Saipan

Once it was definite we would be leaving, there was a lot of arrangements to be made.  I think I literally spent about twenty-four hours trying to schedule flights, hotels, cars and all it took to get us back to the mainland.  Abe found out he had some work to do in Saipan.  I jumped at the chance to see the island with Abe and have a quiet place to figure out all travel arrangements.  Saipan was beautiful.  I loved it there.  It is like a smaller, quieter Guam.  The grounds of our hotel were amazing.  I remember being surprised that there were no doors to the lobby.  It is all just open, and with the weather like they have year- round, why not?  I spent a few very relaxing hours on the beach and soon felt up to the task at hand.  With the flights all finally taken care of, Abe and I had a day to explore.  Due to some restrictions we found out were not going to be able to do the dive we had planned on.  We rented a kayak and headed over to a small island to do some kayaking and snorkeling  The water was so gorgeous.  After numerous attempts, I decided it is very difficult to accurately capture the true color in a picture.  Oh well.  We loved the paddle over and found out there was a sunken Japanese Zero in the water.  We shared a few laughs watching the Asians attempt to snorkel and had our lunch with a family knows from work.  They shared some of their travel adventures with us which made Abe want to go even more places. 

View from our balcony

Hotel grounds

My spot on the beach. 

View into the hotel lobby

The grounds were full of trees, flowers and even a few birds.

I'll always remember the color of the water on that day.  Breath-taking!

A view of the island as we get close.

A look at Saipan from the boat on our way back.