Someone had already begun to chip away at the potting material around what looked like the sensing circuitry, but I figured the most likely failure might be in the higher current circuits, probably on the right side of the voltage regulator.  After removing the first layer, an extra heat sink began to appear.

After shifting into ‘archeological dig’ mode, the first power device was finally exposed.

Eventually, three power devices were ‘unearthed’ that were all attached to the extra heat sink. The two on the left tested OK, but the rectifier bridge on the right had a dead short on one of its four diodes.

The faulty bridge was successfully removed and replaced with four discrete diodes.

Harvest Baptist Church had a patriotic service this morning, since Independence Day is coming up on Friday. We estimate that the auditorium and balcony can hold about 500 people. Jack Marlowe is the tall man on the left side of the aisle. Virginia is to the right in the photo.

The senior pastor at Harvest Baptist is Marty Herron. The orchestra consists mostly of young people with violins, a cello and flute accompanied by a piano.

We can use our side street as a rain gauge. If it is completely covered, like this, we know there has been more than 1/2 inch of rain.

About a mile further south, we stopped at Nimitz Beach Park. TWR plans to have its 4th of July picnic at one of the pavilions.

Looking north from Nimitz Beach Park at the Agat Marina. The shower on the beach (at right) has been effected by erosion.

More signs of erosion at Nimitz Beach Park. Which side of this picnic table would you want to sit on?

Talaifak Bridge is about 1/10 mile south of Nimitz Beach Park. This waterway’s outlet into the Philippine Sea is less than 100 yards on the other side of the bridge.

The downstream side of Talaifak Bridge.

The parking area at Talaifak Bridge was unique The open pattern in the concrete surface allows most of the rain water to seep into the soil thus lessening drainage problems.

Our next stop, Sella Bay Trailhead, is about 5 miles south of our apartment. The condition of the sign should have been a forewarning of what was ahead!

Most of the trail was a very old 4-wheel drive track. Since it had just rained a couple hours earlier, the tracks were slippery mud and the grass was too high to walk in. Steep slopes like this one were especially tricky to transverse.

We saw thousands of these wildflowers on this hike and the one this morning. Are they wild orchids? We’ve heard them called this, but cannot find a scientific source to verify it.

Across the valley north of this trail is the SDA shortwave transmitting site.

After about 45 minutes of hiking we could see Sella Bay in the distance, just above the wild orchid in the photo. It was at this point that we decided to turn back as there would be no way to make it down and back before sundown.

At the Sella Bay Trailhead, there were some steps up to an overlook. We had not gone to the overlook earlier because a wedding party was there. The ‘tree’ with the unusual roots is a pandanus palm.

From the overlook it is possible to see the highest peak in Guam — Mount Lamlam at 1,332 feet. It is the peak on the right. Between the twin peaks on the left is a rock face which which turns into a waterfall after heavy rains. So far, we haven’t seen the waterfall.

The view of Cetti Bay is definitely better than the entrance!

Our last stop was at the ‘MacDonalds in a container’ at Agat that we mentioned in a previous blog. We ordered from their three item $1 menu, not their special Guam high calorie Spam breakfast menu!

The easy way to the crash site is by car on this road — note the pipe line on the right side of the road.  Since the site is on federal property, this gate is opened only on the anniversary date (6 August) each year for relatives to visit the crash site.

We were told that we were allowed to hike to the site. There is narrow vehicle path about 1/4 mile NW of the locked gate that allows access to a power line right-of-way.

We followed this power line that has concrete poles.

After traveling north-west for a little over 1/10 mile we took the track to the right that follows another power line with wooden poles.

Immediately after the right turn, we encountered this mud hole and decided to walk from here. Obviously, some other vehicle, probably 4-wheel drive, had gone through. We did not want to get stuck, nor have to wash a very muddy car! Also, we did not want to find out the consequences of being found in a restricted area with a vehicle. We knew that hiking  in was allowed.

In about 1/4 mile, the power line turns to the left going along the side of the pipeline road. If instead, you followed the pipeline road to the right, you would come to the locked gate.

We followed the pipeline east-north-east for about one mile.

The turnoff to the crash memorial and site is unmarked, but obvious. The crash resulted in this pipeline being damaged and it looks like this section might have been repaired at this location.

The 100 yard long road to the memorial is starting become overgrown, but the black obelisk can be seen to the right,

The Korean Airlines 801 memorial — hopefully, it will be tidied up before August 6 for the anniversary visitors.

How many of these names can you identify?

Before leaving the memorial, we noticed that we could see the entrance to the Japanese command center, from which we had seen the top of the memorial last week.

This focuses in on the Japanese command center in the previous photo.

From the crash site, we walked about 100 yards to the top of the hill and about 100 feet higher in elevation. From there, we could see the airport (far right) and Agana Bay (left with rain showers) and the cities of Hagatna (nearest — formerly Agana) and Tamuning (to the left of the airport and onto the peninsula).

Also, on this same hill, is the VOR (VHF Omni-directional radio Range) site for the airport. This and the pipeline are probably the reasons that this is a restricted access area.

On the way back to our vehicle, the rain caught up with us! Fortunately, there was no lightning, otherwise we would not have sheltered under a tree or hold an umbrella! The light rain quickly changed to drizzle and we completed our first hike of the day. Virginia is holding our water supply for the hike.  We found that plastic soda bottles are much stronger than the thin plastic used in the water bottles sold at the store.