Gitmo Travelogue, Friday & Sat (San Diego - JAX- Gitmo), 11 & 12 Sep
Friday:
The flight from San Diego to Atlanta was REALLY rough as we flew over Arizona, noticable to me! The plane had satellite TV for every seat, so I watched CSI and saw the breathless report (that later turned out to be nothing) about the shots fired at the boat in the Potomac. Short flight from ATL to Jacksonville and caught my shuttle ride to the Navy Lodge on the base at Jacksonville. Had a sandwich and beer from the vending machine.
Saturday:
Got up at 4am and showered & got ready. Went down to the lobby to check on the duty driver and they said he'd already been called. Got to the air terminal at 0515 and got my name on the space-available list and sat around and waited. The plane ticket was only $15! As usual, some dumbass came up to the counter at 8am asking if people with reservations were going to be called; she had orders to go to Gitmo, but they'd already "closed the plane" (done the paperwork, figured weights, etc) and she was told she was out of luck. She'd been sitting since 6am and it never occurred to her to see if she needed to do anything. The Gitmo flight took 2 hrs in an old MD-80 run by a charter airline. The flight wasn't full, maybe 10-15 seats were open. The flight goes basically SE to the east tip of Cuba and then turns west to follow the coast (12+ mi out!) and then banks over the bay and then turns to land. Got my paperwork done and then a master-at-arms called my name out. Apparently the drug/bomb dog had "alerted" on my suitcase. So, the master-at-arms (Navy police) moved everyone to the other side of the hangar and had me take all of the stuff out of my suitcase. The dog sniffed everything again and didn't alert, but we suspected it was because of my stogies. We packed everything up and the MAs decided to have the dog sniff again he alerted again but we didn't know why. Oh well, I was sent on my way. The airfield is on the "leeward" (west) side of the bay, so you take a ferry
from the leeward to windward side of the base, where the rest of the base is at. Lots of fresh fruit/veggies came in on the flight, see pic. The ferry is an old LCU, meant for landing light vehicles and Marines on a beach. We got to the windward side and Noreen had to stop at the comissary/exchange for some stuff. Took a look at the comissary, and it's a normal comissary, fresh fruit, veggies, meats,etc. Prices were basically the same as they are in San Diego. The Exchange is a regular Navy exchange.
Noreen's barracks room is in a newer building. It's a studio apartment with a double bed, fridge, 2 burner stove, sink and bathroom. It's fairly nice inside. She has a view of the bay (see pic). The small concrete islands in the bay are "anchor bouys" which are heavy concrete pillars that go to the seabed that warships can "anchor" to by attaching their chain. They're in disuse now, obviously! Next door to Noreen's barracks is a coffee shop, the "Jerk House" that sells Jamaican food, the Tiki Bar, an outdoor bar and the Bayview Restaurant, a nice sitdown restaurant that has a view of the bay.
We went for a drive around the base; it's a large base, 45 sq mi. It's fairly rough terrain, with cacti and trees everywhere. And of course, the wildlife, which is mostly iguanas and banana rats. There are lots of deserted roads that go to nowhere and deserted buildings. Lots of ammo magazines (bunkers for ammo) that I suspect still have ammo. Saw the old "Camp X-Ray," which was originally built to house Haitians seeking asylum, then was used to house detainees, before being replaced by Camp America. X-Ray was broken down and disused, like lots of buildings here at Gitmo - when they're not using a building (or whatever), they just leave it there and the elements take it back. Also saw a couple of the beaches, which are mostly rock. Had a pic of me taken at the stairs going down to "Girl Scout Beach." Had dinner at the Jerk House and crashed early, I'd had 2 long days.
The flight from San Diego to Atlanta was REALLY rough as we flew over Arizona, noticable to me! The plane had satellite TV for every seat, so I watched CSI and saw the breathless report (that later turned out to be nothing) about the shots fired at the boat in the Potomac. Short flight from ATL to Jacksonville and caught my shuttle ride to the Navy Lodge on the base at Jacksonville. Had a sandwich and beer from the vending machine.
Saturday:
Got up at 4am and showered & got ready. Went down to the lobby to check on the duty driver and they said he'd already been called. Got to the air terminal at 0515 and got my name on the space-available list and sat around and waited. The plane ticket was only $15! As usual, some dumbass came up to the counter at 8am asking if people with reservations were going to be called; she had orders to go to Gitmo, but they'd already "closed the plane" (done the paperwork, figured weights, etc) and she was told she was out of luck. She'd been sitting since 6am and it never occurred to her to see if she needed to do anything. The Gitmo flight took 2 hrs in an old MD-80 run by a charter airline. The flight wasn't full, maybe 10-15 seats were open. The flight goes basically SE to the east tip of Cuba and then turns west to follow the coast (12+ mi out!) and then banks over the bay and then turns to land. Got my paperwork done and then a master-at-arms called my name out. Apparently the drug/bomb dog had "alerted" on my suitcase. So, the master-at-arms (Navy police) moved everyone to the other side of the hangar and had me take all of the stuff out of my suitcase. The dog sniffed everything again and didn't alert, but we suspected it was because of my stogies. We packed everything up and the MAs decided to have the dog sniff again he alerted again but we didn't know why. Oh well, I was sent on my way. The airfield is on the "leeward" (west) side of the bay, so you take a ferry
from the leeward to windward side of the base, where the rest of the base is at. Lots of fresh fruit/veggies came in on the flight, see pic. The ferry is an old LCU, meant for landing light vehicles and Marines on a beach. We got to the windward side and Noreen had to stop at the comissary/exchange for some stuff. Took a look at the comissary, and it's a normal comissary, fresh fruit, veggies, meats,etc. Prices were basically the same as they are in San Diego. The Exchange is a regular Navy exchange.
Noreen's barracks room is in a newer building. It's a studio apartment with a double bed, fridge, 2 burner stove, sink and bathroom. It's fairly nice inside. She has a view of the bay (see pic). The small concrete islands in the bay are "anchor bouys" which are heavy concrete pillars that go to the seabed that warships can "anchor" to by attaching their chain. They're in disuse now, obviously! Next door to Noreen's barracks is a coffee shop, the "Jerk House" that sells Jamaican food, the Tiki Bar, an outdoor bar and the Bayview Restaurant, a nice sitdown restaurant that has a view of the bay.
We went for a drive around the base; it's a large base, 45 sq mi. It's fairly rough terrain, with cacti and trees everywhere. And of course, the wildlife, which is mostly iguanas and banana rats. There are lots of deserted roads that go to nowhere and deserted buildings. Lots of ammo magazines (bunkers for ammo) that I suspect still have ammo. Saw the old "Camp X-Ray," which was originally built to house Haitians seeking asylum, then was used to house detainees, before being replaced by Camp America. X-Ray was broken down and disused, like lots of buildings here at Gitmo - when they're not using a building (or whatever), they just leave it there and the elements take it back. Also saw a couple of the beaches, which are mostly rock. Had a pic of me taken at the stairs going down to "Girl Scout Beach." Had dinner at the Jerk House and crashed early, I'd had 2 long days.
posted by Andy in San Diego and Elsewhere at 9/26/2009 11:20:00 AM
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