "aahh" moments as we came over the edge of different hills with pretty views. At one lookout that we stopped at, we decided to try and "summit" the hill next door, so 4 of 6 of us headed across the road to look for a way up. We found one in the end with much scrambling and grabbing of grass and tree trunks as we lost our footing as the ground slipped out from under us or into large but hidden holes. We did make it to the top (after a wasp sting or two and some serious grass cuts) and the view was amazing, you could feel all the wind just blowing past you, almost to the point you could just fall into it and it would hold you up on the top of the hill. Coming back down was slightly more treacherous as we slid on our feet...or our butts most of the way down again.
Next stop was Tarzan Falls. Another fault of Guam is non-visible road signs. The sign for this turn off was brown (blending in nicely) and only about 1x2 feet big. We were a little nervous as we looked at the stats of the hike down to the falls. There were 1.4 miles, 300ft elevation change, and 3 hours! In the end we figured out it must have been 3 hours total, with a stop to swim. It essentially a road down to the falls, although I didn't dare take the rental car offroading.... and an amazing set of falls over cliffs of slate-like looking rock. It did remind me of Tarzan actually. We pranced all around and showered/rinsed off in the fresh water (since he no longer have a hose at the dock anymore since we are now moored alongside the outside of three barges and have quite the traverse across and not enough hose to make the distance). Overall great day!
The second great day was yesterday. I spent most of the day with another Sara (in my watch) and we drove out to the northern most point of the island, fantastic limestone cliffs and then down south and did a beautiful hike out to Sella Bay where there is a freshwater stream flowing out into the ocean, some pretty snorkeling, shade and palm trees and wild orchids everywhere. This one felt really special becuase it wasn't in the Lonely Planet, we picked it up from a local dive magazine. It felt more secret and "local" than some of the other more touristy spots. The day was capped off with Vietnamese with Karen as well and then a great chick flisk called "P.S. I love you" It was a gooder! To anyone who gets the chance I highly recommend it. A good laugh/cry-er!
Now the last day will be spend lounging around the Sheraton pool, unless of course we get kicked out and maybe one last matinee before we take back out to sea.

Photos

K, So I put some photos from the last leg on my picassa web albums...It's so much of a pain to upload them here right now, even the fast internet is being slow....

Well so far so good....although I started last leg good as well. We've made it to Guam after sailing the majority of the way from Micronesia. It's such a great sound when the engines turn off. Silence! We were also on a starboard tack which means that I wasn't falling out of my bunk most of the time. I was blessed with some beautiful clear skies at night and could see both the southern cross and the big dipper in the same sky. This passage was filled up with lessons, now that most of our trainees are feeling more up to combating their seasickness. The more time you spend at sea I think the quicker you get over any queasy feelings...although this is not true for everyone unfortunately.

Arrival in Guam reminds me a lot of Hawaii. It is definitely the most north American style place we've been yet, which is good and bad. At first I had hesitations coming here because I didn't want to ruin my south pacific ideal, however, there are some amazing beaches and surf spots and hikes to check out, not to mention some amazing coral dives that I've heard about. In Micronesia I did a couple of wreck dives, and while great, I think I appreciate coral/critters more than decomposing artifacts. The dive in Chuuk could also be slightly tainted by the poor organization of the dive charter. It was a bit of a gong show with about 8 divers to one dive master and one light going inside very dark wrecks. The dive master would go in first and then leave before everyone had a chance to see inside, so if you were last then you didn't get to see much...

It's nice to be docked, although we are a ways away from town (about 10k) so hitch hiking is the preferred method of choice right now, although we're looking at renting a car. Can't wait to fit in some last warm water snorkelling and diving before heading north to China! I'm literally taking the slow boat to China. One trainee also had a brilliant idea, of getting a bucket of dirt and slowing scooping out a bit everyday, that way he could say "I dug a hole to China!"

Hello From FSM

That's the Federated States of Micronesia, for those of you who are wondering where abouts I am these days. We are currently on the island of Chuuk, and although the lonely planet warned us of sketchy characters in and around these parts, we had to come here to clear in through customs and wanted to take advantage of the mecca of diveable wrecks (about 60) that are around here. I am planning some diving on Saturday. A few more warm water dives will be wonderful before heading into the northern parts of the Pacific. So far so good though, all the people seem overly friendly...although the cat calls and whistles are less than appreciated, mostly you can ignore them , or at least get used to them and tune them out. Like any place though, the bigger cities always have more problems and when you get to some of the outer islands, the whole group mentalily of a people can change entirely, hopefully we will have a chance to explore at least one of the outer islands before we leave Micronesia.
The passage over her from PNG was great. We turned North on the compass which was momentous in itself. It was slightly longer than expected, but mostly because we were delayed leaving PNG for two days waiting for them to round up enough American cash for us to leave with.... The new group of trainees are fantastic and really excited to be onboard. Our first passage was 6 days. A good length, long enough for them to get sea sick and then get over it. It's better if they can get over it the first time so that the next time we go out and they start to feel sick they know that there is and end to it. A wise skipper once said: "there are three stages to sea sickness, first you feel sick, second, you think you might die, and third you think you might now die!" I was not sick this passage.
King Nepute came to visit this passage as we crossed the Equator...as is his duty to meet everyone who crosses his line and turn them from greenhorn to shellbacks. As I was already aquainted with Neptune I was part of his court this time. King Neptune made a dramatic appearance out of the whisker shrouds, trident first and all the trainees trembled in fear as they bowed to this green and baggy wrinkle bearded "god" The trainees all had to prove their worth to Neptune by passing his challanges ( licking peanut butter off a clear plastic board, blowing raw eggs through a hose, eating raw onions, witholding the most tabasco sauce poured onto their tongues drip by drip, and pushing noodles with their noses through slop filled decks). They were also glamourously made up with a special paste in their armpits by his highnesses wife and concubine Amphitrite and Nautilis. Fun was had by all and the decks warranted a thorough cleaning once he'd left.
I have officially done more night runs this leg than I have in my entire SALTS career (when I say night runs, I mean actually staying up for the full 4 hours of a watch shift and taking the con, so to speak) I really enjoy them mostly, although it takes a bit to figure out when you can catch up on the sleep that you've missed between all the other things that fill your day, like meals, dishes, sail handeling, teaching, reading, etc. The best nights are always when the stars are out. I was on 2000 to 2400 and then 0400 to 0800 this passage and was thrilled to be able to see both the southern cross and the big dipper in the sky at the same time for a period on one of my last nights. The sea at night is beautiful. I love being inside this snowglobe like dome of stars and having them be your light on the water. We haven't had even the moon lately to light our nights, so it's been very dark and peaceful.
Everyone is looking forward to the comforts of Guam and an Americanized port. It's odd really. We come out on the water to try and get away from all that, but the minute that we have a chance to get back to it, we take it. It's really comforting to have the ease of home for a little while, but I'm sure that we will all be glad to move onto China as well.