My husband and I have recently relocated to the island of Guam. Though it is considered a different country, Guam is a US territory and it has many of the same comforts of home for those visiting the island from the US. There is a K-Mart, a Planet Hollywood, Hard rock Café, an awesome mall (Micronesia Mall) with a miniature fun park upstairs that includes bumper cars and a roller-coaster, a few movie theatres, an outlet mall that includes a Guess? Store, a Levi’s store, Coldstone Creamery, Famous Footwear, Motherhood and Maternity, and many many more. There are also many of the same restaurants and fast food places, such as McDonalds, Denny’s, Steak and Shake, Wendy’s, Pizza hut, Dominoes, Popeye’s, Subway, Taco Bell, Long John Silvers, Del Taco, etc. I have to warn you though, things tend to be more expensive out here. A medium Dominoes pizza on the base was $23 dollars on the Naval base out here a little while back. Then normally in California you will find that Little Ceases offers large pizzas for $5 dollars. Out here at the K-Mart Little Ceasers they are about $13 dollars.
The best part about visiting Guam? It IS, after all, an Island. Island means lots of beaches. The beaches out here are pretty great. I don’t know if I’d say they are as great as Hawaii’s beaches, but the water is a nice blue color, and you can see the bottom which is filled with little coral rock formations and little fishes swimming around them. This makes Guam beaches prime for snorkeling. If you happen to be staying at one of the many hotels located on the beach in Tumon, such as The Marriot (about 135.00 a night for a standard room.) or the Hilton Guam hotel (about 125.00 for a King Hilton Guestroom.) you can take an elevator down to the lobby and literally step out onto the beach. I know that at the Marriot once you walk by the pool and down a small set of stairs your at the beach. In doing this you walk by a little shack that you can rent a snorkel and flipper set for about $10 for two hours. There is a lot to see, even in the shallow parts of the water. Many times there are rocks covered in coral that you will find a black spotted Sea Cucumber wrapped around. Little colorful tropical fish will poke their heads out of the holes In the rocks. If you swim out further, you will see a larger variety of tropical fish. My husband even lifted his hand out of the water at one point and realized a very tiny octopus was stuck to his hand. Guam kindly requests you put them back in the water.
Windsurfing, Kayaking, parasailing and paddleboat activities are often times offered at one of the beach clubs here on the island. Two of the best known are the
Scuba Diving is also big here in Guam. Guam is located just off of Mariana’s Trench, the deepest part of the ocean in the entire world. There are many places that offer Scuba lessons so that you can be a certified diver. The Micronesia Divers Association is probably one of the best. They offer beginners “open water” courses as well as more advanced courses. There is even an MDA location at Anderson AFB and Naval Station Guam. The cool part about Scuba Diving on Guam? No need for a bulky wet suit! The open water course is about $150.00.
If your looking for something REALLY cool, you should check out the Atlantis Submarine Adventure or The Fish Eye. The Atlantis Submarine is a
The Fish Eye is an undersea observatory that descends down into a World War II bomb hole a few hundred yards off of the beach in Piti. You walk down into the underwater observatory about 31 feet below the surface into one of the bomb holes. There is a 360 view and through the submarine type windows you can see many tropical fish and coral formations. Not to mention a few scuba divers swimming by! The price is $28 for adults and $15 for children under 12 years.My favorite thing to do so far is visit the Underwater World Guam aquarium. In this big building you walk through a 7′ wide by 7′ tunnel surrounded by 10 feet of water that is separated by 3 inches of crystal clear acrylic. There is three floors worth of Aquarium here. There is a variety of Marine life here such as sharks, rays, clown fish, eels, octopus, etc. Admission is $22 for adult and $14 for children under 12.
So you see there are a variety of activities to do on Guam from just lounging on the beach, to scuba diving to riding on the Slingshot ride that propels passengers over 100 meters at speeds in the region of 160 kilometers per hour. Come check Guam out!65′ air conditioned submarine that for $82 for adult and $42 for children under 12 years offers the opportunity to dive under the surface and see all the wonders of the ocean without having to get wet. You will see tropical fish, coral, perhaps a sting ray or two? Many wonderful creatures. The dive lasts about 45 minutes.Pacific Islands Club and Onward hotel. There is also the Alupang Beach Club and the Ocean Jet Club that offer a variety of different water activities.
