diving guam

[Tom A]

i will be in guam next month was worndering how the diving is there

 

[donnyb]

Aloha:
I lived on Guam for 4 months in 1999. Got my Rescue & Nitrox certs there & did a couple hundred dives. Ther are some good dive sites, but honestly the diving in Guam does not compare to diving in other parts of Micronesia, like Yap, Palau, Phonapei, Kosrae. Guam is a big limestone rock, and it only has a fringing reef around it, so not as well developed of a reef system as these other places. Very few big fish due to the local fishing pressure.

Guam is an excellent place for instruction, if you are looking to get some specialty certs or advanced instruction. The instructors keep busy there with the Navy & Airforce Bases. Also a good "warmup" for connecting trips to the above mentioned destinations.

My recommendation is to stop into these two dive shops MDA (in Piti) and Guam Tropical Dive Station (in Agana) Both can handle tank/weight/gear rentals, boat dive outings, and help with shore diving sites. They even have some guided shore dives. Also there is a good guidebook available for shore diving.

Boat diving as a tourist is just so-so. Typically costs $100 for two tank outing. The dive tour boats cater to the numerous Japanese divers and usually go to the same dive sites over & over. Some sites are good but you won't get much variety. Favorite dive sites: Haps Reef( full of life & approachable fish), Gab Gab Reef (in Apra Harbor, usually done as dive #2 on a boat dive outing, if they time it for the same time as the Atlantis submarine it is a very cool dive) Gun Beach (a shore dive must be done when surf is small), Blue Hole (the famous "must do" dive).

Hope that helps.

 

[Tom A]

thanks for the info donny ill make a copy an take with me ill be at the air base

 

[Charlie99]

http://www.letsdiveguam.com/ by Scubaboard member Iruka has some good info.

http://www.scubaboard.com/member.php?u=11405

 

[Iruka]

Hi Charlie99...thanks for the compliment. I was just going to add that I have some photos & dive site descriptions on that website...but as donnyb wrote, the boats mostly go a half dozen or so sites most of the time, as that's what most of the tourists want. Without chartering a boat (kind of expensive unless you have a group of 4~6) you pretty much "go where the boat goes" rather than choosing a site. (like a bus, rather than a cab.) Anyhow, I have enough photos there to give Tom A an idea of what we have here.

Tom A, feel free to email me if you have any questions....information is free, you only have to pay if you dive with me, ha ha.

 

[Mike Veitch]

I just came back from Guam this morning. I only did two dives, both at Fisheye Marine Park, its right across the street from MDA on a long pier. I tell you what, if you want great photos of lots of tropical fish it is a great dive! Unfortunately i was filming snorkellers and reef walkers instead...but i got some great footage of a load of different fish that is for sure. There is a load of feeding going on there so the fish get right up in your face...quite funny to be nibbled by butterfly fish...

Chris...hmm, guess i should have looked you up.

 

[donnyb]

The air base is quite far from Agana & Piti. Sorry but you'll have to do some driving to go diving.

 

[Iruka]

I just came back from Guam this morning. I only did two dives, both at Fisheye Marine Park, its right across the street from MDA on a long pier. I tell you what, if you want great photos of lots of tropical fish it is a great dive! Unfortunately i was filming snorkellers and reef walkers instead...but i got some great footage of a load of different fish that is for sure. There is a load of feeding going on there so the fish get right up in your face...quite funny to be nibbled by butterfly fish...

Chris...hmm, guess i should have looked you up.

Hi Mike....
I hope you managed to get out behind & to the left of that underwater observatory...it's really nice there. With the multitudes of intro divers every day, there's not much coral out front anymore. But the intros normally don't get out in back, so it's a lot nicer.

Here's a photo I took there of a couple of Dotted Butterflyfish....I've actually seen them in Guam about 8 or 9 times, and got a video once.... The only reason I mention that is because in the book "Micronesian Reef Fishes" by Robert F. Meyers, it states, in reference to them "their existance on Guam is based upon a single reliable observation." So it's kind of fun to find something comparatively unusual (at least in this area.)

 

[Mike Veitch]

Hey Chris, certainly did go over there alright. SOme really beautiful coral out the back, Tim Rock (who i was with) dives there a lot and so took me to all the best places to get the nice shots. Was really surprised at just how much beautiful hard coral there is there.

 

[Kevrumbo]

I'll be there in May '06 to do the Tokai Maru/Cormoran with MDA Dive-Ops over four days. Planning to do several external runs with an X-Scooter.
How difficult/tricky is a penetration of either Wreck? How deep and what kind of dive conditions am I looking at?