Becoming Acclimated. . .

Outrigger canoe or Proas as the Chamorros call them.

Guam is warm. It lies 7 degrees above the equator which means several things: Not only is it warm during the day, it stays warm at night. The temperature drops down to 70-75 at night and up into the 80s during the day. I woke up expecting the early mornings to be cool, but they are not. You can go swimming immediately. The water is usually crystal clear and is about 85 degrees. 

Headed out to snorkel!

The swim shirt allowed us to spend more time in the water without getting burned. 

 This morning we snorkeled at 9:30am. It had rained earlier in the day but the sidewalks were almost dry by the time we entered the water. The fish were active in the coral reefs. It is slightly cool walking into the water but almost immediately my body adjusted. This was my second time snorkeling. If you have never snorkeled, there is an adjustment period. My first reflex was to hold my breath as soon as my face submerged. That made me panic and gasp for air. So I spent a few minutes intentionally breathing and listening to my breathing so the my adrenaline could return to normal levels.

Secondly, as I began swimming around I thought about dangers in the water including the poisonous fish called the Stone Fish. Stone fish lie at the bottom of the water and their spines are very venomous. They get their name from the fact that they look a little like a stone lying in the sand. Fortunately, they like to lie near other real rocks so as long as you stay away from rocks, and only rest on sand, you should be fine. Rarely, sharks come into the area but usually they stay beyond the shallow reef.

Thirdly, I was afraid of inhaling water with the snorkel. We solved that issue by spending some time in the pool with our gear so I could get used to blowing the water out of the snorkel. We bought swim shirts so we didn't get sunburned while out in the water. The native Guamanian at the snorkel gear shop joked with us on the first day that Bob "would look like one of us, brother" in a few days. I, on the other hand, would look like a boiled lobster if I didn't acclimate my skin. Therefore, we decided to snorkel today early in the morning which worked out well.