Gab Gab

21 Mar. 16 I did twelve dives on Gab Gab in six days. All of them were fantastic. The parking lot by the showers has the entry to the swimming area. Use the hand rail, the last step onto the rock is very slippery. I saw more than one person bite the dust there. I did my longest dive every on my last day. Ninety six minutes of bottom time. This site is on the Guam Navy Base and it's easy to find. Enter the main gate, and go a few miles until you come to the marina and turn left. Take an immediate right and follow this road to the top of the hill. At the top of the hill you will see a left turn that drops you all the way down to the water and then bear right. You'll end up in the parking lot. Lots of picnic tables and bbq's available. There's signs ever where. There's a tourist submarine out by Gab Gab II. As for creatures, there's a ton of them. I saw turtles, morays, clown fish, dozens of different species of coral, both hard and soft. Remember, don't touch. Ran into a white tip reef shark a few times in the early morning, but didn't see any in the afternoon. Since I'm from NW WA there were fish I can't even start to identify. All I'll say is that there were at least 50 different species from an inch to feet. Even saw a barracuda.

All in all a good dive. I went there to dive on the reef. Check my dive out on You Tube: Sperling and Gallet get attacked by a Great White.

I have been to Gab Gab and Gab Gab2 many times. I think this is a great dive location for all levels. I helped with people getting their open water and advanced open water certification here. I did my Peak Buoyancy here. The entry is from a swimming pool-like structure which goes out into the ocean. There is then a drop off at a beautiful wall. This is Gab Gab. If you were to swim straight out, you would hit another reef structure which is Gab Gab2. You should not actually surface dive to Gab Gab2 because you are crossing an active sea lane. (You are actually required to go to 20 feet for the crossing, but people do go over on the surface anyway.) It is best to do this dive with the MDA shore dive group since they are very familiar and give great briefings and guides.

Gab Gab II. For years, I've been diving Gab Gab, but never found Gab Gab II until today. After reaching the wall at Gab Gab, head straight out to the mooring line for the tender boat and Atlantis Submarine. If you're not exceptional on air, you may want to swim this far on the surface, as you're only half-way there. I swam out below, and the bottom drops out of sight to more than 120 feet deep. But after about 10 minutes of swimming, the second reef appears. This reef is in pristine condition. There are three 'igloos' or fish feeding stations set up by the submarine company. In the early morning, nurse sharks come to feed and join bat fish and the large black ulua (I was told to keep my fingers to myself or they would bite them, as the ulua are used to being fed sausages). There are several nice anemones here, and the second reef is really a sea mound that drops off in all directions to more than 100 feet. Exceptional dive, and the submarine cruising by just 20 feet away or so is a bonus, although the whine of its electrical engines makes for a less serene dive. Just watch out swimming through the submarine's path and the boat channel, as Apra Harbor is a Navy base, and large vessels do cruise through regularly.

Gear up in the parking lot next to the stairs that lead into the water by the swim area (demarked by floats). Grab hold of the stainless steel railing, so you don't slip on the steps or upon entering the water. Swim straight out towards the Apra Harbor from the entry, towards the area where the Atlantis Submarine surfaces. About a 5-minute swim from the entry, the reef drops from 20 feet to >100 feet. The visibility is generally very good here (75-100+ feet), and typically there are no waves or current in the harbor. The plate corals, sponges, assorted hard corals, and animal life is great here. I've often seen a turtle here (very skittish), white tip reef sharks and moray eels. Just to the left about 200 feet from the damaged reef (looks like a ship's anchor dragged along the reef and down the slope in the distant past), there's a carpet of anemones with the requisite clownfish. Straight out, past the sandy bottom is a second reef, where Atlantis Submarine feeds the fish and cruises by (Gab Gab II). Excellent dive. Highly recommended. Every time I return to Guam, this one's at the top of my list!