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  4. SAIPAN, 2013

DECEMBER 1, 2013: NAFTAN

Naftan West and Naftan East.
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Dave, Brady, and Kate fresh on the trail and headed toward the formation called "The Toilet Bowl."
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Dave, Brady, and Kate fresh on the trail and headed toward the formation called "The Toilet Bowl."

aaakatedavebrady

  • Dave, Brady, and Kate fresh on the trail and headed toward the formation called "The Toilet Bowl."
  • Glad it's not this difficult to get to MOST Toilet Bowls!
  • Brady checks out the little "cavern" (calling it that is stretching things a bit, but it does go back several feet) above the Toilet Bowl.
  • Kate gets a picture of Flat Stanley looking out the "cavern."
  • Dave looks down on the awesome wave action.
  • After some unexpectedly large and wet waves, Dave decided to move to slightly higher ground. There is a little hole in the shelf you see the water running off of, and a semi-circular tunnel pierces through the cliff and opens into the hole such that the wave action often creates a swirling pattern in the hole. Thus the name "Toilet Bowl." You can see Tinian in the distance (and to your right, on the horizon).
  • Untitled photo
  • Now to what I have always called the "Naftan Tunnel," but I guess it's more commonly called the "Dry Grotto."
  • Kate found a small cave (behind her in this photo) and explored it a bit.
  • Flat Stanley enjoys the Dry Grotto.
  • Here is the view that we go to the Dry Grotto for. A GREAT place to relax, have a picnic, or just sit and watch the waves. Because we are in a tunnel, we are out of the sun. And there is nearly always a bit of a breeze blowing through. A very comfortable place.
  • Don't get TOO close to the edge, Dave!
  • Back up and out of the Dry Grotto and to the trail back to our vehicle.
  • Just a little review: The video takes you back to the Toilet Bowl for a few seconds, and then ends up in the Dry Grotto so that you can see the wave action in both places.
  • From Naftan West to Naftan East. Kate stands atop what I call "The Old Sentinel." An anti-ship canon built in England and sold to Japan considerably prior to WWII (before hostilities broke out). It's my understanding that this gun was first stationed someplace else in Japan-held Asia, but was shipped to Saipan prior to (or during) WWII. It faces Southeast, and was never fired once it was stationed on Saipan.<br /> <br /> If you would like to see what this looks like under a full moon when there is a "shooting star" (meteor), take a look at <a href="http://www.optimimagery.com/NOCTURNES-1/CNMI-NOCTURNES/SAIPAN-NOCTURNES/i-tBMbfj5/1/XL/ad%20high%20res%20edited%20meteor-XL.jpg">http://www.optimimagery.com/NOCTURNES-1/CNMI-NOCTURNES/SAIPAN-NOCTURNES/i-tBMbfj5/1/XL/ad%20high%20res%20edited%20meteor-XL.jpg</a>
  • You can see Forbidden Island on the horizon between Kate and Dave.
  • Maybe a half mile or so from "The Old Sentinel" is a group of 3 of these large turrets. The guns for these were state-of-the-art and would have been able to reach invading ships approaching from any side of the island (or so I've been told). However, when the Americans struck, the guns were on railroad cars in Kagman and had not been installed yet. One can wonder how much difference it may have made if the Battle of Saipan had started a few weeks later, when these massive canons were in place and ready to fire.
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