Guam

Our passage to Guam took longer than our hoped for timetable of 12 days. When sailing you can emphasize the “estimated” in ETA. It was the three days of unbelievable calms and the four days of heavy winds and big seas that threw our timetable out the window.  The sea was flat and glassy during the calms. I really should have taken a photo of my reflection but it was so hot that we spent our time lying beneath fans in the cabin out of the sun, trying to find relief from the heat. Standing outside to get a photo seemed like way too much work.  The wind picked up and for a few days we had perfection on the sea. The wind blew and because of the calms, the sea was smooth so we flew through the water. But after those few days the wind and seas began to change. The wind picked up to blows of 40 knots and the seas became the biggest we had seen yet. We couldn’t sail in these conditions so we pulled out and set the sea-anchor and hove to. With the boat hove to we rode over the waves safely and we waited out the weather for almost four full days. Finally the wind began to lessen and we pulled in the sea-anchor, adjusted the sails and made our way to Guam. By the time we were at the entrance to Apra Harbour on Guam we had been sailing for 17 days and we were exhausted.        

One does not just sail into Guam. You can’t just show up and drop your anchor, have a nap and then think about checking in. Guam is home to the largest naval base of the US and they know you’re there when you are within 50 miles of the place. We followed the rules and called both the Coast Guard and the Port Authority as we approached and were given a time when we could enter the harbor. We had to wait for the five warships to enter first as they came back from practice. When the time arrived we gratefully motored into the harbor. We were in radio contact with the Port Captain and he asked if we know where we were going. We had our chart and we had looked on Google Earth before leaving the Marshalls to be sure of the location of the yacht club we were expected at. We assured him that we were fine and headed to the corner of the harbor. As we approached the entrance to the channel that would take us to our place of rest and refuge, we were astonished at the massive warships between us and the channel. I was taking photos while Captain Brad wondered if he should go between the ships or cut close to the breakwater and go around them. 

The radio lit up, it was the Port Captain, “Suuhaa Suuhaa, you are entering the restricted zone. Turn around. Repeat, turn around.” Whoops. Brad swung us around and the Port Captain came back again, “You are on the wrong side of the harbor, you need to be on the south side.” Brad apologized and we headed to the other side. Ahh, there were the masts. We could see them now. From the chart we could see that one of the two channels ahead of us lead to that little harbor and as we got closer we waved at the Coast Guard and Navy skiffs leaving the channel. They all waved back and when we were in 50 feet of entering the voice of the Port Captain came over the radio again, “Suuhaa Suuhaa, you are again entering a restricted zone. You need to do a U-turn now!” I was on the radio this time as Brad was somewhat frantically trying to figure out where the hell we were supposed to be going. We were both so tired and just wanted to find the yacht club and rest.

“Suuhaa Suuhaa, you need to go east and enter through the channel in the reef.”

“Ok, I think we have it sir.”

“You should see Bob in his skiff waiting for you.”

We picked our way through the markers on the reef and as we rounded a bend, there were sailboats and Bob, who was expecting us, in his little rowboat. At that moment the voice of the Port Captain came back one last time, “Suuhaa Suuhaa. “ “Yes Captain?” “Suuhaa you’re going the right way. Try and stay safe out there ok?” I laughed, he laughed and I thanked him and we signed off. I went forward to pick up the mooring ball Bob recommended and thank god, we were here.

Guam proved to be a great place to stop and provision before heading on to Japan. The members of the Marianas Yacht Club were incredibly helpful and we found ourselves in the company of three other boats planning to sail to Japan at the same time. Check in was a breeze. Customs and Immigration all came to the club to sign us in and as Canadians we were immediately granted a six month stay and there were no fees. As the yacht club is far from the towns in Guam we immediately set about renting a car which we found cheap at Rent-a-Wreck. All the visiting cruisers had one of these and all our cars were in some sort of disrepair.  When the company looks over the car with you at the time of your rental they laugh and tell you they don’t care about the scratches, it’s just the large dents or broken door handles or the bumpers attached by plastic zap straps that they mark down. Thank god it doesn’t snow there, the tires were completely bald. But our little Nissan took us all around asking only for a few drops of gas. 

We spent 10 days in Guam. We shopped at K-Mart and the Cost-U-Less and we ate pizza and burgers. We visited the Chumurrow village on the Wednesday for their famous bbq which was delicious. We took the time to check out a museum all about the war in the Pacific which was more interesting than I expected. We watched the young navy guys get drunk at a beachside bar and shopped around the Japanese tourists, who came by the busload, at K-Mart.

The yacht club is a small place but it has all that the visiting cruiser could need. Great wifi and showers and friendly members. There’s dinner on Friday and Sunday nights and the young guys who run the kitchen make fabulous food. From the members we learned about Pagan Island in the Northern Marianas and from their stories we folded a visit to this island into our passage plans.

After this short visit in Guam we were ready to go and on March 28 we followed Astrolabe I and Delphin out of the harbor to Pagan Island and then onto Japan.