Guam, a Family Vacation Spot?

Guam, Micronesia

We spent a few days on Guam this February after a couple of weeks on Yap.  We thought, "It's a transfer point, an island in the sun, when would we be back?  Let's have a look."  Our travel agent booked us into the Outrigger, Guam on beautiful Tumon Bay.  We were ready for some swimming and snorkeling.

We arrived at Guam airport about six am from Yap.  We were interviewed by a nice, young, American customs/border security agent upon arrival.  He expressed surprise when we said the purpose of our visit was holiday.  Then he flipped to our passports and commented, "First time visitor" as if that explained everything.

We took a taxi to the hotel -- $20 US -- fair price.  The hotel staff was very accommodating in allowing us to use a room to change clothes and freshen up as our room wasn't yet available.  They would have upgraded us to that room at no extra charge.  No complaints there.  We freshened up and went for a walk on the lovely grounds and then along the beach.  The Outrigger has two excellent pools on their grounds as well as large hot tubs.  No complaints there.

It was when we walked to the northern border of the hotel property that we found a permanent sign that advised due to high bactrial count swimming was prohibited for 400 yards north and south of the sign.  The sign was flipped down in warning mode for the few days that we were there.  At the end of the visit, the count had apparently dropped to a safe level.  If you look at the bottom part of the photo of the bay, you can see an algal bloom along the shore in front of the hotel grounds.  We roughly paced off the 400 yards to the south of the sign which took us to the grounds of the Hyatt, Guam and found no signs warning those guests of probable contamination.  As you can see, the sign is in English -- easy for me to read.  90% of Guam's tourists are Japanese.  Rental of water toys was brisk and many Japanese tourists were having fun in this water.

OK, you holiday doesn't consist only of swimming.  We took a walk up the street.  There were big name stores with glitzy products for sale -- Fendi, Rolex, Chanel.  The stores were busy with shoppers.  Some of the other shops were selling more gritty products.  Cheek by jowl with the first class hotels and high end shopping are strip clubs and massage parlours.

Guam is an important American military outpost.  Much of the island is dedicated to military affairs.  The day before we were leaving a Stealth bomber crashed there.  This ramped the security level up to orange, second highest rating.  I took more than two hours to clear the checks they had imposed.  Now their Transportation Security Administration(TSA) has ruled that only two locks for your checked baggage are approved for use.  They probably won't break those locks.  Hmmm, both the companies making these locks ar US companies and they now demand all travellers use these specially approved locks at $8 to $15 each.

So, call me crabby.  Guam is an important air transfer point for the South Pacific.  Your plane may have to land there, but if it does, just move on to you connection.  You're not missing much.