Eeeek so much to talk about! I haven't had internet, so please excuse the delay (mother).
To begin with, we had our last dive, a Nitrox dive, on Friday. Saturday, we had a quiz and lecture on coral reefs basics. This got us so excited to leave! I stole some lanyard from the camp group on Catalina and learned that Chloe is a natural-born lanyard weaving pro, and she wanted to bring lanyard on the trip but thought that no one else would want to make key chains with her. Bummer! My key chain lanyard is pretty sick: I’ve got hot pink, purple, sparkly-clear, and glow in the dark plastic. Yes!!!
At 3:30 P.M. we made o
ur way to the dock with all of our gear. A small boat moved us over to the small town of Two Harbors, where we hopped on a Catalina Express that made a stop at Avalon, then proceeded to the mainland. Lots of people boarded at Avalon, and I decided to sit outside on the 
third floor. Bad mistake? I don’t know. It was very, very windy and chilly. People watching was quite fun though, and I had some alone time with my ipod and the ocean view.
We stayed at a lovely
Renaissance Hotel by LAX, where my roommate Sabrina and I gorged on a splendid $65 worth of room service. Which was $25 over budget. Whoops. We didn’t get breakfast the next morning...
Awake and downstairs ready to go at 6:30 A.M., we lugged our Scuba gear and personal things to the airport and manage
d to check in with no exceptional problems. Our first flight was... long. A wonderful five hours to be exact. I sat next the window, with Chloe (Crocodile Chloe Dundee) on my left and Bridget McDonald next to her. We made a Bridget sandwich! I slept a lot and and had a strange dream that I was deaf. I think it was because the earbuds in my ears were playing really loud music. I also dreamt that I forgot to buy everyone souvenirs. DON’T WORRY, I won’t let that happen.
Flying into Hawaii was wonderful. The teal water looked tempting. Chloe and I were aching to jump in the water right there and then. Oh well. Without hesitation, however, my mother was prompt to call me just as soon as we landed and I turned my phone on. Her plane tracking skills amaze me, considering she has so little experience with computers and internet. Congrats Mama!
In the airport, we had about an hour to kill. I decided to splurge on a Starbucks drink because my ankles -- pardon me, kankles -- were making my voyage less than enjoyable. I was thrilled to find a mocha coconut frappuccino available. Coconut! Om nom nom. They even sprinkled coconut flakes on the whipped cream that I didn’t ask for but just accepted anyways when they gave it to me. :]
Going to Guam, I sat on the aisle seat in the middle section, next to Dan Kasang (Dank) and Bridget; another Bridget sandwich! All of the environmental students were pumped to find out that Oceans the short movie-type show was showing first on our 7 hour, 25 minute flight. We all watched with excitement, knowing that we would soon be looking at very similar creatures up close. The movie went into a segment about people Scuba diving to get closer to ocean life and we all looked over slyly at the people next to us. Oh yeah, that’s us all right.
We were fed a lot on this flight. Like, a LOT a lot. I was all yummy, but kind of a lot. Did I already say that? But for real, I was stuffed. Poor Dank got the reject meat items from all of the vegetarians on the trip, and he felt obligated to eat it all so that it would not be thrown out. Poor guy! I couldn’t help him out either because I was so full.
The longer flight actually seemed to go by faster. We crossed the date line and the writing on the screen turned into Japanese (I think). They also showed the path of light on the earth as we were flying. I could see Chicago watching a sunset, just getting dark, and be in the wee hours of the morning. When we landed, it was about 3:00 A.M. Central Time. And of course my mother called as soon as I turned on the phone. Bravo Mama! I am quite serious, though, when I tell you that I won’t be calling again. I’m sorry, but I don’t think you want to be paying the roaming and call charges. I’m alive!!!
Kirby looked over at Bridget McD and said, “hey, Bridget, guess what?”
“What’s up Kirby?”
“We’re in Guam.”
It was then that it hit me: WE’RE IN GUAM! Woohoo!
Off the plane, it was about 6:00 P.M. and my body is not feeling too good. I’ve got kankles and dry skin and a headache that’s driving me crazy. I guess that’s what a lot of flying will do to me. We made it through customs easily and filed into two vans and a mini van. (P.S. the above photo is so foggy due to the extreme humidity that hit us as we walked out. Yikes! The above right is Guam at night). Construction made the trip to campus (the University of Guam) slower than anticipated. Our grumbly tummies, sleep-deprived bodies, and overall exhaustion made us all a little testy. By the time we made it to campus, it w
as time to go to bed. However, a grocery trip was necessary to get breakfast items. Once in our room, Sabrina and I sat and talked for a while, Sabrina making up lyrics to Tik Tok about diving. It was hilarious. I’m really upset that I have the memory capacity of a fly and I can't remember a thing about it. I will be sure to keep a pen and paper with me at all times now. (The the right are our dorms).
After we had our laughs, we decided to look what other people were us to, because we thought the plan was to meet at 9:00 PM for a lab tour and to go get breakfast food from the grocery store. Knocking on doors, we found no one. Outside, no one. No one in the boys' hall, the eating area, no where. Sabrina and I were kind of really upset. How could they leave us like this? We want in on the fun/nonsense, whatever is going on. We tried calling our prof. and Flipper, but they didn't pick up, so we left kind messages ;D But really, where could they have gone? Without us? We decided to finally ask one of the university students named Floyd if he knew our classmates' whereabouts. He agreed that they had probably left (because two vans were missing), and that it isn't too safe for us to go walk around in the dark. Ugh. So we took showers (finally!) and went to bed. People sh
owed up again just as we were turning off the lights. Apparently, no one noticed that we were missing, they had gotten food (and a lot had eaten food) and were going to bed. Oh well!
Sabrina hardly slept; I woke up every time she got up. Around 6:00 AM here we really got up, along with Mariah, and walked down to the marine lab. We saw a red millipede, beautiful navy blue butterflies, an inch worm, and a slug. Cool! We walked down to the beach at the lab and admired the coral that was everywhere. And we found a neat cone shell that was white with pinksih-red spots spiraled around it. We also saw an adorable little crab trying to hide from us. So cute! A local appeared and told us that we had missed the really red sunrise sky by about 30 minutes. That's for tomorrow, I guess. If I can get some sleep and wake up early.
We went to our professors' cabin (at the marine lab) and found coffee brewing and bacon already cooling. Ahhhhhhhh yummmmmm. That is such a nice way to start your day. I also had dark chocolate peanut butter that Loraine (an employee at the Wrigley Marine Institute on Catalina Island) had given to me as a parting gift. I love her! And I love dark chocolate peanut butter!!! I was a happy camper. Sabrina, Mariah and I hung out a while until our classmates started showing up for breakfast. Hehehe early birds catch the worm I guess. The bacon was not as fresh as it was before for us and the kitchen was crowded.
Hehehe.
We put on swim suits and strapped sandals and headed to the Department of Agriculture at 9:30 AM. We were given a tour of birds that were being held in facilities to help them breed and become more abundant, as they are endangered. The first bird we got to see was the flightless Guam rail (locally called Ko'ko'). It was darling! More than other birds, these little guys have personalities. For real! The lady talking to us about them said they have trouble breeding them because they are picky little birds. She let us hold them. I can't remember the first guy's name, but the second was the only with a no
n-Chamorro name, Staples, given to him after he ate staples after a typhoon. Poor guy! They walk onto your hand carefully and think that your fingers are females. Hehe you can only image, the little guys were really having fun with our fingers. They also love toes.... ouch. Then we proceeded to check out the Kingfisher birds on display, which have a beautiful mating call and are very pretty indeed. I was even more excited to see the bat though. It was huge! Bigger than the tiny bats I saw in my bathroom in the jungles of Costa Rica last spring break. And it started to get really upset with all of the people in his room, so he was biting the guy holding him pretty viciously. The guy had to put him back for fear of a bad bat bite.
Leaving there, we headed to the beach, where we hiked probably at least half an hour to "The Lost Pond," where we gratefully jumped in the murky water. Kind of sca
ry, not going to lie... but after that hike, so worth it! The hike was along the beach most of the way, and we stopped to pick up hermit crabs of all sizes. I saw a really awesome crab! I think th
ey are my favorite animal of the trip so far. We learned from Dr. G's colleague Brent that we were on the northern part of the island, which is exposed limestone (old coral reef) and has
no rivers, whereas the southern part of the island is an extinct volcano. The ocean views were more and more picturesque with each step. It was unbearable. I could have filled my entire memory chip with pictures of nature. But I resisted! Kind of... AND Flipper and Kirby managed to open up coconuts! That made my day. Actually, my trip. No kidding. All I need is coconut juice and some coconut meat, and I am a happy, happy girl.
The "Lost Pond" was amazing too. There were little tadpoles everywhere and fish that we couldn't see (you would have really loved that, mom). I sneaked up on Dan Killam (Danimal) and Flipper underwater and scared them pretty bad. Hehe. We left soon though cause we wanted to swim in the
ocean! (That's the pond right thur -->).
It. was. amazing. The water was painfully salty and I could float in the water effortlessly. Not to mention, it was so warm I felt like I was taking a bath. After about a 1/4 mile of water that was max. 4 ft. deep, there was a circle of reef crest that was about 7 ft. deep. We all congregated there for an underwater picture. I hope it comes out well! With peanut butter and jelly and a few laps to the deep water, we were ready to leave. The walk back was reflective, until we started singing old camp songs and time passed quickly. Minus the nasty blisters on my feet from my new strapped sandals :[ oh well, nothing is perfect I guess.
Back at the dorms, we showered and prepared to go out to dinner. The Jamaican Grill. Not much more to say, except that it was AWESOME. Ribs and fish. Ahhhhhhh.
Now I'm back in my prof's place (no internet in the dorms), and it's really humid out. Oh yeah, forgot to mention it's pretty dang hot here, humidity wise. Though, maybe not quite as bad as Chicago's wo
rst day in the summer. These wimps need to stop their complaining. Walking down here from the dorms, I used a headlamp (thanks daddy!) and an angry dog made Danimal and I jump, then walk a little faster. More dogs started barking until we were jogging then running to the prof's place. Eeek!
I seriously have at least two dozen more pictures, with more amazing things to see. But I'm tired and it's late and I have to read a 40 page Guam EIS Executive Summary before meeting with the Congresswoman from here tomorrow morning. So, that's it for now. Going to bed, more adventures tomorrow. *B
To begin with, we had our last dive, a Nitrox dive, on Friday. Saturday, we had a quiz and lecture on coral reefs basics. This got us so excited to leave! I stole some lanyard from the camp group on Catalina and learned that Chloe is a natural-born lanyard weaving pro, and she wanted to bring lanyard on the trip but thought that no one else would want to make key chains with her. Bummer! My key chain lanyard is pretty sick: I’ve got hot pink, purple, sparkly-clear, and glow in the dark plastic. Yes!!!
At 3:30 P.M. we made o
ur way to the dock with all of our gear. A small boat moved us over to the small town of Two Harbors, where we hopped on a Catalina Express that made a stop at Avalon, then proceeded to the mainland. Lots of people boarded at Avalon, and I decided to sit outside on the 
third floor. Bad mistake? I don’t know. It was very, very windy and chilly. People watching was quite fun though, and I had some alone time with my ipod and the ocean view.We stayed at a lovely
Renaissance Hotel by LAX, where my roommate Sabrina and I gorged on a splendid $65 worth of room service. Which was $25 over budget. Whoops. We didn’t get breakfast the next morning...Awake and downstairs ready to go at 6:30 A.M., we lugged our Scuba gear and personal things to the airport and manage
d to check in with no exceptional problems. Our first flight was... long. A wonderful five hours to be exact. I sat next the window, with Chloe (Crocodile Chloe Dundee) on my left and Bridget McDonald next to her. We made a Bridget sandwich! I slept a lot and and had a strange dream that I was deaf. I think it was because the earbuds in my ears were playing really loud music. I also dreamt that I forgot to buy everyone souvenirs. DON’T WORRY, I won’t let that happen.Flying into Hawaii was wonderful. The teal water looked tempting. Chloe and I were aching to jump in the water right there and then. Oh well. Without hesitation, however, my mother was prompt to call me just as soon as we landed and I turned my phone on. Her plane tracking skills amaze me, considering she has so little experience with computers and internet. Congrats Mama!
In the airport, we had about an hour to kill. I decided to splurge on a Starbucks drink because my ankles -- pardon me, kankles -- were making my voyage less than enjoyable. I was thrilled to find a mocha coconut frappuccino available. Coconut! Om nom nom. They even sprinkled coconut flakes on the whipped cream that I didn’t ask for but just accepted anyways when they gave it to me. :]
Going to Guam, I sat on the aisle seat in the middle section, next to Dan Kasang (Dank) and Bridget; another Bridget sandwich! All of the environmental students were pumped to find out that Oceans the short movie-type show was showing first on our 7 hour, 25 minute flight. We all watched with excitement, knowing that we would soon be looking at very similar creatures up close. The movie went into a segment about people Scuba diving to get closer to ocean life and we all looked over slyly at the people next to us. Oh yeah, that’s us all right.
We were fed a lot on this flight. Like, a LOT a lot. I was all yummy, but kind of a lot. Did I already say that? But for real, I was stuffed. Poor Dank got the reject meat items from all of the vegetarians on the trip, and he felt obligated to eat it all so that it would not be thrown out. Poor guy! I couldn’t help him out either because I was so full.
The longer flight actually seemed to go by faster. We crossed the date line and the writing on the screen turned into Japanese (I think). They also showed the path of light on the earth as we were flying. I could see Chicago watching a sunset, just getting dark, and be in the wee hours of the morning. When we landed, it was about 3:00 A.M. Central Time. And of course my mother called as soon as I turned on the phone. Bravo Mama! I am quite serious, though, when I tell you that I won’t be calling again. I’m sorry, but I don’t think you want to be paying the roaming and call charges. I’m alive!!!
Kirby looked over at Bridget McD and said, “hey, Bridget, guess what?”
“What’s up Kirby?”
“We’re in Guam.”
It was then that it hit me: WE’RE IN GUAM! Woohoo!
Off the plane, it was about 6:00 P.M. and my body is not feeling too good. I’ve got kankles and dry skin and a headache that’s driving me crazy. I guess that’s what a lot of flying will do to me. We made it through customs easily and filed into two vans and a mini van. (P.S. the above photo is so foggy due to the extreme humidity that hit us as we walked out. Yikes! The above right is Guam at night). Construction made the trip to campus (the University of Guam) slower than anticipated. Our grumbly tummies, sleep-deprived bodies, and overall exhaustion made us all a little testy. By the time we made it to campus, it w
as time to go to bed. However, a grocery trip was necessary to get breakfast items. Once in our room, Sabrina and I sat and talked for a while, Sabrina making up lyrics to Tik Tok about diving. It was hilarious. I’m really upset that I have the memory capacity of a fly and I can't remember a thing about it. I will be sure to keep a pen and paper with me at all times now. (The the right are our dorms).After we had our laughs, we decided to look what other people were us to, because we thought the plan was to meet at 9:00 PM for a lab tour and to go get breakfast food from the grocery store. Knocking on doors, we found no one. Outside, no one. No one in the boys' hall, the eating area, no where. Sabrina and I were kind of really upset. How could they leave us like this? We want in on the fun/nonsense, whatever is going on. We tried calling our prof. and Flipper, but they didn't pick up, so we left kind messages ;D But really, where could they have gone? Without us? We decided to finally ask one of the university students named Floyd if he knew our classmates' whereabouts. He agreed that they had probably left (because two vans were missing), and that it isn't too safe for us to go walk around in the dark. Ugh. So we took showers (finally!) and went to bed. People sh
owed up again just as we were turning off the lights. Apparently, no one noticed that we were missing, they had gotten food (and a lot had eaten food) and were going to bed. Oh well!Sabrina hardly slept; I woke up every time she got up. Around 6:00 AM here we really got up, along with Mariah, and walked down to the marine lab. We saw a red millipede, beautiful navy blue butterflies, an inch worm, and a slug. Cool! We walked down to the beach at the lab and admired the coral that was everywhere. And we found a neat cone shell that was white with pinksih-red spots spiraled around it. We also saw an adorable little crab trying to hide from us. So cute! A local appeared and told us that we had missed the really red sunrise sky by about 30 minutes. That's for tomorrow, I guess. If I can get some sleep and wake up early.
We went to our professors' cabin (at the marine lab) and found coffee brewing and bacon already cooling. Ahhhhhhhh yummmmmm. That is such a nice way to start your day. I also had dark chocolate peanut butter that Loraine (an employee at the Wrigley Marine Institute on Catalina Island) had given to me as a parting gift. I love her! And I love dark chocolate peanut butter!!! I was a happy camper. Sabrina, Mariah and I hung out a while until our classmates started showing up for breakfast. Hehehe early birds catch the worm I guess. The bacon was not as fresh as it was before for us and the kitchen was crowded.
Hehehe.We put on swim suits and strapped sandals and headed to the Department of Agriculture at 9:30 AM. We were given a tour of birds that were being held in facilities to help them breed and become more abundant, as they are endangered. The first bird we got to see was the flightless Guam rail (locally called Ko'ko'). It was darling! More than other birds, these little guys have personalities. For real! The lady talking to us about them said they have trouble breeding them because they are picky little birds. She let us hold them. I can't remember the first guy's name, but the second was the only with a no
n-Chamorro name, Staples, given to him after he ate staples after a typhoon. Poor guy! They walk onto your hand carefully and think that your fingers are females. Hehe you can only image, the little guys were really having fun with our fingers. They also love toes.... ouch. Then we proceeded to check out the Kingfisher birds on display, which have a beautiful mating call and are very pretty indeed. I was even more excited to see the bat though. It was huge! Bigger than the tiny bats I saw in my bathroom in the jungles of Costa Rica last spring break. And it started to get really upset with all of the people in his room, so he was biting the guy holding him pretty viciously. The guy had to put him back for fear of a bad bat bite.
Leaving there, we headed to the beach, where we hiked probably at least half an hour to "The Lost Pond," where we gratefully jumped in the murky water. Kind of sca
ry, not going to lie... but after that hike, so worth it! The hike was along the beach most of the way, and we stopped to pick up hermit crabs of all sizes. I saw a really awesome crab! I think th
ey are my favorite animal of the trip so far. We learned from Dr. G's colleague Brent that we were on the northern part of the island, which is exposed limestone (old coral reef) and has
no rivers, whereas the southern part of the island is an extinct volcano. The ocean views were more and more picturesque with each step. It was unbearable. I could have filled my entire memory chip with pictures of nature. But I resisted! Kind of... AND Flipper and Kirby managed to open up coconuts! That made my day. Actually, my trip. No kidding. All I need is coconut juice and some coconut meat, and I am a happy, happy girl.The "Lost Pond" was amazing too. There were little tadpoles everywhere and fish that we couldn't see (you would have really loved that, mom). I sneaked up on Dan Killam (Danimal) and Flipper underwater and scared them pretty bad. Hehe. We left soon though cause we wanted to swim in the
ocean! (That's the pond right thur -->).It. was. amazing. The water was painfully salty and I could float in the water effortlessly. Not to mention, it was so warm I felt like I was taking a bath. After about a 1/4 mile of water that was max. 4 ft. deep, there was a circle of reef crest that was about 7 ft. deep. We all congregated there for an underwater picture. I hope it comes out well! With peanut butter and jelly and a few laps to the deep water, we were ready to leave. The walk back was reflective, until we started singing old camp songs and time passed quickly. Minus the nasty blisters on my feet from my new strapped sandals :[ oh well, nothing is perfect I guess.
Back at the dorms, we showered and prepared to go out to dinner. The Jamaican Grill. Not much more to say, except that it was AWESOME. Ribs and fish. Ahhhhhhh.
Now I'm back in my prof's place (no internet in the dorms), and it's really humid out. Oh yeah, forgot to mention it's pretty dang hot here, humidity wise. Though, maybe not quite as bad as Chicago's wo
rst day in the summer. These wimps need to stop their complaining. Walking down here from the dorms, I used a headlamp (thanks daddy!) and an angry dog made Danimal and I jump, then walk a little faster. More dogs started barking until we were jogging then running to the prof's place. Eeek!I seriously have at least two dozen more pictures, with more amazing things to see. But I'm tired and it's late and I have to read a 40 page Guam EIS Executive Summary before meeting with the Congresswoman from here tomorrow morning. So, that's it for now. Going to bed, more adventures tomorrow. *B
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