Newly discovered amazing reef in Guam...

[h3o]

I'm from Guam, snorkeled a lot while growing up here, and have done around 40 dives (the usual spots that MDA or GTDS will take you)... but never before have I seen a reef in Guam this healthy, diverse and full of life. My recent discovery is also located in a place you'd never expect there would be so much marine life...in Tumon Bay! In fact, it isn't even a dive (max depth around 15'), it's a snorkel.

But don't let that scare you away, I saw more life on this reef than I have in most of my dives in Guam. Directly behind the Marriott and PIC, there is a patch of reef somewhere in between the barrier reef and the shore, I would say it was about 60-70% of the way to the main barrier reef.

I live and work in Tumon, and jog the beach often. Yesterday, my friend and I decided to snorkel. I see the usual sand flats, small fish, small coral and sea cucumbers that you usually see in Tumon. I keep swimming out and reach a huge, healthy patch of staghorn coral. The healthiest I've ever seen actually, practically flawless, not broken or bleached at all. The last time I saw staghorn clusters this healthy was in the Coral Sea (northern GBR).

On the reef, I see literally about one thousand juvenile parrotfish. I've never seen parrotfish this small... ranging from 2-6 inches. They were all were one color, like a deep purplish/maroon. Schools of fish are all grazing the reef top, the most fish I've ever seen on a reef in Guam (that isn't a fish feed site). Then, I spot a seahorse! A first for me in Guam.

I keep swimming outward until the coral changes... I'm not sure what kind of coral it is, but they're big boulder/cylinder looking corals, measuring about 5' in diameter. I peek into a crevice and see huge schools of red squirrel fish, parrotfish, and other fish I couldn't identify. Then, about 20 feet away, I spot what I think is a school of bat fish... only because they are so big... but when I get closer, they look like they are banner fish, only their dorsal fins are funnier looking... almost leafy and rounded.

As I swim farther out, it keeps getting better. I spot two moray eels (dark greenish) and a huge trevally swims past in the distance. This jack was huge! (almost the size of trevally you see at Gab Gab II.)

About 20 minutes later working my way outward from shore, I see a gigantic porcupine fish hiding under a rock. I've seen huge pufferfish and porcupine fish in Costa Rica and Thailand, but this one was huge! The biggest porcupine fish I have ever seen. It looked more like a white puppy with fins.

Tumon has been kept a preserve for the last few years, which I'm guessing is why the reef is so healthy and the fish so big and plentiful. Anyone living in Guam now should check this place out during high tide... it is so pristine and healthy, in fact, i feel a little guilty posting about it here. This series of reef patches was more like what you see on a safety stop in Palau... nothing I'd expect to be in Guam, let alone in touristy and commercialized Tumon Bay.

The reef gets shallow at some points where there is only a foot or two between you and the reef, so this is a place where you would want to be careful with your fins (or not where any). This reef is truly a rarity in Guam, (at least compared to the spots I've dove and snorkeled). I am actually going to snorkel it again about 30 mins. from now as soon as I get off work.

 

[marpacifica]

Wow, that is a surprise. I just got back from Guam but didn't have a chance to dive it this time around. Previous times I was there I wasn't too impressed. I'll have to check out your new site next time. What are you going to call it??? I just hope no tourist snorkelers find out about it and start kicking it up.

Thanks for the discovery.

 

[Rick Inman]

I did a lot of snorkeling there wayyyy back in 1980, and found the reef located north of what was the Guam Reef Hotel quite healthy. Just tons of lion fish!

I got married there while working in a band at the hotel.

One day after a snorkel, my friend (a Tenor sax player, so no big loss) stepped on a scorpion fish and was down for the count for a couple of weeks.

 

[CA Diver]

I.ve snorkled in that area back in 2003 a months after Pongsona. It was a good snorkel with a lot of fish, but not like you described. i may not have gone out far enough toward the barrier reef. I did not see any of the larger fish or the juvenile you described but I did see Picasso triggerfish, Humbug Dascyllus, Surge Demoiselle, Lined & Oval Burtterfly's Charcoal Damsels, Blue Spotted Wrasse and Convict surgeonfish, at least that is what I wrote down in my dive log. Glad to hear you enjoyed the area.

The Gun Beach dives are really just outside of the barrier reef on the extreme north edge of the bay. and that is a great dive. I saw a cuttlefish there as well as many other tropical fish.

 

[Tom Smedley]

What a great find. This is probably a bomb hole. There are several in the reef at Piti that were great shallow dives/snorkels but the water was so shallow they were hard to get to.

 

[h3o]

When I went back to snorkel the site, the visibility wasn't so great so I didn't see as much as I did the first time. Still was worth the go though... saw schools of 1-2' trevally, a moray, the baby parrotfish, and a TINY yellow with black spotted box fish or something of the sort. It was so small, just a little bigger than a pea... bright yellow with black markings.

If and when you check out the reef, make sure you go out far enough. You will see small patches of staghorn coral and other small reef patches along the way, but keep going until the coral all around you is more than 100' in area. Again, it is about 70% of the way to the main barrier reef. If you aren't impressed with what you're seeing, than you probably haven't gone out far enough or need to move left or right. It is directly behind Marriott and goes a little way to shore right toward PIC.

 

[leo]

I'll bump this up - any update on these locations in the last year?

How far out from shore is the barrirer reef (behind the Marriott, Tumon Bay?)?