On Walkabout At: Underwater World, Guam

Basic Information

• What: Underwater World
• Where: Tumon, Guam
• Cost: Adult $23, Child $12 (more info)
• Time: 10:00AM – 6:30PM
• More Information: Underwater World website

Narrative

One of the biggest attractions in the tourism center of Tumon, Guam is the Underwater World aquarium.  It is easy to find since it is located adjacent to the large Outrigger Resort:

I did not have high expectations going into Underwater World because I figured it would probably be a tourist trap fleecing money out of the naive Japanese tourists that flock to Tumon.  Having to pay $23 just to get inside for a standard walking tour only helped to solidify my first impression of the place.  After paying for my ticket I was allowed entry into to the indoor jungle exhibit:

Having spent so much time hiking in Guam’s jungles the exhibit was not very interesting for me.  Even the fish in the little pools of water they have in the exhibit did not seem to interested considering they hardly moved around:

Likewise for the infamous brown tree snake they had on display who barely moved as he was surrounded by camera wielding tourists:

The brown tree snake is infamous on Guam because it was a species likely introduced during World War II from Papua New Guinea that spread across the island and wiped out most of the bird population.  That is why today Guam has so little bird life to see.  As infamous as the brown tree snake is, it is hardly seen by anyone on Guam since it is mostly nocturnal and lives in the jungle.  Someone who was moving around a bit was the mangrove monitor lizard:

He was actually an average sized lizard because I have seen much bigger ones in the jungles of Guam.  After exiting the jungle exhibit I then entered into the main attraction which was the glass tunnel that passed through the indoor aquarium:

I did not expect the aquarium to be as big as it was.  It seemed like tunnel kept going on and on or it just may have been I was moving so slow because of all the fish I could see around me:

Here is one of the many manta rays that swam over the tunnel:

This aquarium is filled with sharks; I don’t think I have been to another aquarium with this many sharks in it before:

Here is a picture of a manta ray and a shark swimming by each other:

The aquarium also had quite a few eels to see as well such as this ugly looking guy who popped out of his hole to say hello:

The indoor aquarium is very impressive and the best I have seen.  After exiting the aquarium the next exhibit is an area filled with various fish tanks which give visitors an up close look at the various colorful fish in the ocean:

Here is a lion fish which is poisonous and widely considered a pest:

Conclusion

I had my doubts at first about Underwater World, but call me a convert because this place was actually worth the price of admission.  It is a very well done aquarium with a large population of different ocean species to see.  The aquarium also has other programs for people to try out such as diving with sharks or eating dinner inside the aquarium tunnel.  I for one prefer to see sharks from inside a tunnel and not swimming with them, but to each their own.  Overall though I had a great time at Underwater World and highly recommend it for anyone visiting Guam.