Hello from Guam--new to board

[Caron]

Hello, I am new to the board and I relaly have nothing to write about right now (any questions about diving on Guam?).

I live on Guam for now, but will soon be moving back to the East Coast (Maryland, Virginia area). I was certified in San Diego and did most of my diving in that area (Channel islands and all around the La Jolla area). I also earned my Master Diver and Nitrox c-cards there. I was in Virginia for a short period of time and started wreck diving with "Wrecking Diver--External Survey). And here I am now in Guam (and a little ticked off that I won't get a chance to go to Chuuk (Truk) while I am here :-( Oh well, I guess I'll have to come back.

I'll probably post a lot of questions about diving along the East Coast of the U.S. I just wanted to say hello to everyone.

Dive safely

 

[Tom]

Hello Caron, welcome to the boards.

Tom

 

[DivingGal]

A warm welcome from Canada! You'll enjoy the fun and frolic we all have here.

Caron -- recently I saw a program on TV that indicated that snakes were a big problem on the island. Are they as bad as was indicated? (It was implied that the beasties were decimating the bird population)

 

[Caron]

Thanks for the welcome. As for the snakes, I've lived here a a little under a year and have only seen one in the "wild"--crossing the road after a lot of rain. I have seen them on display in cages too--but I don't count those. Don't get me wrong, brown tree snakes are a problem and you are right, they did kill off a lot of birds; but from what I see, it isn't anywhere near as bad as they make it sound in the "off island" news (they aren't hanging from the trees like spagetti and they don't carry off babies). Personally, I think the stray dog and cat (called boonie dogs and boonie cats) overpopulation is a more visable problem than the snakes. I guess scarey old snakes "sell" better than half starved, sickly dogs.

 

[DivingGal]

That was the story -- basically the snakes (brown?) had killed many of the local bird species, and were a problem with them getting in people's houses. Then being the smart creature they are, when provoked bit people - go figure.

Thanks for the info.

So what kind of diving do you do in Guam? When you heading back to the east coast?

 

[Caron]

Brown tree snakes can't really bite--they have very small teeth. They have to come over and literally chew on you. Their venom is so weak it doens't really hurt adults, but can harm children and pets.

As for diving in Guam--there is a lot here. Mostly coral reefs--but there are also walls and caves. They also have a "blue hole" *seems like most places have one. It starts at 60 feet and goes down to 110-120 and empites in a wall. It is basically "J" shaped if that helps you get a visual. They also have tons of wrecks here including a German ship sunk in WWI two Japanese ships sunk in WWII and lotso of other artifacts from WWII including a Japanese sea plane, a Japanese Zero (which disappeared during the last typhoon), and American Amtraks and the "SeaBee Junkyard."

You have to be careful, there is a lot of ammunition-and some of it is 50 years old and still live!

I should be back in the States just in time for winter--so I'll have to wait to dive. Where in Canada are you? It's a beautiful country. Where do you dive?

 

[Jonathan Starr]

Hi Caron,

I just joined the board, and am a relatively new diver (been freediving for decades) living on Maui. We are planning a Japan trip in November, with a stopoff in Guam and a sidetrip to either Palau or Yap or some other place for a week of diving.

Have you been around enough to suggest the best place for us to go for a week of great dives and reasonable accomodation and interesting culture?

Aloha,

JOnathan

 

[greg somers]

cool spelling of the name,
welcome to the boards.Hey divegal.The snakes are under the bed...heheheh..don't look down june..lol
Viva small brown slimy things I say....heheh
great to have you on board caron.when do you get back stateside? It'll be different from the tropics..
I hope you are chatty and have a sense of humour..definately a must on this board...
Cheers ears
the Gasman

 

[Caron]

I should be back in the states around December--I don't have an exact date yet, but I'll know by August.

As for the spelling of my name, thanks. People ususally say "I've never seen "Karen" spelled that way before." I tell them "Funny, I see it all the time..." Most people don't get it--oh well.

As for accomodations and such Jonathan, I know a lot about what is here on Guam. The nicest hotel is Outrigger--but I don't know the rate. If you want a good dive group--Guam Tropical Dive Station or MDA are the best picks. Tell me more--I mean, are you spending a week in Guam or just a few days. I can't help you much with the the other islands, but Guam I know pretty well (it doesn't take long). Tell me your interests and I'll give you the scoop.

 

[DivingGal]

Winter doesn't stop some people from diving here in the "hardy north". I have friends that dive 12 mths a year. Me - I wait until the water is all soft lolol (in other words the ice is gone). My first OW dive was a couple of weeks ago the water was a balmy 48-50F (8-10C). But we tend to kinder to OW students and wait until the end of the month before we start throwing them in. Don't want to shock them too much.

Caron - couldn't agree with you more that Canada is a beautiful country. It's definately a country of extremes. You want to find it, we have a bit of almost anything there is to offer. Sure not too many tropical type critters (unless you count the ones in zoos), but we have deserts (cold) and desert-like conditions, rain forests, mountains etc etc.

Diving -- well right now I dive mostly in the Saint Lawrence River and Lake Ontario (along with a couple of old quarries). As the St-L has been one of the major shipping lanes since the 1700's we have a lot of wrecks. In the stretch of the river that's within 2hrs of my place (Ottawa) we have access to over 200 wrecks! Some barely recognizable, others in great condition - a bonus of the cold fresh water.

Enough of my rambling. If you want more info - send me a e-mail.