Update

Hello wonderful family of mine!!! I hope that everyone is doing well this holiday season. I am enjoying life in Guam.  I spent my Thanksgiving weekend in Chuuk.  It is a small island that is part of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).  This island has a lot of WWII history.  It was a dive trip, so I spent 4 days going on 11 dives and saw 9 different wrecks.  We explored all aspects of these ships---inside and out. It was an awesome experience and something that I don't think I will forget too soon.  I have included some pictures to give a taste of what I saw.

We dove the Fujikawa, Heian, Yamigiri, Shinkoku, Rio, Sankisan, Nippo, Gosei, and Kansho.  The lagoon holds over 60 wrecks that range in depths from snorkeling to well over 200 feet.  These ships were Japanese ships and were anchored inside the lagoon when Allied forces bombed them in February of 1944 in what is known as Hailstorm.  Some of these ships were still anchored at the time they sank.  All of them hold a variety of artifacts, some bones, and awesome interior engine rooms, machine rooms, and a variety of other parts of the ship are still well intact, especially for being close to 70 years old.  A large part in why the ships are still in the shape they are in is because they are protected.  If a diver comes up with any artifact from the ship, they face major reprecussions.  Unfortunately, that is not the same here in Guam, so a lot of the wrecks here have been stripped of their artifacts.  It was awesome to be able to see the variety between the wrecks and the different things each wreck is known for.  I was very impressed, and had an amazing time with a pretty cool group of people.  People fly from all over the world to come to this place.  I ran across a group of people that were from Texas, Colorado, Oregon, as well as from Germany, England and Australia.  It was so cool to see that so many people spend thousands of dollars to come to this small island, and it is just an hour away from Guam.  There are many more pictures, but these are just a few fun shots.  One is of me sitting on an old car inside one of the wrecks, one is an operating table with some femurs, one is of me free diving through one of the wrecks, and the other is my roommate and I attempting a handstand on one of the smoke stacks.

As far as everything else. Things here in Guam are going well. I am staying pretty busy with work, but also finding time to have plenty of fun.  I am slated to move this coming June. I will be heading to Mayport, Florida to do some defense work.  I will hate leaving this island behind, but I am excited about the fact that I will be back in the States and closer (at least closer than Guam) to family. 

I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays in their own special way.  Can't wait to see pictures and hear stories of everyones' Christmas adventures.

Love to you all.
Jen