Diving in Guam - Sat 19-May-2007 Tue, 05 Jun 2007 12:11 PM Posted by Shadow After arriving in Guam early Saturday morning from Palau at 5.30 am, I rocked up to the dive shop for the 8.30 am shore dive. All boats were booked out but the friendly folk at MDA ( Micronesian Divers Association) put on free shore dives led by a local instructor as a guide. Tank and weights for $8.00 US make this a cheap day out, and I only had one day to dive before flying back to Cairns, so it was now or never. After falling in love with the resident cat - Gilbert, I signed the register and waited for the others to appear. After consulting the tide charts Lee, the guide, decided that the spot he wanted to show me would be to tidally effected so he switched to plan B. The 3 of us then headed off to a local cemetery where Lee told me to leave the car unlocked as, "it stops the bastards from breaking the windows to steal anything," Comforting words indeed. I presumed he meant the living, not the dead people. Lee, Andy and myself waded in and swam across the shallows until the depth reached about 30 ft and then dropped down onto the coral below. I have to say this was very interesting diving. Fantastic coral and reef formations, fair fish life, although some of the coral appears to be dead and covered in a fine layer of silt. Enough of the reef was alive to make it a good dive and half way through the dive we encountered the Amtrak (an amphibious vehicle transporter with traction wheels). This small but well preserved WW2 wreck was a highlight for me and if the other 2 hadn't been hell bent on finding a rumoured drop off, I would have happily explored around the wreckage for another 15 minutes. Visability improved as we swam seaward and probably reached 50-60ft. The 3 of us had lunch at the nearby Seamans Club. Possibly the best Cheese Burger of my whole trip, but as I had decided to do a 2nd dive with them the Bourbon and coke was put on the back burner. Both men were from Minnesota and after hearing their stories of Minnesota Winters - 30F, I decided Melbourne isn't so bad after all. No wonder they chose to spend a few years in Guam. After reconoitering back at the dive shop I forked out a massive $3.00 US for a fill and met our new buddy Dean who looked remarkably like the actor Ed Harris. Dean had toured through Australia and felt that Boags Beer was the best he had ever tasted. We bonded instantly at this point.The cat of course said nothing. The 2nd dive was at Nimitz Beach. I'm reliably informed that every 2nd thing in Guam is named after the ubiquitous Admiral Nimitz as well a class of naval vessels. Gearing up on grass with the cars unlocked (wallets back at the shop for safe keeping) was a breeze and then it was a short 10 metre walk to the waters edge. This dive had more interesting coral formations than the cemetry, but possibly due to its location next to a ramp there was more dead coral than live, but fantastic swim thru's and canyons. Some of the sea slugs were massive and nudibranchs were not hard to find. I really enjoyed it although the viz was not much over 20 ft. After dropping off the hire gear and picking up my Dive card from the shop Dean graciously gave me a lift back to my motel. I have to say after meeting these 3 guys and the MDA staff, that if anybody is passing through Guam, go diving with MDA - they sure look after you. Don't fall in love with Gilbert the cat as he's mine! Content received from: Victorian Sub-Aqua Group (VSAG), http://www.vsag.org.au