Tarzan Falls

Last weekend I went to Tarzan Falls with David and a bunch of people from his submarine.  It was a good 1.5 mile hike to the falls in these trails that looks like they were used by four wheelers and stuff. It wasn't too bad of a hike and once we finally got to the falls I saw a white dog that looked like it was some sort of forest guardian. I got a quick picture before he ran away into the jungle.

Anyway, when you get to the falls you are actually on top of them and in order to get to the bottom you have to climb down the rocks. There was even a part where you hold onto this thin rope and climb down slick rocks hoping it doesn't snap and plummet you to your death.

Two pictures of the top of the falls.

David looking down the falls.

Another picture of David and friend admiring the view. 

Almost there!

This is the part where you grab a rope and go down. The water is not very deep so if you fall it is gonna hurt.

Action photo of David using the rope.

Once we got to the bottom it was time to take some sweet pics of us around it!

Luckily we didn't have to use the rope to climb back up the falls. In fact there was a path that was 10 times safer that takes you back up to the top that the guide didn't feel like letting us know about. Overall it was pretty cool though.

Double Reef Beach

This past weekend I finally found the elusive double reef beach.  In order to get there you basically have to walk through jungle following tape markers that past people put on trees to guide you. It was a good 45 minute hike and it was a lot of fun. The only part that made me a little nervous was crossing the "limestone forest" which is essentially a bunch of algae covered rock. I took a picture this time!

Yeah... I walked on that. There were a few times I thought I was gonna trip and die but I somehow managed to get through.

Eventually on the path there is point where one direction takes you to Tweed's cave and the other to Double Reef beach.  We didnt go to Tweed's cave but since I now know where it is you can expect an update relatively soon. Anyway, after going through the jungle we popped out on this tiny strip of secluded beach.

We set up camp and I got out my snorkeling gear.  I heard that Double reef had the best snorkeling on island and they were telling the truth.  Basically the beach has two reefs and between them is a good 30-40 feet deep area.  It was crazy to be skimming across the first reef and then suddenly there is a straight drop where you are looking down at fields of coral and schools of fish. Unfortunately I don't have an underwater camera so you will just have to settle for these other two pictures I took of the beach.

I only snorkeled for a short time because I didn't want to completely exhaust myself and not be able to make it back.  It also rained the entire time I was swimming so I was completely soaking wet for the hike back.

Short post, but I did go to a place called Tarzan Falls this weekend which was pretty neat. I will update the blog soon with that one. Lastly, here is a picture of David with a Chamarro Elvis. 

Ritidian Cave

Man it has been a long time since I have posted anything on this blog!  This time we took a hike to Ritidian Cave which was an ancient Chamorro village site. Inside the cave were some mysterious markings that no one knows much about (oooh) and other signs of past Chamorro inhabitants.

Entrance to the first cave we went to.

Mysterious circle with a hole in the middle inside the cave. The world may never know what the purpose of it was.

A stalagmite forming.

Outside of the cave small mortar-like bowls in the stone. Apparently the ancient Chamorros would mash stuff using them.

After we finished at that cave we headed along the cliff side to another cave nearby. It was kind of interesting because there was one part where water would seep through the stone and I guess the ancient people would use it as a shower. Also you could see fossils in the side of the cliff like this one.

There were pieces of pottery all around and for good luck you could put them back on the cliff sides.

On the way to the next cave were also some stone pillars that the Chamorros used to prop up their homes. I forget the name of it but they are all over Guam.

Finally we got to the next cave but unfortunately some animal decided it was a nice place to die and stunk up the entire place so we couldn't go in. I did at least take a some pictures of the ouside!

 

This was our reaction when we got to the cave and the smell wafted out.

Overall it was pretty interesting but also kind of depressing because there were so many signs and pictures of what Guam used to be like compared to Guam today.  The bird population on Guam is essentially non existent due to the brown tree snake and a lot of the reef is dying from over fishing. The good news is they are working hard to preserve the wilderness so hopefully they can keep some of natural Guam alive!

Guam Indoc Tour

Not much has really been happening for me to post about but I figured I'd give a little update. This week I've been in Guam Indoc which basically means I sit around and listen to GMTs for 4 days straight. Today, however, we got a mini tour of the island. I thought we were going to be riding in an un-airconditioned school bus but they gave us a real tour bus with a tour guide and he took us around the island where we made a few stops here and there. The first place we stopped at was some bridge that the Spanish built way back in the day. Apparently Guam Gov spent 1 million dollars to rebuild it. Prepare yourself... this is what 1 million dollars looks like.

...I think someone took a little off the top on that project. I'm actually standing on the bridge but it is made of those white stones in the picture above. It was about 10 feet long and 4 feet wide.

It had a nice view out into the ocean though.

We continued on our way south and stopped on top of one of the hills where I got a nice scenic view.

From there we continued southwest and eventually arrived to where Magellan first landed in Guam in 1521. On top of a hill near the landing is an old Spanish fort named Soledad. The Spanish built a few forts in the area to protect the harbor from pirates and stuff since Guam was the only stop for Spanish Galleons traveling from Mexico to the Philippines.

Picture of the harbor.

And some pictures of Fort Soledad.

There was even a Caribou tied up nearby.

Some guy on the island has a bunch of them and I guess stashes them around the island. He also has one with a saddle that works with some dogs he trained to ride the Caribou and walks up and down the street taking pictures with tourists. One day I will get a picture with him.

From there we went to Inarajan Pools which is a natural pool that was once 50 feet deep but is slowly shrinking due to getting filled in with debris from typhoons and stuff.

That's all for now! This weekend I think I'm gonna for Tweed's Cave Part 2 so hopefully I find it this time. Other than that it is studying for my quals since I got a test this Wednesday.

I'll try to sneak in some other adventures. Mostly my days are spent coming home snorkeling the reefs right outside my house because it is just too convenient. Maybe I should get an underwater camera and make a post about that.

Second failure. Gun Beach

Continuing with the posts of me failing to find what I am looking for - Gun Beach! While we didn't get to the actual beach there were still some guns nearby that I got some pictures of. David came along on this one so there is finally a picture of me.

Gun Beach is pretty easy to get to from our house. It is about a 5 minute drive and there is a trail that leads you right to it.

 The trail has a pretty nice view of the ocean and Tumon beach.

When we got to where the bridge is supposed to be that takes you to Gun Beach we found out that it was washed away in the last typhoon. The picture below shows David right after a giant wave smashed against the rock and soaked him.

Foiled again, maybe next time! Hopefully they rebuild it in a timely manner.  When I find Tweed's Cave and get to Gun Beach for real you can count on there being a blog post on it. So keep refreshing this page until then!

Tweed's Cave

So today I decided I would try to find Tweed's cave Imperial Japanese Soldier style by just walking into the jungle in the general area where it's located and hoping I stumble upon it. George Tweed was a US Navy Radioman who hid in the jungle from the Japanese during WWII for 3 years during the occupation of Guam. He is a controversial figure because a lot of Chamorro people were tortured and killed by the Japanese in the effort to find him.

I did not find the cave.

On the bright side, I did find the mystical "limestone forest" (I didn't know it was special so I took no pictures of it). Regardless, let's retrace my steps through the photos I took.

Here I decided to enter the jungle. It looked like it was a trail of some sort so I followed it.

Eventually the trail seemed to just disappear but I decided to keep going and try to hit the ocean.

Randomly it opened up into this giant path. "Tweed's Cave is definitely nearby!" I thought to myself.

Then it just ended in both directions. One end was the "limestone forest" which was basically just a ton of limestone rocks with algae on them. I actually walked over them because I thought the cave was nearby. This probably wasn't a good idea because I almost fell and died about 4 times. You can kind of get the general idea of what the limestone forest looks like by looking at the rock in this picture I took of random object #13 on the trail. The metal box is probably some sort of unexploded ordnance that I was kicking around.

Eventually, probably like the Japanese soldiers looking for Tweed, I said "f this, I'm going to the beach nearby". Luckily I was able to find my way out and I went to this other trail that is close by which takes you to Haputo Beach.

The trail has steps that go down to the beach but it was like a death staircase since they were about 3 feet off the ground and there was nothing to hold onto.

Eventually I made it down and was rewarded with the most beautiful beach I've seen on Guam so far.

Since it is located on NCTS Guam it's fairly secluded because no civilians are allowed on base. I think this will have to be my beach spot on those days that I want to feel like I'm trapped on a tropical island.