Rota: Our island Getaway

This past week I was able to tag along with Aaron (& 2 other guys) on his "work trip" to Rota.  It's a tiny island (about half the size of Guam) approximately 50 miles north.   It was the perfect getaway!  Very much secluded and untouched by tourists, unlike Guam.   I cannot describe enough how beautiful this island is.   We loved our time in Rota and were even lucky enough to enjoy some of the locals as well.  We were also invited to attend a birthday party with some traditional Chamorro food. They were all very incredibly friendly & welcoming. 

I created a slide show with some of our pictures.

Make a Smilebox photo slideshow

 

 

WARNING:

PICTURES BELOW MAY CAUSE YOU TO BE INTENSELY JEALOUS.

AND I DON'T FEEL TOO TERRIBLY GUILTY ABOUT IT EITHER

 

 

 

Aaron & one of the other guys....hard at work

(I promise...they did work some while in Rota)

 

 

Yes the water is that clear & that turquois

The beaches looked like they were straight out of those Corona Commercials

Had to get a snapshot of myself on the beach!

The Bird Sanctuary

Along the other side of the island are cliffs where a variety of seabirds nest...

Below is where they all live, in the tops of trees.

Just a view from the bird sanctuary

Latte Stone Quary

I don't have much info of the history of why these quaries were important to the ancient Chamorros...I need to do some better reasearch. Either way they were pretty impressive

 

Fisherman's Cliffs

These were huge cliff where you could see the fish swimming below. My adventurous husband walked all the way to the tip...he really will give me a heart attack one day.

We could actually see some fishy's swimming! I couldn't believe how crystal clear the water was from the cliffs

Wedding Cake Mountain

(yup, it's supposed to look like a wedding cake)

At the airport they had these plane engines that were fished out from the ocean on display...kinda cool...kinda scary to think about too!

I hope you guys enjoyed the pictures as much as we enjoyed Rota.  I really have to pinch myself over & over again when I look at them. I can't believe we were actually there! It was a wonderful trip we shared together.

This snapshot really doesn't get old,  does it?

I have to pinch myself....

Aaron & I are spending a few days here on this insanely beautiful island of Rota (just north of Guam).  I cannot believe how serene this place is...more blogging to come about our little island getaway when I get back home in a few days!

Your Newest Scuba Diver!

Here we are descending to about 50 feet

I'm being very cautious...since i'm a scaredy cat

(L-R: Aaron, Me, Instructor)

 Still descending, Jackie, my instructor, gives me the "YOU O.K.?"  signal

I signaled back "I'm O.K."

GROUP PIC

My Scuba Class...I'm on the far right

One of the things I got to see on my first underwater trek

To put into words the feelings I had this past week... tension, anxiety, nervousness, stomach aches,  accomplishment,  pure awe,  excitement... there's so much bundled into this entire adventure.  We started off in the classroom to go over things we learned through bookwork & DVD. We hit the pool to practice our skills learned (i froze that night!!) and then 2 days of open water diving, again practicing just a few of the skills we learned in confined water. There were times I was so scared and wanted to quit.  I was on the verge of tears at one point, because I couldn't calm myself down. (I didn't cry..I pulled it together!).

It's such a unique feeling to breathe underwater and absolutely incredible to be among the beautiful sea life!! I really couldn't believe I was there...hundreds of fish swimming above me...around me...underneath me...it was exhilarating! Aaron was able to accompany us on the open water dives, which brought peace of mind to me. I am really happy we were able to experience my first dives together. I am so proud of myself for accomplishing this new thing I wanted to try! All of the nerves was worth seeing the most beautiful sea animals and plants on the planet. I can't believe I actually did it!

(just a side note-we also were able to see a huge pod of spinner dolphins while on the boat we used to scuba off...very very cool! there was even a baby dolphin! so cute)

Scuba Britney??

Today,  I begin my scuba diving certification class.  A little nervous I gotta say!  I had always planned on becoming certified when we came to Guam and made it a goal to have it done by the end of January (o.k., so I'm off by a week).   The hubs is very excited for me to finally get it accomplished.  I have to complete 'homework' from an instruction manual before class meets, and Aaron will occasionally ask "Have any questions?"  and has been really good with explaining things. ( Aaron has been diving hundreds of times,  knows a thing or two about it all and will thankfully be here to ease my fears)  I should complete my certification by the end of the weekend and ready to conquer the seas!  Well maybe not yet, I'm a bit of a 'scaredy cat' and probably won't go pass all the pretty coral and fish...that will satisfy my taste just fine.  We live on an island with some of the best diving in the world and I really can't pass the opportunity up, no matter how much of a chicken I may be.