Guam is 30 miles long and 4-12 miles wide. Frankly, I think it's nothing short of amazing that the guy driving the ship found such a tiny little speck in such a wide expanse of water. I feel the same way about Okinawa.
Mike and some of his shipmates covered most of Guam on their bikes soon after arriving on Friday afternoon. There's a Navy hospital in Guam and the commanding officer and his wife hosted a dinner where Mike ran into RADM Cullison, the deputy surgeon general, and passed him some bags of Japanese goodies to deliver to my three favorite officers at BUMED. So if you work at BUMED and think you might be one of my three favorite officers but have not seen any boxes of mushroom-shaped cookies yet, talk to RADM Cullison. You might want to check the corners of his mouth for telltale crumbs.
Here's a few things you might not know about Guam. It's north of the equator. It's the southernmost island in the Marianas and the westernmost possession of the United States. The highest point on Guam is Mount Lamlam at 1,332 feet, a mere pimple compared to Mount Everest which towers over the earth at 8,848 feet. When scientists factor in the section of Mount Lamlam below sea level, however, many believe it is the tallest mountain in the world. So now you know.
If it's raining in your part of the world today and you are on the verge of drop-kicking a bored adolescent through the front window, task them with finding Guam on a map. Then let your eyes drift due south and soon you will see Manus Island where Mike's father had such a wonderful time during World War II that we taped that Atlas page to our kitchen wall in Norfolk when he lived with us.
Mike doesn't know if his route from Guam to the next port of call will take him within sight of Manus Island, but he will definitely be checking the starboard horizon regularly. Or maybe the port horizon. And if someone other than Ancient Mariner can tell me which is right and which is left, I promise to make it worth your while.
Peevish, may I throw in a bonus question? Okay: Which colored light denotes the starboard side of the ship, red or green? Of course the other color denotes the opposite side of the ship. That way you can tell in the dark if it's heading towards or away from you. Same is true of airplanes.
ReplyDeleteGreen denotes the starboard side.
ReplyDeleteDJV is correct, and cleverly did not reveal whether that's the right or left side.
ReplyDeleteSince port and left both have four letters it would make perfect sense to me that your port side would be on the left.
ReplyDeleteI would've guessed green for the right side, bypassing the starboard/port discussion altogether.
ReplyDeleteDiane will have to learn all this soon enough while helping Brian study for his pin!
ReplyDeleteSince I mssed the port/starboard, left/right prize I'd like to add that Mt. Lamlam drops down to the Marianas Trench, which is the deepest known spot in any of our oceans. The Marianas Trench is about 1580 miles long, a mean width of 43 miles and reaches a depth of 5-6 miles. I am convinced, however, that it will fill up one day with all the stuff blown from the island during the repetitive typhoons which strike the island...or maybe from rocks shaken loose during earthquakes. Did I mention I loved living on Guam and still miss it??
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