Diving sites of Guam

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Guam has some of the best dive sites in the world since there has been minimal tourist impact compared to other better known dive locations. Piti Bomb Holes has been built up as a tourist attraction allowing tourists to descend into an observatory where they can take in the beauty that has grown in a sinkhole. (The name "Bomb Holes" is a misnomer.) Divers may dive around this attraction and feed swarms of fish for the amusement of the tourists inside the subaquatic observatory as much as for the divers' own amusement.

While many of the dive sites can be reached by land, some of these entry points require a long walk over coral or a long surface swim. Also, because so much of the island is controlled by U.S. military bases, many of the dive sites are accessed by land through the military bases.

The list below are some of the dive sites in Guam.

[edit] North of Piti Bomb Holes

Asan Cut
Blue and White
Dolphin Point
Double Reef
Gun Beach

Gun Beach is remarkable for several reasons. First and foremost, it is perhaps the only SCUBA dive site in Tumon Bay, the main resort hotel / tourism area, comparable to Hawaii's Waikiki Beach. Most other sites, with the exception of the sewage treatment plant, are at least a 30 minute drive from this hotel district. This divesite is at the extreme right-hand side of Tumon Bay, past the last hotel, and down a short dirt road. There are no facilities at the site, although it is within a 5-minute walk of the nearest hotel. Note that there is NO protected area of the shallows which are sufficiently deep to conduct the shallow-water dive lesson commonly given in "intro diving" (no-license diving, preceded by a 30-minute dive lesson), although the site is nearly ideal in most other respects. This beach dive is started and ended by walking in ankle-to-knee-deep water perpendicular to the beach, along a thigh-width pipe. At the wave-break zone, this pipe is at the bottom of a rip-current notch in the reef. Fortunately, the pipe has rough joints at intervals of about one yard, making it almost a perfect "ladder" to easily work back in toward shore against that outgoing rip-current. Once past the wave-break zone, the reef slopes off at a gentle 20 degree angle toward deep water. The shallowest portions almost reach the water's surface, while the deep end finishes in a sandy plain roughly 90'~100' down. Divers should confine their attention to the side of the divesite closest to the center of Tumon Bay rather than "away", because the "away" side is generally populated with dead corals and Crown of Thorns starfish. The "near" side, on the other hand, has excellent corals..candlesticks, brain corals, and antler corals. There are hand-shaped "spider" shells, an abundance of fish life, and an offshore permanent boat mooring.

Napoleon Cut
Northern Caves
Shark's Hole
The Pinnacle

[edit] South of Piti Bomb Holes

Apra Harbor
- American Tanker
- Dotte Beach
- Family Beach

Family Beach, located near Outhouse Beach, is idyllic beach diving. it is within Apra Harbor, thereby guaranteeing that during most weather it is divable. Unlike Outhouse Beach, it is fairly brightly lit, with moderately well developed corals and moderately abundant sea life. Parking is alongside a white sandy beach. From there, divers wade out on a flat, sandy/grassy bottom in knee-to-waist-high water until reaching a narrow (30' wide) canyon that runs parallel to the beach. Diving is typically done along near and far walls of the canyon, in 6'~30' of water. Care should be taken not to stir up the sandy/silty bottom of the canyon, in order to maintain good visibility during the dive. The primary reason that Outhouse Beach is a common dive site, while Family Beach is not, is that Family Beach's access is controlled by a private owner who may charge fees or deny access, whereas Outhouse Beach is not hampered in this way.

- Finger Reef

Like Outhouse Beach and Family Beach, Finger Reef is inside Apra Harbor, and therefore divable even when rough weather threatens to make most of Guam's divesites undivable. There, the similarity ends. Finger Reef is an extremely well-developed reef wall along the opposite side of Apra Harbor, much closer to the Harbor's sea access opening. It is quite far from shore, and the nearby shore is part of a restricted-access military base, so almost all divers reach the site by diveboat. The reef starts at roughly 20~30' and drops off to roughly 60'. Dives are typically done as wall-dives, but not drift dives. Divers typically make their ascent and descent along the boat's anchor rope, and the boat is motionless during the dive. Because Finger Reef is full of sealife, protected by the harbor, relatively shallow, and near Blue Hole, it is a very popular "second dive of the day" after visiting Blue Hole.

- Gab Gab
- Hourglass Reef
- Japanese Tugboat
- Nichiyu Maru
- Outhouse Beach

Outhouse Beach is a favorite spot for SCUBA certification dives. On a typical day, five to ten SCUBA companies' vans will be gathered at this site, busy conducting PADI Open Water certification dives. This should not, however, be taken as a sign that the site is exceptionally pretty. In fact, it is not. The steep beach is made of large pebbles. Underwater, there is little or no reef, and little sealife. Horizontal visibility underwater is between 10 and 20 yards. The main reason for its popularity with SCUBA shops is that the site is within Apra harbor, virtually guaranteeing that even during inclement weather the site will be divable. In addition, the beach entry is particularly easy, with no sharp corals to walk over nor long surface swim.

- Sea Planes
- Seabee Junkyard
- SMS Cormoran
- Sponge Reef
- The Val
- Tokai Maru
- Western Shoals
Aratama Maru
Blue Hole

The "Blue Hole" is within 30 yards of shore. However, the shore it's near is a towering, jagged cliff on a military base. Therefore, it's typically accessed by divers via boat. The Blue Hole is, like Saies Tunnel in Palau, a wide tunnel from shallow to deep points within a submerged wall. The hole's shallowest point is within a few yards of the edge of an extreme vertical dropoff, and lies in about 40' of water. The tunnel below it is a straight vertical plunge to the extreme limit of recreational diving depths, roughly 110' (depending on the tides). The tunnel is roughly as wide as a passenger van. There is a permanent boat mooring at the top of the tunnel, and descent is usually made along this anchor rope. The dive site is not particularly well endowed with corals. For a good coral reef, boats typically make a second, shallower dive at nearby Hap's Reef (outside Apra Harbor) or Finger Reef (inside Apra Harbor). Horizontal visibility is typically 20 to 30 yards or better. Caution should be taken regarding depth and nitrogen accumulation, since the extreme water clarity and extreme depths along the wall can easily cause unprepared divers to dive deeper than they'd intended.

Cemetery Wall
Cetti Bay
Coral Gardens
Fu'a Bay
Hap's Reef

Hap's Reef is a well-developed coral mound several hundred yards offshore, in roughly 30'~40' of water, with flat terrain and shallow sandy valleys surrounding it. It is generally accessed by boat, and is a favorite 'second dive of the day" after diving the nearby Blue Hole.