by Ken Quintanilla
Guam - Although sometimes known as a flying fox, death wire or aerial runway - one thing's for sure, Guam will see a new attraction providing beautiful views of Tumon Bay. Listen up thrill-seekers: Zip Guam, Inc. has set up on Guam and hopes to move forward with a new attraction that will have you soaring through the island's tourism capitol.
Having lived on Guam for over a decade even hosting a travel show on island, Zip Guam president Trevor Takasu felt now was the time to set up a new attraction not only for tourists and the military but locals, too. "So what it is, is you have either two poles that are either between two areas and they run it, and you have a cable, and the cable runs between the two areas up at a height whatever that may be and you land on a platform and then you're unhooked from that platform, placed onto the next cable and you zip along to the next one," he explained.
The zip line will run six courses spreading over five acres at the Hilton Guam Resort and Spa along the mountainside down to the cliffside and down toward the oceanside and back. The course will last nearly an hour and would cost $50 for admission. He notes the zipline will be family oriented suitable for ages five years all the way to senior citizens.
"When somebody rides something like this for the first time, they're concerned about the safety, about the heights and concerned about many aspects but please don't worry about that at every inch of the way from the time that you start, you are hooked up to this zipline course until you finish so you cannot go anywhere," he said.
The zipline will only rise up to 30 feet and will feature a double line of cables to provide an extra safety aspect. Although the zip line will allow you to soar through paradise, Takasu hopes it become more of an experience. "It's great for the environment because we're going to be amongst beautiful trees and above canopies and we have different views in every section of our course, so it's more of a sightseeing along the way, so I hope everybody will enjoy," Takasu added.
Before the project can get off the ground its dependent on whether Zip Guam, Inc. can obtain the permits from the respective agencies to begin construction. Things do look positive as the Guam Land Use Commission already approved its tentative development plan late last month.
Once construction begins, it should take about two to three months to complete costing over half a million dollars.
