I may have been there twice. Bangkok (Lucy's Tiger Den in the 70s)..plus Hong Kong Kwajalein...although this was on a cross country
Hey, it was number 2. Besides, SSBN, Parche (spec ops boat) and VQ...let's see...yeah, I don't get many good stops.
Was there anyone who did STA-21 from the Parche who went back to Subs? My roommate last cruise went NFO after leaving there.
sure Rota as mentioned can be pretty fun especially El Puerto De Santa Maria during Summer Time, Civitavecchia aka Roma Harbour is one hour away from the Italian Capital and can be appreciated all over the year. Not that much fun in Tolon,south France,since everything appear more desolated compared to what it used to be a few years ago,probably cause they moved part of the fleet away. Catania may be a challenge due to where you end up with the tour guide(probably a glance to google may be a good option to have an idea who is driving you arpund)can be fun time a trip to Etna (active volcano one hour away),taormina as well good landscape. Naples not that dangerous place it used to be up to the '90s,almost enjoyable i'd say defenetly a tour to the amalphy coast is suggested. for more option do not esitate to write me a Pm.
After Olongapo and Subic City there IS NO liberty ports.Nothing like them never was. I have no idea what it's like now but Palma was the Olongapo of the Med except cleaner.
Can't believe I am the first to bring this up, but my best weekend was as an AWAN in Curacao...great beaches, Amstel Brite, Mambo Beach on a Saturday night, rent some scooters and tour the island, good buys are the linens down in Willemstad (got a great tablecloth/napkins for wife for $40 that would cost you $250 here), Scuba if you have the time/qual, snorkel if you don't (we were free diving down to 20 feet to look at the Moray's and fish) DEFINITELY eat the catch of the day, fresh fish is great. The Princess Inn had a little casino, and there is a great sushi place downtown (can't remember the name). The only downside is the Dutch, the guys are ass-hats, my Chief and AWO1 got me out of a rough spot with some Eurotrash... Loved Taormina, good way to walk off a hangover... Catania, had the best Spagetti Carbonara of my life in a little place next to the Elephant Fountain that nobody spoke English in...also had a great horse steak there...parking isn't hard there, just go where you see cars parked two deep on the sidewalk, and pay the "attendant" 5 euros to hold up traffic for you and put you in a spot...your car will be safe, and you will have a short walk to the car....a bonus is anyone in your group who understands a Latin based language (I had just enough Spanish to get by)
I will second Curaçao; it is a little bit of a trek from the main town, but there is a new Hyatt with a great golf course (Old Quarry) attached and some very good restaurants.
won't go into to too much detail pattaya beach thailand I call it the devils playground. Every sailor should get a chance to experience this himself.
Stand by for a great sea story...this one is a no-shitter. So USS Big Deck Gator is about a week from a much-deserved 3 day visit to Curacao. My buddy Archer (not quite as dickish as the cartoon character but just as devilish) says he's reserving a room at the Hilton and wants to know if I'm in. Duh. Our group was three dudes and 2 chicks and we thought that was about as big a group which could comfortably crash in a suite so we closed out. Five days out, the mess deck and wardroom are alive with the word that we were headed to Curacao RIGHT in the middle of Pride Week. Four days out, the new word is that Pride Week HQ is the Hilton so everyone should make reservations at the Marriott (1/2 mile down the beach). Three days out, shit is so serious that the Big XO gets on SITE TV during the Port Brief and changes the liberty policy to direct that every liberty group signs out with at least one female (and recommends overnights at the Marriott vice Hilton). Two days out, I corner Archer and say "WTF, shipmate?" He says "bitch, be cool." So we get off the boat, get in a cab and head to the Hilton resigned to the fact that the poolside bar music would be programmed to "Best of Erasure" all weekend. Oh well, at least we had two hot female JGs with us (one a track star, the other a swimmer). We get to the hotel and it's crickets. We roll to the pool and it's 4 sets of Dutch hot blonde female topless sunbathers. We start high-fiving beer commercial style and Archer goes, "so what do you think about the Pride Week rumor I started?" It gets better...after 24 hours of drinking, snorkeling with the ladies (if that's what you wanna call it) and generally living it up, we couldn't bear not knowing how the other 99% were living. We grabbed our fins and swam around the cove to the Marriott where we descended on the most ungodly sausage fest ever complete with the PHIBRON Commodore in the overcrowed pool with the the other 995 of our best friends. One of our smartass buddies asked how was Pride Week at the Hilton, to which we could only respond, "Sucks, but at least the drinks are free."
