The last adventure tour that I booked with travel tours company was doing a bit of hiking for a waterfalls and snorkeling. At first, I booked a different tour in another company but unfortunately they are not able to do the tour that I selected due to minimum numbers were not met to be able to operate the tour. Then I looked for another company until I found Tropical Tours Guam. I wanted to see additional places before I leave Guam and I ended up booking a Waterfalls and Snorkeling Tour. I was hesitant at first since the tour includes swimming but in the end I joined the tour.
It was Good Friday and I thought that the tour will not operate since Guam is also considered a very Catholic Island. And from my guide in the tour, as long as the minimum numbers met, the tour will happen even though its public holiday. The tour guide arrived at the front of my hotel’s lobby. And when I hopped inside the car, another tourist was waiting. Matt, our guide introduced me to him and he is a Filipino too. What a lucky day that I will be with a familiar face in the adventure. And he stayed in the same hotel as mine.
If you looked-up and saw hanging shoes at the parking area, you are in the right location.
We left the hotel and we drove more than half an hour drive towards the south of the island until we reached the car park which is the same as the start of Tarzan Falls trail. The parking area has sign of Tarzan falls which signifies you are at the start of the trail. Aside from parking sign, in the past years there is another way to know you are at the start of the trail, look for shoes hanging in electrical wires. I asked Matt if it’s becoming a tradition that they let the shoes hang in there, but he mentioned that there’s no really story behind the hanging shoes, it’s just that people just leave theirs shoes and other people are doing the same thing probably for just fun. But Matt mentioned, if you will do that, just make sure you will not be caught.
Because it was a sunny and beautiful Friday, hiking the area towards the falls was not difficult, but they said it is different during wet season or even just after the rain. At the start we passed a wind turbine and followed the Tarzan Falls trail. The trail itself is easy to medium and it is just like walking for miles except for few parts of the trail that you need to go up a bit and descend a bit. Then we reached the trail part where we saw the river (Ylig River) where the water falls of Tarzan Falls coming from. It is a sign that the falls is just nearby. We reached the top of the falls and this means that we need to go down further to see Tarzan Waterfalls from the bottom to appreciate more its beauty.
At the top of the falls
Looking down from the top of the water fall
We descended to the bottom of the falls to see what it offers to all visitors. Since it was dry season the volume of the water flows was less, not heavy and not forceful. Once we reached the bottom of the falls, I had a great view of the famous waterfalls. Natural waterfalls can really make people feel good about nature, the way I look at it, there is something in waterfalls that make people feel calm and at peace. The sound of the water flows is a unique way to emphasize that there is a great thing to find in nature.
I took a lot of photos of the waterfalls and after photo shoot time, we tried our best to reach the waterfalls wall even that its slippery. I slowly crawled towards the wall and since I was wearing leggings, it helped me to reached the wall easily and I was able to surpassed the slimy way to the falls. And I looked for some space to sit properly and enjoyed the waterfalls down through my head and my body. We sit with the waterfalls at least half an hour.
After spending time with waterfalls, we decided to go down the falls, finished the hike and return to where we started. After reaching the parking area, we just dried ourselves a bit before we hopped on back into the car. Then we drove at least 20 mins to Fish Eye Marine Park.
I love water adventure but I am not really good at it because I have less experience and exposure to such adventure. While Matt (our guide) prepared our stuff for snorkelling activity, we sit not far from the beach and enjoyed the scenery at our front. While looking at the underwater observatory not far from the beach, I was thinking what’s going to happen if I am in the water.
Our guide called us and he gave our gears for the snorkeling. We started the shoes and he handed the fins that we will wear when we are in the water. I also received the tube and lens mask. When he was ready we walked towards the beach and approach the observatory. I walked slowly in the water, following the bridge walkway path and while walking I saw colorful and small fishes. Then I approached where Matt my tourist buddy were waiting. Then I wore my fins, it was the first time that I wore fins. Then, Matt gave a rope that can be my guide while we were approaching the deeper part of the water. I tried to swim as best as I can based on what I had been doing before, but when I did, I drank a lot of sea water and I panicked. Then I tried one more time and the result was the same. I tried again for the third time and I really got nervous. So I decided to not to try anymore. I felt unease.
Because I was not comfortable swimming using the snorkeling gear, I just swam as I can while Matt was guiding the rope. We reached where the observatory stands and there were few people near on it. At that location I tried to lookdown few times to see under the water. I saw turtles but I just stayed where I was and let them (Matt and my tourist buddy) enjoy the water, they swam both together as I don’t want to spoil their enjoyment. At that time, I was a bit sad because I wanted to swim but I was scared. But I knew that I can swim because I was wearing life vest, but I wasn’t able to do it because I was not comfortable with fins in my feet, not sure why.
We spent more time under the observatory. And before we decided to return, I looked down under the water again to see one more time the colorful fishes and turtles that just live normally under the water even there are people enjoying diving and swimming in the area.
After the adventure, we had our lunch not far from the hotel that we were staying before Matt dropped us in our hotel.
Sequoia Tree
The Cave
Inside the Museum
Old Pool
Around 9:30 AM, we were on our way to Banff National Park. First stop Johnston Canyon. I wondered that time, what we were suppose to be doing in a canyon. Kevin told us that we were going to hike in a canyon.
During the hike, I found out that Johnston Canyon has a very amiable trail. And I like Johnston Creek too because there were still ice at the side of the creek. There were three falls that we found while hiking the canyon. They called it the Lower Falls, first falls that we saw, then unnamed falls, but I call it Middle Falls since it’s between Lower and Upper Falls. The last falls was simply the Upper Falls. During the hike, Kevin talked about the Canyon (and I cannot remember it now). I prepared the hiking activities that was why I brought lots of bottled water and because of this my bag was heavy. During the hike I was accidentally fall while trekking the trail with solid ice at the ground and I was glad that not so much people around that time when it happened to me, even Kevin did not notice it. I enjoyed watching the creek and listening to the sounds of the water flowing into the creek. I like the mist of cold weather in the canyon. I also went to the small passage which similar to a cave passage so that I will be able to see up close and personal the Lower Falls. Then, we continued our hike. We saw the unnamed falls and for me its perfect too. Then we walked upward until we found the Upper Falls. The surrounding of Upper Falls were still ice. And I am thinking that this fall is more beautiful during summer season. After taking pictures around that falls, we descended the canyon. We were at the ground again past 12 PM.
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