Journal of an Underachiever – On the Beach

One of the first things that made an impression on us, besides the climate, was the ocean. Three beaches immediately come to mind: Tumon Bay, Nimitz Beach, and the Builder’s Club. When we arrived on Guam, I couldn’t really swim. The best I had done up until then was to take a breath and thrash around face down in the water until I had to breathe. Then I’d put my feet down, stand up, and take a breath. Right after we got to Guam we kids got swimming lessons at Nimitz Beach (still there and now a park).

Salt water made all the difference. Instead of sinking (which I still do), I could actually float. I learned to swim well enough that I could go into water over my head. I carried that with me when we found a couple of fresh water swimming holes. I never did learn to flutter kick (still can’t do it).

Dad’s company provided bus transportation to Tumon Bay on the weekends. Back then the only artifacts were picnic tables and trash cans (I think). A sandy beach extended around the entire arc of the bay, and a reef separated the bay from the drop off into the Pacific. The water was so shallow at low tide you could touch the bottom near the reef. Perfect for swimming and shallow diving. Take a look at Tumon now. Hotels all over the place. There’s even a Kmart across the highway. It has become a tourist trap. As a matter of fact it has become the Japanese equivalent of Hawaii.

I remember a few things about Tumon. Coconut palms all over and the occasional fresh coconut within reach. I found out that getting to the nut isn’t easy because it’s protected by a tough husk. I’ve seen movies of natives (Hawaiian) opening the husk with a sharpened wooden stake driven in the ground. A navy hunting knife doesn’t do the job.

Sea slugs and sea stars and sea urchins. The bottom was covered with fascinating fauna. The coral formations I remember were all dead (white). There may have been some live ones out near the reef (the reef was coral after all). Then there were the fish. Flounders and other flat fish abounded. Harder than heck to catch or even to find since they were usually covered with sand. Step near one and they were gone in a swirl of sand. I never so much as saw a shark but I did come face to face with a barracuda. Four inches long.

And then there was the sun burn. I would go to the beach one week and get a light tan. Next week I would go to the beach and get a sun burn. Peel and repeat.

The Builders’ Club was originally a military R&R facility. In fact, the only place I could find a reference to it is as a military facility. It had a restaurant/bar, a snack bar, a salt water swimming pool, and a beach – not to mention picnic facilities. I can still remember eating canned potato sticks from the snack bar. Unfortunately, it was a casualty of Typhoon Allyn (November of 1949 I believe), the storm that drove us out of our houses and into the company headquarters. The Builders’ Club was on the east side of the island, and apparently Allyn struck hardest there. The wind flattened the buildings and surge washed the sand from under the pool, literally cracking it in half. Bye, bye, Builders’ Club. I can’t even find a trace of it on Google Earth.

Last time I did promise my introduction to science fiction, which ultimately led to my writing Peacemaker – The Corona Rebellion 2564AD and now has me writing Teleportal. It goes like this:

We had a local store and a barber shop in Camp 2. The store wasn’t much more than a convenience store, and the barber shop was similarly small, two, maybe as many as four chairs. Besides being the source of necessary haircuts, it was also the local library, at least for magazines. Two of them made a lasting impression on me, Galaxy and Astounding, both science fiction. I quickly became a fan and later subscribed to both.

I had this piece effectively finished Wednesday. Then I remembered having promised that last paragraph. I’ll have to keep from making promises in the future. I’ll stick to my objective of trying to get out one of these each week. Expect my next one on Thursday.