This past week, KW and I enjoyed our first getaway since her return. We kept the schedule light and flexible as usual and didn't plan a single thing. No hotel nor car reservations and certainly no itinerary.
KW flew out by herself to meet me in Saipan. My work trip ended in Saipan, and rather than return to Guam as scheduled, I got permission to stay behind to start a vacation. Saipan is smaller than Guam, so getting around is pretty easy. We got a car, drove to the Hyatt Resort (I was told our company has a corporate rate) and had a message to meet a couple friends for dinner. We had told them we might be doing this and that we'd try to catch up with them if we did. Matt works with me in Guam, and Vicky-his lovely wife, and KW get along well.
We had Thai dinner the first night. Nothing spectacular. I guess we've been spoiled with all the different Thai/Balinesian/Indian foods we've been able to try out here. Some of them are absolutely spectacular.....but not this place.
The next morning, Matt and I dove The Grotto. It's one of the famous pacific dives out here and I could see why. There's a few pics of it on our flickr. It is a sinkhole inland that connects through caves to the ocean. It is formed by dissolved limestone collapsing and eroding. The water is dark and the dive guide had a flashlight to help a little. Divers have gotten lost and died down there in the caves or gotten to the ocean and not been able to get back in the cave. The coast line there is very tall cliff with pounding, violent surf. You don't want to get stuck outside not able to get back in the correct entrance. The guide was a good investment in our longevity.
The dive was stellar. There were some fish. Some pretty big fish, sea turtle etc...but the star of this dive is the rock formation and caves and the electric/neon/explosive blue colors from the sun shadowing the underwater limestone caves. I've never seen the color before, so I don't kow what to say about it. You need to Google "saipan grotto picture" and see some underwater pics, but even that probably wouldn't be fair.
Later that day we drove around and did our tour of Saipan. Overall, the island is prettier than Guam. Smaller, and somewhat less touristy, with wayyyy better roads and overall maintenance of public parks (even security in the parks!!) and such ...it provided a picture of what Guam could've been like if GovGuam weren't corrupt.
Our tour took us to the Suicide cliff and Banzai cliff. Sad stories relating to WWII and these cliffs. Apparently, Japanese generals told their soldiers that the US forces would torture and canabalize them. rather than face such a horrific doom, they threw themselves off Banzai cliff to their demise as the US forces approached. As the word spread of the US force's alleged treatment to Japanese families, they gathered at Suicide Cliff and one by one...youngest child first father last, pushed each other off the cliff.
The rest of our tour was pretty, but nothing remarkable to post about. We finished the day at the resort with some pool B-Ball and dinner at Bobby Cadillac's.
The next day, we flew over to Tinian Island for a day trip. The short flight took us to an even smaller island, with few inhabitants. Tinian was famous for being the largest airport in the world at one point. It was infamous for being the airport where the Enola Gay loaded and launched from. The 2 nuclear bomb loading bays are still there and preserved under glass structures as National Historic Landmarks, with photos from the period. (pics on Flickr). The area is heavily overgrown and not maintained well. There are bomb shelters nearby, old building structures and of course, all the runways the military built up during the war. It was somber to think that I was standing where the Enola Gay loaded an atomic bomb that would shape the world we live in. How much different would our world be if the events that took place here never happened? For better or worse, things would be remarkably different.
Our Tinian tour also took us to a couple neat spots....the Blowhole (pic on flickr) and the Tinian Dynasty casino...no pics, sorry.
We finished the day flying back to Saipan and going to watch the sunset at Wing Beach (a WWII airplane crashed there giving the name) and met some people who started a beach bonfire.
Last day...world's most pointless snorkeling tour to Managaha Island. It sucked and I don't want to talk about it. Those 3 hrs of my life are gone.
Fortunately the boat driver stopped at a Jap Zero plane that crashed upside down in about 25 feet of water. We snorkeled down to it to get a closer look. That was the only part that was worthwhile from that day.
We checked out and left back to Guam.
Kona-Hawaii
10 years ago
3 comments:
I'd love to hear your thoughts on Managaha.
Sure...I thought Managaha was little more than a Japanese tourist trap. The snorkeling was far below average for this part of the world. We wouldn't bother going again and certainly wouldn't recommend it. It was crowded and the lifeguards were a pain, blocking people from snorkeling in some areas. There are many places that are more secluded on Saipan and have better snorkeling,are free and are far more quiet and relaxing. Wing Beach was far better for everything, for example.
yeah, managaha sucks. they try to act like youre missing something if you dont go. it was pretty painful. we were all a bit frustrated that we got sucked into that one, but to steves defense, i think he only went because vicki and i conned him into it. the wrecked plane was pretty cool though and everything else on saipan was just as steve said, their lack of good eats could be inproved upon, but that could possibly commercialize the island for the worse.
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