NOTE: I have not uploaded any pictures to my computer yet, my apologies. I will post later today/tonight with a tons of pictures.
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We got up later today than yesterday, as our bodies are probably getting used to the time difference. Instructions were to dress nicely, with you dive apparel handy to go straight to the dive shop and diving after some business.
I put on some shorts and a tank to walk down to the prof’s cabin for breakfast, and thank goodness I did. I was sweating as if I had run 10 miles! At breakfast we all hurriedly read the Guam EIS Proposal and any other documents we could about Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo. After walking back to the dorms, I jumped in the shower and put on my nice dress, feeling no difference in cleanliness due to the horrendous humid conditions. On the road again, we made it to her office and quietly walked inside, politely writing our names on a sign-in sheet and being as calm as possible. We were led into a conference room and soon came a girl, two old guys, and then a small little intern (who I later learned is my age). The lady talked most of the time, but the old guys turned out to be not Mrs. Congresswoman Bordallo, but in fact two other politicians, I don’t remember their names or positions, however. One was quiet and hardly said a word; the other was passionate about Guam and made some ery sad remarks about what has resulted from Japanese control over the island, U.S. purchasing the island, and recent moves to increase the naval/military capacity of the island. For instance, he said that the Japanese put a lot of Chamorros (native Guamians) in concentration camps, telling them that they were going to die. They didn’t kill them, but the Chamorros have since been relocated and their land is steadily becoming smaller and smaller in area. He says that he is bitter about looking out from his house on acres upon acres of military training land. He also said that Guam recently received an award for having the most men (of any state) enlist in the army. It’s only natural, he explained: there are no jobs but plenty of room for new marines.
It was a really interesting conversation, though. Dr. Haw pointed out to the politicians that my grandfather was stationed on Tinian (I showed him and the other profs pictures of my grandfather on Tinian the night before. Dr. Haw looked like a little boy on Christmas morning). The politicians seemed please, and the girl said that there is a celebration going on right now on Tinian. Oh, if only I could go there! I could arrange a flight to Saipan, then Tinian, but that costs money and takes time and guts, and I’m feeling kind of lazy. Oh well. The girl admitted that Tinian is gorgeous and has amazing diving. Some other day, perhaps?
After a group picture, we left the office and slipped our bikini tops on in the car as we drove to the dive shop. We had to get weights to wear so that we can be buoyant under water and, more importantly, so that we can manage a controlled, safe ascent at the end of the dive. Our tummies were grumbling and people were getting restless, but we made it to the boat dock eventually and stuffed our faces with peanut butter and jelly, Nature Valley bars, and bananas. With all of our B.C.’s, regulators, and personal dive gear situated, we loaded all of that stuff and two heavy air tanks each onto a big boat. It was nice the way there were plastic cylinder holders that held our tanks securely against the wall. Nice!
We started up and headed out of the dock. Mangrove trees lined our path through the severely shallow water. Where were we headed?! There were two huge ships with cargo on our way out. I could see the ocean through a break in the mangroves ahead, but we never made it that far. We stopped just short and prepared to dive. With my new rash guard on and sleeves rolled up to 3/4 length (it fits perfectly, dad!), I strapped on my B.C., defogged my goggles, and slipped on my flippers. I was ready to dive! First dive of the trip!
I put my regulator in my mouth and took a giant stride entrance into the water. Immediately, I noticed a huge problem. No air was flowing through my regulator! I could blow out into it, but not in. Shoot. The current was allowing me to drift further and further away from the boat. What was wrong? “Jerry! I need ya. I think there is a problem here.” Before he really heard me or had enough time to react at all, I realized the problem. Excuse me, let me amend that a bit: I realized the HUGE STUPID HORRIBLE FROWNED-UPON MISTAKE that I had made. I had forgotten to turn the air on! I tested the tank earlier for pressure, but turned it off for the voyage out to the dive site. Ahhhhh how stupid of me. I made it back to the boat and the captain Skip opened the valve for me. Stupid stupid stupid. When I made it to my dive group, my dive partner Dank gave me a nice slap on the arm. Much deserved.
We descended right away and headed off. Whoa! So much to see! Catalina has sharks and bat rays, but not brightly colored fish and crazy huge corals!!! I saw so many fish, I was sorry that I didn’t have an underwater camera. I do remember my favorite fish of the trip, though: a trumpet fish, with a long nose and bright yellow scales, accented with black and white. Just like the character from Finding Nemo... Scar? Idk his name, the old guy who brainwashes Nemo into trying to escape from the tank. Yup, it’s Scar. I just googled it.
ANYWHO, I also saw a kind of extra-long war jeep that looks exACTly like the jeep we have in our driveway from WWII! I was so excited when I saw that. I was all corroded and eroded and full of coral, but it still had the basic structure. Otherwise, the bottom of the ocean here was pretty plain, maybe sand? Not too much crazy stuff all the time, just blobs of coral with fishies around it. There was a steep slope of rocks to our right on the way out, left on the way back that looked very artificial. What else did I see? Hmm, well my goggles were kind of leaking and making the nose make a funny noise. Like, as if there was a sort of vacuum in my goggles and my nose was slightly clogged/freaking out. So I had a small window of clear to look out of, and I was holding my goggles to my head the whole time. I have figured out since that my goggles are too big for me, and I am boring a spare pair that is smaller. Mine press so hard on my forehead and nose (despite letting water in) and give me a HORRENDOUS headache. And lovely deep lines around my face after the dive that last at least 30 minutes. But I will stop complaining because the dive was so amazing! There were also these awesome black fish with metallic blue dots on their upper fins and disgusting yellow eyes, like those of a moray eel from The Little Mermaid, or a freaky feral cat. The way they watched us passing over was eerie but so cool! Jerry was our dive leader and he took some pictures of us and the nature, so I hope I get to see those soon!!!
Out of the water, we kicked on our backs like otters back to the boat, pulled off flippers and masks, and climbed up the boat to unload. Then we all jumped in the ocean and swam around. I love the ocean! I did a dive and a back flip into the water and felt amazing. Having no flippers on is tricky, though, after doing a 50 minute dive, max. depth 35 ft. with flippers.
We took off for another dive site, West Sholls, waiting a specific amount of time for our bodies to off gas the significantly large amounts of nitrogen bubbling in our bodies. At the site, some of us did dives off of the roof of the boat, me included. Ahhhh if feels so great to fly through the air! We suited up and got in the water (this time I had my air turned on hehe). Going down, we immediately noticed that this diving site was different: well, my goggles immediately filled up to the bottom of my eyes with water, but I left it there so that I could let is wipe my goggle lens clean and I could actually see the fish this time. But the reef was HUGE. It looked as if it was coral built up on old wreckage, with multiple layers and a few tunnels to swim under. I swam through one and bumped my tank on the upper layer, whoops. The girl before me got her octopus regulator stuck and I could tell she was very confused and uncomfortable. Jerry untangled her and she made it through just fine.
This was the dive that really excited me: I finally got to see a sea turtle!!! It was gorgeous and really big, too! The shell was probably as big as a large serving platter. His flippers moved slowly as he glided near the sea bottom, poking his Crush-like head (from Finding Nemo) into spaces to find a snack. I loved loved loved the turtle. I could have watched him all day. I spent a good amount of time making sure that everyone in my group had seen the turtle, which was stupid on my part because they all knew about it and I could have been watching the turtle do his thing. But that’s ok sooo cool!!!
We swam a bit and then started to resurface after about 40 minutes. I did some back flips underwater and stretched my joints to try and keep blood circulating and prevent nitrogen from pooling anywhere in my body. I have a theory that my left thumb traps nitrogen and gets sore often after dives.
Back on the boat, we ate some peanut butter and Ritz crackers and swam some more before starting in. We could see rain clouds ahead and drove right into the rain. It felt refreshing at first, but soon it felt like a thousand tiny needles poking my body. Ouch! I went under the boat top, dripping wet. I had not even taken my towel out at this point. When we docked, it was pouring. This was actually a good thing: we laid our gear out in the rain to rinse off the salt water. Unloading all of our gear, personal items, and air tanks, we were soon all drenched. Straight into the vans we went. SMELLY.
We went right to dinner, at Chamorro Village, where there are food vendors under tents and lots of tourist shopping. I put on the nice dress I was wearing earlier and my Birkenstocks. Lovely. My swimsuit made my dress very wet in all the most awkward places.
The village was awesome! I got in a long line that seemed popular and got some BBQ chicken and pork, a spicy hotdog, corn, rice, and some fried vegetable thingy. DELICIOUS. Wow, it tasted so good. I didn’t eat it all because that is a ton of food, but it was amazing. And, to make my day, I had a coconut!! The guy machete chopped off a small hole and stuck a straw in it, then when I finished the coconut water, he cut it again and put a little bit of soy sauce in for me to eat the meat. I don’t like the meat too much with soy sauce, I like it plain. But he also gave me wasabe paste, which cleared my sinuses nicely :]
I did some shopping and haggling, bought some souvenirs. I won’t say what because I don’t want to spoil it for people reading this!
I also got to hold a coconut crab, quite possibly the scariest creature on this island and the only ocean creature that Dr. Ginsburg is afraid of. The man showing off the crab said it was 34 years old and it was missing a leg, which he said it would regenerate. I was nervous and he told me to hold tight and hard, because the crab was fighting back hard. OMG scary. I held his claws together and tightly as I could without the crushing the guy, though I think that would have been quite impossible. I could feel his strength pushing against mine, and he was a very strong little guy. Jennah took a picture of me with him yay!
After our fill of fun, we left for the vans, went grocery shopping, and headed home. A shower was more than necessary. My hair was in a huge complicated knot. I might have lost a handful of it from detangling it with a comb :[ oh well. More dives today! Talk to ya later, B
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