Before the Spanish arrived, the ancient Chamorro people of Guam lived almost entirely from the sea. This is the history of where spearfishing in these islands begins — and why it still matters.
"No better seamen or divers have ever been known to exist." — Fray Juan Pobre, 1602
Spearfishing in Guam isn't a sport that arrived with tourists or modern gear. It's a practice that runs thousands of years deep — a way of surviving, feeding families, and reading the ocean that the ancient Chamorro people mastered long before any outside world knew this island existed. This series is an attempt to document that lineage honestly: where it came from, what it looked like, and why it still shapes the way people hunt these waters today.
No cows, no pigs, no goats. The ancient Chamorro settled Guam nearly 4,000 years ago — and built their entire civilization around the ocean. By the time Hawaii was discovered, Chamorro culture was already ancient, and their ocean skill was unmatched in the known world.
Read Article