Diving in Guam?

Perhaps because 90% of the people who go to Guam are Japanese, and many or most of them are on packages, there is surprisingly little information out there on diving Guam. Anyone who can give me a recommendation on places to stay/dive shops? I'd appreciate hearing from other people currently in Japan, too--much as we don't normally like to do it, should we just go ahead and buy a package tour and find a dive shop when we get there? Does it matter what part of the island we stay on?

WE ARE DEFINITELY GOING TO GUAM. It's going to be a glorified weekend trip, and we have specific dates with not a lot of boxes on the calendar between them, so no yapping on about Yap, please. :) :) (One smiley for rudeness, one smiley to beg forgiveness for the too-easy pun.) Someday we'll get there, but this time it's definitely all about Guam ... Unless the whole island shuts down for the month of February or you know in your bones a superhurricane is coming or something--then we would respectfully ask you to tell us to go somewhere else. Thanks all!

Cross-posted on Diving and Snorkelling.

I don't know the dive places, but many boats leave from the area near Hagatna, or maybe Tumon Bay. Both are on the west side, not really that far from each other, maybe 5 to 10 minutes by car. So, I'd just get a good deal at one of the main places, it won't be that far to get to the diving.

Since it's just a quick weekend, it might be better to arrange a package all in advance. Many things do work efficiently on Guam, but others don't, so having advance reservations for a tight schedule will take a bit of the worry out of things.

Oh poo- we don't get to Yap about Yap. How about swooning over Saipan? Or talking about Tinian?

My vota is for Rota!

I'll plead away for Pohnpei.

Thanks for the info and comic relief--much needed in these troubled times on the new, non-improved TT.

Here's another question: Since LP doesn't have a Guam guide and doesn't cover it in great detail in South Pacific, does anyone have a guidebook and/or website recommendation? Been looking around but without much success ... I have the diving guide to Guam and Yap (published in 1999), which doesn't provide a lot of info on the shops themselves (sure does make me want to go to Yap, though ...). We're going over a Japanese holiday, so we're really hoping to nail down some reservations with a dive shop before the hordes touch down ... Thanks!

You can for sure dive in Guam, but really, it is worth to go to Saipan......and check out the Grotto, one of the deepest blue holes.....very strong current, but well worth it, and it is not that far.....check out ABRACADABRA diving shop, it is 5* PADI, email: abracadabra@saipan.com, www.abracadabra.saipan.com, tel (670)233 7234 (PADI)
very friendly and helpful......

I'll give a report here for anyone else who has the same question. The short answer is: stay wherever you like because Guam is a lot more fun when you rent a car anyway, and the dive industry is aimed at a) locals who know the sites, and b) Japanese tourists getting their certification. Considering how many Japanese people there are out there who already have certification, you'd think it would work more like other places, but it doesn't. Our dive outfit provided divemasters for the basic afternoon dives, but not for the more advanced morning dives (the very dives when one would really appreciate having a divemaster along). This is legal, even if it does seem dumb, but they let one man on the boat dive without a partner, which is a big PADI no-no. He forgot to put air in his BCD and no one checked it, and he dropped like a rock into the Blue Hole, alas; they retrieved him, but he was done diving for the rest of the day. We had a couple of guys who shot up to the surface hard enough to knock them both out of the second dive (one had blood in his face mask). And the place changed its published schedules, offered us free dives for doing so, and then tried to charge us for the dives when we got to the shop. All of which made us question the professionalism of the outfit.

We had a great time, though, even with people trying to kill themselves all around us. The fact that the shop seemed to be completely negligent gave us the incentive to do some very careful, very responsible diving ... When we did have divemasters we found them to be very good, very professional. And the sites we went to were quite good, worth diving, and there does seem to be a market for a dive shop that caters to already-certified divers looking to do fun dives with a divemaster--if anybody out there is looking to open a shop somewhere that can fill a niche.

I know this is an old post but I would like to know the name of the dive site you went to. Is it called "Blue Hole"?
I will be in Guam next week & looking to do some diving.
I know most dive companies in tourist places have a bad rep because they don't rely on return customers.
I just want to know the good sites. I know they will all tell you their site is the best but like most tourists, I dont have time to find by trial & error.