I went to the northern most point on the island of Guam to a beach called Ritidian Beach this past week. The location of this beach was really out of the way from civilization, but the drive to the beach made for some spectacular views of Guam’s untouched northern coast during the last leg of the drive when I descended down from the cliffs to the coastline. I don’t think anyone lived in the surrounding area, and the only reason people would go there was to spend some time at the beach. While walking along the beach I noticed movement in the sand, and upon closer examination there were hundreds of hermit crabs like the one pictured below all along the beach. I’ve been told by the locals that there are huge crabs called coconut crabs on the island that can grow the size of car tires. I doubt I’ll ever get to see a coconut crab but I’ll keep my eyes open for one just in case!

While visiting a memorial park on the northern part of the island of Guam I got an exciting surprise when overhead I saw a strange flying craft in the sky. In the northern part of Guam there is a large Air Force Base, and the craft I saw was a B-2 Spirit Bomber owned by the US Air Force. The only reason I was able to spot the B-2 bomber was because it flew directly over the park at such a low altitude and it was such a clear day with almost no clouds in the sky. Once these bombers are way up in the sky and at a distance you can barely see them because the bomber is so thin. I guess the Air Force was doing training runs because the bomber actually passed overhead 3 times while I was at the park. Here are pictures of the B-2 bomber:

Umatac village and bay is located on the southwestern coast of Guam. Umatac Bay is considered the location where famous Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan first landed on Guam, and it was used as a stop for ships along the Spanish trade routes. The remnants of two Spanish forts on both sides of the bay still sit on top of the hills. The two forts were used as lookout points and were equipped with cannons which were used to protect the Spanish ships docked in Umatac Bay from other enemy ships trying to loot the cargo. Today the forts are a popular tourist attraction.

While exploring Umatac Bay this past week I had a chance to visit one of the forts and take some photos overlooking Umatac Bay. There are quite a few bays around the coast of southern Guam, but I have to say Umatac Bay is one of my favorites because of its scenic beauty and the number of historic sites around the area. Below are a few pictures I took while at Umatac Bay along with some descriptions that follow:

Left Image: A photo of Umatac Bay from one of the Spanish fort lookouts. You can also see the San Dionisio Church along the coast of the bay.
Right Image: A photo of the northern coast of Umatac Bay. The second Spanish fort is located on top of the rock/hill jutting out towards the ocean.

Left Image: Photo of San Dionisio Church which is the Catholic church for Umatac village.
Right Image: A photo of a cross in front of the San Dionisio Church with Umatac Bay in the background. In addition, if you look closely you can see the Spanish fort, known as Fort Nuestra Senora de la Soledad, on top of the hill in the background.

Left Image: A photo of the Spanish cannons at Fort Nuestra Senora de la Soledad which looks over Umatac Bay.
Right Image: Photo of Fort Neustra Senora de la Soledad overlooking Umatac Bay with the opposite coastline of the bay also visible.

Image Courtesy of Pacific Daily News

After spending some time at the beach today, I decided to take a break from sightseeing under the burning tropical sun to catch up on some much needed posts. I think my sun-burnt body will thank me for spending some time under a roof and out of harms way from all those UV rays. The amount of photos sitting on my hard drive waiting to be published on the blog is overwhelming and I’m going to try to get as much of them posted as I can today, but first here’s a current events story from Guam I came across while reading the paper today; something I think you’ll all enjoy (especially the male readers).

Well, after seven years of being on hiatus the Miss Guam Universe Pageant is returning to Guam this year. Fifteen of Guam’s most beautiful local ladies will start competing today for the title of Miss Guam. The winner of the Miss Guam Pageant will go on to compete in the Miss Universe Pageant and win a $5,000 cash prize, as well as some other perks. Go Miss Guam!

The heated Democratic Presidential race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has been big news on the island of Guam the past few days. The close race has made the island of Guam the center of attention in Washington today as Guam Democrats vote in its presidential caucuses – an event which usually went unnoticed. History was actually made in Guam this year when Barack Obama’s campaign opened a Guam office in the village of Hagatna in early April. No other presidential candidate has ever made this type of commitment in the history of Guam. In addition to this, the radio and television stations on Guam have been consistently playing advertisements from both candidates over the last couple days. A few days ago Barack Obama even called in to one of the local radio stations as a guest which surprised a lot of people on the island.

I think it’s great that I’m on the island while such historic events are taking place on Guam. From what I have experienced, it seems like the Obama campaign spent a lot more money to win support in Guam. Pretty much every advertising channel on the island was touched by the Obama campaign. Obama had advertisements consistently running all over television and radio, pamphlets inserted into Guam’s major newspaper, and Internet ads plastered all over the biggest news website for the island, www.guampdn.com. The only advertisements I experienced from the Clinton campaign were television ads, and the frequency of the ads were very minimal. I think this was due to the fact that it has been mentioned the Clinton campaign is strapped on cash. I’m really interested to see who will win the votes from Guam’s superdelegates.

I’m not trying to turn this travel blog into a political one, but I think it was important to mention because this is such big news on Guam right now. The fact that both candidates are paying so much attention to Guam to win over votes from Guam’s super delegates shows just how close the Democratic race is for President.

At the beginning of every month I’ll be making a post about the income (or loss) generated from Traveling Project for the previous month, and then updating the totals on the “Project Income” page so readers who are interested in the project’s success can follow it. I’m sure there will be times when I’m out traveling, and the location won’t have any Internet access; if this is the case I’ll do my best to post the report as soon as I get online access. Now, on to the April 2008 report:

Total Income for April 2008: -$292.23

Due to this project being started in April, I expected it to produce a loss instead of income just like any other business venture does in the first few months or even years it is started. Most of the expenses came from advertising I purchased to promote Traveling Project, which I think will prove valuable in the future and be a great return on investment as the project continues to grow. Here’s the breakdown of income and expenses:

Total Income: $0.27
Google Adsense Income: $0.15
Private Ad Sales: $0.00
Affiliate Commissions: $0.00
Kontera: $0.12

Total Expenses: $292.50
Web Design Expense: $15.00
Advertising Expense: $152.50
Donations: $125.00

I expect the project to generate a loss for the next couple months as I continue to aggressively spend on advertising.

I had a chance to do some sightseeing in the village of Hagatna, and while at Fort Santa Agueda I took some great photos overlooking Hagatna. In the left image you can see the village of Hagatna, Chamorro Village, Paseo Stadium and park – all in the foreground in front of the water. The village of Hagatna is the main business district on the island and is the location of the majority of local business offices and government agencies on Guam. During the weekdays the village is extremely busy, but on the weekends it turns into a ghost town because everything is closed in the area. Chamorro Village, the group of buildings with red-colored rooftops in the right-center of the picture, really isn’t a village but a group of small buildings with local merchants selling Chamorro arts, crafts, clothing, and local food. It’s another great destination for tourists to visit while on Guam. It’s hard to see the actual baseball field at Paseo Stadium in the picture, but just behind Chamorro Village you can see the large baseball field lights that illuminate the field on the weekends when teams from Guam’s baseball league are playing a game.

The photo on the right shows the Hagatna Boat Basin where local fishermen and tour companies dock their boats when not in use. You can also see the entrance to the boat basin which is a popular surfing and bodyboarding spot for the locals. Just watch out for the boats entering and exiting the channel!