October 25
Sunshine today. Still supposed to be in the low 90s, with high humidity. Anyone who likes such an environment probably would enjoy a visit to the United States territory. Getting here is easy, just fly out of Honolulu on United for 7.5 hours. All the big rental car companies are at the airport. And I mentioned yesterday all the big hotel chains are here. I drive by a couple of SCUBA dive shops today. If I was staying a few more days I would go out with them. But snorkeling will be enough for my short stay. The max speed limit on the island is 35 mph, so can still take more than a few minutes to go ten miles. But if you stay around the airport section of the island you will not need to go far and you will have all the comforts of home.
I was looking forward to the Piti Guns trail and seeing the three 14 cm Japanese guns. But do not use the NPS unigrid (aka park brochure) for directions. I figured there would be signs on Route 1, but there were none. The small village of Piti is on Route 1, so I stopped at the Mayor’s Office to ask for help. The gentleman was very nice and told me the trailhead was behind the local church, one block away on the village’s main road. The road sign was “Father Mel Street”. Google Maps calls it Santa Ana Street. Yes, behind Our Lady of Assumption Church was a NPS plaque and the trailhead. A group of concrete steps followed by a short jungle trail leads you to the first gun. Continue on to the second gun, which is practically buried in the ground, then onto the third gun which is pointed at Asan Beach. All look their age, almost 80 years old. Plenty of little lizards kept scrambling out of my way as I returned to the car.
Prior to this stop I had viewed the U-shaped bunker of General Takeshina, the Japanese commander. The Joint Region Marianas complex is a few hundred yards down the road (this is on Spruance Drive, for Admiral Spruance from the war… also known as Route 6). This is the installation management group for the Naval and Air Force bases in the Marianas. Nice looking buildings. These people have the best view of the Asan Beach area, being at the top of the island’s main ridgeline. A few hundred yards further is the Asan Inland unit for the park, and its Overlook stop. The Japanese would have been able to see our entire operation, and all the U.S. Navy ships to the horizon, from this vantage point. I enjoyed the three poles which had markers pointing to the major Pacific battles of the war. Military units during the war erected these types of poles, to remind everyone where home was and how far to Toyko and victory. There were ten or so large bronze plates with names engraved on them for all 1,800 Americans who died during the invasion.
The last stop for this park was Apaca Point, which is just past the U.S. Naval base complex, on Route 1. The most interesting items here were the pill box and cave. There is a tunnel behind the pill box, where the Japanese soldiers could shelter and stored goods and ammunition, but it seems closed off.
There are two other units in the park; Mt. Chachoa / Mt. Tenjo and Mt. Alifan. There are mazes of tunnels, fox holes, and machine gun nests throughout. But the units are not yet developed, so no official means to access. A guess is these two areas have unexploded shells and ammunition which need to be removed, but just a guess.
Time to go snorkeling. It will be two days before the next park unit, Kalaupapa NHP on the island of Molokai. The park is closed to all except the few remaining residents and approved visitors. But a daily plane lands in the park to deliver rangers, supplies, and other materials, before flying above the cliffs and landing at the island’s main airport. I have a ticket for that flight, so will actually set down in the park boundaries, if just for ten minutes or so.