Fort Nuestra Señora de la Soledad

Fort Soledad stands on a headland above Umatac Bay in southern Guam, built by the Spanish around 1810, the last of the forts raised to guard the anchorage where the Manila galleons stopped for water and supplies on the run between Acapulco and the Philippines. The gun platform and part of the walls survive. From the point the bay, the village and the southern coast are laid out below. Two other Spanish forts once stood around the same bay, Fort San Jose and Fort Santo Angel, and fragments of both survive nearby. The galleon route ran for two hundred and fifty years and Umatac was one of its few reliable stops.

What you actually see

• The gun platform - the position covering the galleon anchorage.
• The bay view - Umatac and the southern coast from the headland.
• The galleon anchorage - the bay the fort was built to protect.
• The surviving walls - the sections still standing on the point.

When to go

December to June is the drier season. Late afternoon light over the bay is best. Typhoon season runs July to November.

Honest expectations

The fort is partly reconstructed and small. Interpretation is limited to signs. Parking at the top is very limited.

Nearby

Umatac is below, and Sella Bay is north.