Bile Bacteria Bay and Magellan

Saturday night we were watching the olympics and playing games at a friend's house when Aaron suggested that we do a 5K on Sunday--meeting up at 5AM and then running at 6.  I was wishy washy about it due to the early call time, but Sunday morning Darren dragged me out of bed, dropped me at the starting line, and then he went back to sleep (he had to go to work at 8AM).  Aaron, me, and a heap of other runners ran down the Tumon strip and back.  Aaron and I were both shocked because he got second in his age category and I got first place in mine at 26 minutes and 12 seconds.  (We both got seventh place over all in the men and women categories.  All the 30 and 40 year old women kicked my bootwah).

After Darren got off work and I had a much needed nap, we went on our first solo shore dive at Bile Bay.  There was a sign at the entrance that said no swimming within 400 feet due to bacteria, but we fully ignored it.  Probably not too smart, but we had fun.

Umatac has been having cultural nights all month because March is the month when Magellan "discovered" Guam.  Really, can one "discover a place that already is inhabited?  I think not.


Umatac bay where historians have claimed that Magellan made his first landing on Guam

Manta Rays and a Shark!!!

Sabbath morning, getting ready for the action!

Last Saturday we went out to Gun Beach looking for the manta rays (giant rays with wing spans up to 25 feet).  Unfortunately we just got stung by jelly fish and got a good work out.  This weekend, however, we had great success!  We were stoked too because we received underwater housing for our camera in the mail this past week.  We snapped 114 pictures this morning, but I'll just post these few.

We saw some of our buds out in the water (Chad, Mike, Casey, and Aaron...I'm also in this photo with the yellow fins)

At one point there were five all around us

Then we saw a black tipped shark!  It was the first one I've seen in Guam.

Darren and I both touched the rays.  They freaked out, but still did not swim too far away.

Yay for Manta Rays!

I'll Take a Latte with That

On Sabbath we decided to delve into Guam history and give the latte stones in the latte stone park the love they deserve!

This is an old grinding stone the Chamorro used to use.  Darren and I found these while hiking in various parts of the island.

I believe this is a tsunami shelter

Darren decided to do a little snorkeling at our closest beach while I relaxed and read on the beach.

He saw our first octopus!

Mongolian BBQ and Sigua Falls

Thursday night we went with a heap of friends to Mongolian BBQ on Nimitz Hill

Then for Falls Friday hiked our longest hike to Lower Sigua Falls.  The directions in our guidebook were super confusing.  Thankfully we ran into a guy who pointed us to the correct road at a very vital stage of our journey.

Then we had a scrumptious dinner at the Curry Kebab.  Daps for a swell day!