Advanced Open Water Certification - Check!

Kerriann and I finished our advanced class yesterday, so are now able to go on some of the deeper dives in the area. I'm pretty excited, though diving five dives in less than 48 hours is too tiring for us noobs.

Highlights of my dives from the advanced class:

San Luis Beach (Night Dive) Friday, July 15, 2011 ~7 PM
I did this dive without K, as she had some other more...interesting things to do that evening.

1. Huge (2 ft +) puffer fish hanging out behind a rock. While I've seen several of these of various sizes so far, I've never seen one puffed up.
2. Elephant ear sponges, one about 3 ft in diameter.
3. Black sea urchins about the size of a softball - moving around. I've always thought of these as sedentary, so it was really cool to see them moving along the coral.
4. The full moon was out, and you could see it from a depth of 40 feet.

American Tanker (Wreck Dive) Saturday, July 16, 2011 ~2:30 PM
This was a boat dive in Apra Harbor in the Navy Base.

1. Swam length of 300+ ft long tanker on the bottom of the harbor.
2. Swam in a door and out through a hole in the roof of a small room on the stern of the tanker.
3. Had to fight the urge to "right" myself in the water, as the tanker leans to the side.
   
4. "Titanic" bow photo op.

Finger Reef (Deep Dive) Saturday, July 16, 2011 ~4 PM
Second stop on the boat.

1. Deepest dive to date (97 ft) and essentially to the limits I'm now certified for.
2. Geeked out on science and color changes at different depths due to red light not penetrating as deep as blue light.
3. Sea turtles!
4. Huge school of 12+ inch fish off in the distance - very spooky dark blob following us.
   

Clipper Landing (Navigation Dive) Sunday, July 17, 2011 ~2:30 PM

1. Lost my buddy (Kerriann) during a navigation test with a compass since I swam too fast for her without checking that she was following (oops! won't do that again).
2. Big confidence boost navigating the perimeter of a 10,000 sq. ft. section of reef alone using only a compass and ending up exactly where I started.
3. Swam as shark bait for the entire dive as the knee that I injured getting into the water continued to bleed for over an hour in the ocean.

Gab Gab Beach (Multilevel Dive) Sunday, July 17, 2011 ~ 6 PM

1. More turtles.
2. Completed certification!
   

(There wasn't a lot of new stuff to see on the last two dives as they were mostly about completing skills in the water.)

Note: All photos are still not mine, as I have not yet purchased a camera. Some were found on scubaguam.com, while others are my best approximation of what I saw from some pics found through Google image searches.

Top 10 Reasons Guam's Speed Limit is 35 mph

10. No need to remember if the speed limit changed.

9. Saves money through increased gas mileage.

8. Makes dodging boonie dogs and chickens easier.

7. Fewer serious accidents when drivers run red lights.

6. Reinforces the slow, island life mentality.

5. More time to find landmarks when following directions, as roads are not labeled.

4. No need to spend money on yellow advisory speed limit signs before sharp turns.

3. Visibility is unaffected when a torrential downpour starts out of nowhere.

2. Easier to take good side-of-the-road photos (e.g. dog riding a water buffalo).

1. Driving slow makes the island seem bigger.


Thanks for the inspiration, Mom!

Typhoon Shmyphoon

In case you've heard about the tropical storm out here in the Pacific (I'm not sure if it's technically a typhoon or not), we're all doing fine here, though we have tons and tons of rain. It seems as though the storm is much north of us and is moving on to batter Japan, as if they haven't had enough problems already. I'm not sure how the diving this weekend is going to go yet. My class may not happen. We've got some flooding, small craft, and high surf advisories through the weekend, but as long as the storm keeps on its current track we shouldn't have any problems. I'll try to keep everyone posted.

Best Quote from Diving Class

How could I forget to post this?

"When I started this class last week, I never thought to myself that I was going to get into that girl's pants."

--Melissa, said about me, while wearing my shorts so that she could gain access to the Naval Exchange building on base

Treasure Hunting and Scuba Diving

K and I went on MDA's 21st Annual Treasure Hunt this past Saturday. MDA (Micronesian Divers Association) is the main dive shop on the island, and throughout this area of the Pacific. The dive site we hunted in is called Seabee Junkyard and is about 30 ft. underwater. After construction of the breakwater around the harbor, this area became the dumping ground for the leftover machinery. Bulldozers, cranes, and other large items that were more trouble to dispose of in other ways besides dumping them in the ocean have found their final resting place here, making lots of places to hide treasure.

K got to do the real thing and dive in and around all the junk, but since I wasn't certified yet (but am now!), I went along for the ride to do some snorkeling and check the whole dive boat process out firsthand. It was very cool to see all this equipment from a distance and to watch all the divers below me. The visibility was great. I followed K for awhile, though she had no idea I was above her. After awhile I spent most of my time in the shallows watching fish and trying out a cheap-o underwater camera. I'll be investing in a good digital one soon.

This video will give you some small sense of what the dive boat was like. About 20-25 people were on board, including both my dive instructor and Kerriann's. Everyone in the dive community has been really welcoming and accommodating, and our transition into being enthusiasts is going swimmingly (ha!).

It was hard to see K get in the water through all the people as I tried to not be the annoying chick with the camera. However, you can sort of see her bunny-hop water entry here:

Now let me tell you, the biggest thing I struggled with during my diving class was this thing called the "giant stride." This is the way you're supposed to enter the water with all your gear on from a boat. It should look like the dude to the right (except that this image is reflected since your left hand goes on your mask while your right hand goes on your weight belt quick release).


I spent a good solid five minutes (maybe more) last week being petrified of the 6-8 ft drop when I had to giant stride into this pool-like area where we did all our confined water dive stuff.


I felt so clumsy with all my gear on, and used sooooo much of my air in my tank finding the nerve to step in. I have never been so scared that I literally could not move before. It only took me about 1 min on the second day though, and hopefully in general I won't ever have to do it from that height on any real dives in the future. Seeing what it's like on a boat makes me feel much better. Bunny-hop. Sheesh.

The area I took my class in is called Gab Gab Beach, and is on the Naval Base. I can't go back there unless I make friends with someone else in the military. Lt. Tim, one of my classmates, got us onto the base every day for class. This is Tim and Melissa as we waited for our instructor for our final two dives to get certified.


Our open water dives started out here off the beach. We saw tons of fish on the reef, including a school of tiny silver fish "running" away from a hunting barracuda. They were jumping out of the water all around us as a unit after we surfaced. It was the coolest thing ever. Highlights of our last dive included an anemone about the size of a car tire with clown fish hanging out inside, as well as a 2 ft puffer fish way off in the distance. I hope to start posting my own photos of fish soon, rather than just lifting other people's pictures from the internet trying to show you what I've seen. I'm itching for an underwater camera.


Okay, so I got sidetracked. There's so much to talk about. Back to the treasure hunt.

When you think scuba diving and treasure hunt in the same thought, you might envision finding chests of doubloons on a sunken Spanish galleon. Our treasure hunt was a bit different. Think Easter egg hunt under water. The task was to find golf balls and plastic eggs, limit one each per person. Golf balls were in abundance at all depths (I got my own with just a snorkel), but eggs were few and far between. Only a handful of people on our boat found any, and K was not one of them. They could be redeemed for cool prizes at the buffet dinner and raffle that night. The raffle prizes were big - dive trips on Guam, some to nearby islands, plane tickets, and fancy diving gear. Some of you may be familiar with my good luck during raffles (and no, I didn't take the pilates classes before the coupon expired).

For buying $10 worth of tickets I won a wetsuit - that's too small for me. We'll see if I can get some money for it on Craigslist or Ebay. I can't understand why they would just give this bad-ass wetsuit away! I mean, is this shark repellent or what? This is no small image on the pocket area of the suit, let me assure you that we mean business, dagger and skull blazing on the chest of this bad boy.

The speaker of honor for the evening dinner was Stan Waterman, a 90 year old diver, photographer, and 5 time Emmy-winning film maker. He showed us three of his short films, including footage of divers swimming in schools of dozens, maybe even hundreds of hammerhead sharks. I'm not sure I'm ready for that much excitement yet, at least not until I get a wetsuit that fits.

Chamorro Village

Last Wednesday evening after my first day of diving I picked up K from work and we went to Chamorro Village, which is about fifteen minutes from where we're living and about five minutes from K's office. There they hold a street fair of sorts every Wednesday night, with tons of great looking food, musicians and dancers, and vendors selling their wares. I couldn't resist buying the piggy bank made from a coconut - his ears are so cute! He will serve as storage for my tiny diving treasures.

I also saw the ugliest crab I've ever seen - this picture does NOT do it justice (click to enlarge). From below, it reminded me of the facehugger form of Sigourney Weaver's alien foes (her character, Ripley, is my dog's namesake). It's a coconut crab, the largest terrestrial arthropod. Their pincers are strong enough to crack coconuts, one of their main food sources, though they also eat fruits and may scavenge dead animals.

Right next to Crab Dude was another person holding (I think) a monitor lizard. The video I took wasn't that great because the light was so low, but these people seemed to be hanging out here with these animals for the sole purpose of posing for tourists like me to take their pictures. How could I let them down?

After walking around a bit, we settled on a line for dinner. I ordered the Fiesta Plate and got a huge pork chop, skewered barbequed chicken, red rice, shrimp patty, and chapchae (a Korean noodle and veggie dish) all for $7.

This ended up being dinner, as well as my pre-diving breakfast for the next two days. Guam seems to be like Texas and Las Vegas in that portions are quite large here. Meats and starches carry the meals as veggies are pretty scarce/not fresh. Veggies that look good in the grocery stores are root vegetables and cabbages. As such, I've had several helpings of really good cole slaw here, and great fries and onion rings.

Can't wait for next Wednesday.

Room Temperature

In Guam I've come to a new appreciation of the relative term "room temperature." My lab interpretation of this number is somewhere between 22-25 ˚ C (that's 77 ˚ F max). This is likely because the dead white science guys who established "standard" conditions conventions hundreds of years ago (in addition to other things my students complain about every year) were living in Europe where the average temperature was in the 70s as a high during the summer and what they might strive to attain during cold winters. I am spoiled at Bentley myself (I just recently learned the appropriate grammar usage of the word "myself"), and don't typically teach in more than 70 ˚ F since I am master of my own climate, and don't pay the power bill.

This is my first return to the "tropics" (technically anywhere between 22.45 ˚ N and 22.45 ˚ S latitude) since my Hawaiian vacation 10 years ago. Guam is about 13.5 ˚ N latitude. While some of you live in what might be considered a more tropical climate in FL and TX, you're well above the Tropic of Cancer. I wonder what your room temperature is?

Energy is crazy expensive here, as is most everything. The electricity bill for our three floor townhouse has ranged from $900-$1400 over the last three months as my housemates have struggled to adjust to the climate while not bankrupting themselves. Our house is currently set at an amazingly livable 81 ˚ F for most of the day while I'm the only one home. My housemates have made a two degree accommodation for me from the 83 ˚ F they've had it at for some time. We all get to enjoy 79 ˚ F in the evenings. Price-wise, it probably doesn't help that there are at least 200 lights in the place. No joke. I counted them. Sixty in the kitchen, eighty in the TV room. I've made it my mission to leave no unused light on while I'm here.

The saddest thing about the energy situation is this:


I saw this power station near a snorkeling spot a few days ago. While I did not take this photo myself (ha!), the billowing brown smoke/gas was very real and made me a bit worried about the air I was breathing through the little tube in my mouth. It also reminded me of the potential fate of the coral reefs in the area. If you haven't heard about the problem of ocean acidification yet, I'd invite you to watch this video narrated by Sigourney Weaver. It's 20 minutes of some great images and good science.

Maybe we can all turn up our room temperatures this summer to save the planet a bit.

Tasi 17

Now that there's some sun, and I've found Kerriann's Flip camera, I can share some video of my new summer digs. On the first floor out of the garage you come into the kitchen, with patio.

Up one flight is the TV room area, Eric's bedroom, and an empty guest room, which is just waiting for someone to come visit us. Any takers?

Then there's the balcony with an amazing view.

On the third floor Zeus (a.k.a. Jesus) and Julie (collectively also known as Juice and Zulie) share a room across from my room with Kerriann. Eric and I are calling this the Batcave.

So what are you waiting for? Start looking for flights!

Yin and Yang

Light and darkness. Good and evil. Protons and electrons. Waking and sleeping. Definite opposites, two sides of the same coin, and we need both to function in the world.

While I woke up this morning at 4:30 AM instead of 2:30, I was able to fall back asleep until 9:30 after putting the A/C on and hydrating a bit. I had my best night's sleep yet since my arrival in Guam, though the battle with jetlag continues. Kerriann, who has had no problem sleeping since we got here, woke up with me but could not fall back asleep.

So what was the independent variable? We slept with the window shutters open to allow the rising sun to enter the Batcave in the morning to help with melatonin production stoppage. A side effect was that the traffic light outside the window projected an alternating red, yellow, and green patch of light on the wall of our room all night. Causation or correlation? More experimentation may be needed, as I need to isolate the A/C and fluid variables for myself. K did nothing different, however. She's convinced it's the shutters.

So the battle of wills begins. I'm tempted to make a cutout for the window to have a real bat signal on the wall.

Blog Resurrection: Guam

When I started telling people Kerriann was planning to take a job in Guam, the most common response was something like, "I don't even know where that is." I was once one of those people too, and since you can take the teacher out of the school, but you can't take the schooling out of the teacher (or something...), here's some information about my current location.

Guam is about 1500 mi from Tokyo. It is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands, which are located next to the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean. If Mount Everest at 8,848 meters (29,029 ft) was set in the deepest part of the Mariana Trench, there would be 2,076 meters (6,811 ft) of water left above it. That's roughly the elevation of Lake Tahoe. Technically, if you measure Mt. Lamlam on Guam from the bottom of the ocean floor, I'm living in the shadow of one of the tallest mountains on the planet. Technically Mauna Kea in Hawaii is a bit taller, but I didn't quite get all the geological reasons why. (I never took geology in school.)

I found out today that to the east of the island is the Pacific Ocean but to the west is the Philippine Sea. Who knew? The north end of the island is mostly naval bases, and Kerriann hasn't taken me that direction yet. The southern part of the island is very rural and mostly jungle. I got the southern loop tour today and saw a bajillion palm trees, coconuts fallen on the side of the road, wild (boonie) chickens and dogs (though not as many as K has led me to believe are here), and not a lot else. I haven't seen a single brown tree snake yet, though I hear they are nocturnal. We drove past Magellan's landing site, though I was too put off by the heat to get out of the air conditioned car to read the plaque. It amazes me that in the 1500s Magellan et. al. sailed around the Pacific Ocean in their little ships. Lunch was at Jeff's Pirates Cove, where I ate Greek food and drank a mai tai.

The midsection of the island, zoomed in here, seems to be the most populated. Tamuning is our very touristy town (the nearby area is known as Little Waikiki), located around the two bays. This is what I'd call "civilization," where you can expect to see business establishments on the side of the road instead of just trees.

And when I say business, I mean business. The largest K-Mart in the world means business. I hope to avoid this store as long as possible, though I've been in some very cool furniture stores, several surf shops looking for a bathing suit that fits (who goes to an island on vacation without a bathing suit, and what island doesn't sell them?), and several grocery stores. Eggs in Guam - not fresh. Cartons had June 1 dates on them. Not sure if the boonie chickens are to blame or not. Also, in three months Kerriann was unable to find any Diet Dr. Pepper. In three days I found two stores that carry it.

Finally, we've zoomed in enough to see my 'hood. Click the map to see a larger image. (I think it's cool that Google maps has places labeled in what I assume is Japanese.) The bottom right corner of the map is our bank of 17 townhouses - Tasi 17. We will be getting our gym membership from one of the myriad of local hotels at some point, as I've been tasked with checking them out and comparing where we'll get the best deal for the most stuff. (I hope you can feel my excitement through the computer.) The most important perk will be easy beach access. In addition to the Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood not far from here, there's an area called "Guamdeo Drive." It's a block or two of high-end shopping that caters to the Japanese tourists, and Tiffani's sucked Kerriann in a day or two ago. That store is her kryptonite, though her new scuba diving hobby promises to bankrupt her first. I think tomorrow we'll be going out to try all her new gear. I tried mine out today. Stay tuned for the diving update.

Now to try for the fourth night in a row to sleep through the night. I do not understand jetlag at all, and it's been frustrating me to no end, but it makes for early swimming adventures before the heat of the day sets in. If only I could wake up that early when I have a job to go to.