US 3rd Fleet – Naval Base Point Loma

Today I got a small, personal tour of the Naval Base at Point Loma http://www.cnrsw.navy.mil/subase2/index.asp. Now I’ve lived, just a few miles across the peninsula from this base for over two decades, passed by it numerous times, and once, late at night after dinner out with a friend, got stopped by the MP’s, with hands on guns, as we were trying to do a U-turn at the gate. But I’ve never been inside the gate.

I was returning on disabled transit from a doctor’s appointment. Often there are several folks on the bus. So it was this afternoon. After I was picked up, we dropped off a woman in Point Loma, then we went to pick up a person who worked at this base.

Though I was tired, I was entranced. For years, everyone had told me that this was the ‘main’ US submarine base. That it was to blame for all the power brown/black outs we used to have so routinely. That living in proximity with this base was why I could not get good short wave reception. (Indeed the bus driver tried to contact her dispatcher to find the exact location of the pick-up, but the radio wouldn’t work.)

Luckily, for me, the driver had not been there before, so I was driven all over the base, including parking areas, where she would have to turn around. I did not see one nuclear submarine!

Naval Base – Point Loma is a large area of the peninsula that fronts on the Pacific Ocean and the San Diego Bay. The base is located on some steep, scrub brush covered, cliffs and hills from which you get an excellent view of the Pacific.

Since it was a clear afternoon, I even got to see, for the first time ever, far out in the distance, some of the Coronado Islands http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronado_Islands a part of the municipality of Tijuana, Baja California. I only wished that we had stopped in one place so I could whip out my binoculars, which I always carry with me. I wanted to see those islands better.

The numerous physical buildings of the base seemed to encompass every style from WW2 on; multi-storied 50’s retro office buildings, old wood style barracks, small outbuildings, all stacked on these small hilly streets and peppered with parking areas.

We found the rider, and left the base. I only wished that we could have driven around longer. I wonder if they give tours; perhaps during ‘Fleet Week’ http://www.fleetweeksandiego.org/ ?

Security did cross my mind however as we were just waved in and allowed to wander all about in the disabled bus.

Do yourself a favor and check out some of the links above; you will enjoy this piece of America! (And there are some terrific pictures!)