Fish Eye Marine Park

Fish Eye at Piti is a pier running out over the reef to a tower that drops into the water, with windows around the bottom around ten metres down looking straight into the coral and the fish that live on it, so the reef can be seen without getting wet. The bay it sits in is a marine preserve and the Piti bomb holes, a set of deep circular depressions in the reef, are nearby.

Background

The marine preserve takes in all of Piti Bay on Guam's west coast, 3.64 square kilometres in all, of which 1.4 square kilometres is broad reef flat, and it was chosen as a protected area in 1999. Its deepest features are natural percolation pits, where fresh water seeps into the shallow lagoon at 25 to 30 feet, and Fish Eye stands in the largest of them. The Matgue, Taguag and Masso rivers drain into the bay, and seagrass along the shore shelters young fish. Two mollusk species and one sea urchin species live nowhere else. Fish numbers rose by more than 100% after protection began, and Guam's first coral nursery was set up here in 2013.

Source: Wikipedia, "Piti Bomb Holes Marine Preserve"

What you'll find

• The observatory windows - views into the reef from around ten metres down.
• The pier - the walkway out over the reef flat to the tower.
• The marine preserve - protected water with heavy fish populations.
• The bomb holes - the deep circular depressions in the reef nearby.

When to go

December to June is the drier season with the clearest water. Visibility drops after heavy rain. It keeps set hours and closes on some days.

Things to know

Visibility through the windows depends entirely on conditions and can be poor. It is a commercial operation and prices are high. The dinner show is a separate charge.

Nearby

Piti is around it, and Hagåtña is east.

Key facts