South Island tour

We got to enjoy a wonderful week with Adam on leave at the end of Dec/beginning of Jan just hanging around mostly, being lazy.

The best daywas a long, tiring and fun day on Guam. We decided to pack a cooler and go around the south side of the island, exploring some things we've seen before but wanted to show Adam, and other things that none of us had explored yet.

Our first stop was to look at Talofofo bay.

Next was Gef Pago and the Historic Inalajan village. This time, we learned how to make rope from leaves and were greeted by the same wonderful master weaver as we were last time! We also ran into friends from church which made it even more fun. :)!





After that we headed down to the Inarajan pools for a short swimming and snorkeling time.

We hopped into the car and ate while continuing around to the tip of the island. There we stopped in the southernmost village, called Merizo, to explore a bit. Merizo park was beautiful, offering excellent views of Cocos Island (a resort Island south of Guam).  I wish I knew before eating in the car that there were picnic tables there! We found an old bell tower that was apparently built in 1910, and climbed up the hill behind the village parish to the Cocos Island overlook and the Rosary.

From there we headed north to Fort Soledad.












And Magellan's landing point

Don't  worry mom, I can walk, straight into the water.....

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial park

The Cetti Bay overlook

and then went to the base pool to swim again for about an hour before finally heading home.

 This week has been back to reality with Adam back to the boat and the kids and I back to school (no field trip this week due to migraines). Can't say how thankful I am that work is here now and not in HI! Looking forward to an adventure filled weekend!

Magellan's landing

And a bit more :)!

Yesterday I let the oldest pick where we went for our field trip because it was his birthday. He chose to try to find Ferdinand Magellan's landing site, so, after we were done with some things that had to be done, we headed out.

The location is on Umatac Bay, a bit south of the Navy base on the western side of the island. it's a beautiful, quiet, drive to get there.

I should clarify: the traditional landing site is at Umatac Bay, but of course historians dispute the actual landing site. What is not disputed is that the bay was used for the Spanish trade route from Mexico to the Philippines, and that there was a fort at both the north and south ends of the bay.

When we arrived in the bay area, we started at the north end of the bay to try to find the ruins of Fort San Jose. We found a pull off to park at with beautiful views, but failed to figure out where the ruins were. (Now looking back on it I think I know where they are, so we'll have to go back and try again).

Then we continued around the bay to stop and look at a cross situated on the bay and admire the small catholic church across the street.





Next we arrived at the beach park with the Magellan memorial marker. We read all the signs, explored the church ruins of an old catholic church across the street, and then went back to the beach side to explore the beach a bit. This beach was much different than many of the other's I've seen thus far on Guam. The rocks were different and the sand was black in color. It was still quite beautiful, just different.

historical marker

church ruins-and little ones distracted
by a coconut.

river flowing into the bay

 From there, we continued around the bay to our final destination: Fort Nuestra de la Soledad. There are no actual signs I saw to mark the site, but I can now say that if you're heading south it's the second right turn following this:

Pretty cool, huh? I could actually see the Fort from the marker for Magellan's landing, so I knew about where to go, and just guessed until I figured it out. :)! It was completely worth it. We got to explore, and the views from the top were breathtaking.

On our way home I pulled off at a random overlook area just south of one we stopped at the the last time we were in the area. The views were completely amazing, and I can't wait to explore some of the trails we saw the starts to there!