Where to see the USS Iowa (part 1)

On Thursday October 27, at noon (last I heard), the battleship USS Iowa will be towed from the Reserve Fleet (you may know it as the Mothball Fleet, or the Ghost Fleet) to the deepwater industrial pier in Benica.  On Friday at 9:30am (last I heard - the times are subject to change) the Iowa will be towed to Richmond.

So, where do you go to get a good view?  (Assuming that you don't have a boat, or access to a local oil terminal.)

This afternoon (having nothing better to do) I walked across the George Miller, Jr. Memorial Bridge (the westmost of the Martinez-Benicia bridges) to the Vista Point \ rest stop area near the north end of the bridges to scout out the good views.

Vista Point

Vista Point, looking towards Martinez.

On Thursday, the Vista Point area at the north end of the Benicia-Martinez bridges will have a good view of the ship being towed from the reserve fleet to the bridges, especially if you - the discriminating public that follows my blog - head up the hill at the north end of the Vista Point area.

The picnic table at the top of the hill, looking towards the reserve fleet.

The Thingy at the top of the hill.

The best view is going to be from the picnic table at the top of the hill adjacent to the Vista Point parking lot.  In the parking lot it will be necessary for people of average height to look thru a chain-link fence - which isn't such a big deal if you aren't taking photos - but if you get near the top of the hill you can see over the fence, and if you're early enough (or good at shmoozing) you can sit at (or stand on) the picnic table, and comfortably watch the proceedings at a distance.  Look for the wiry-gazeboish thingy at the north end of the Vista Point area; walk up the hill, and look for the table next to it.  If the table is occupied there is a concrete thing (under the wiry thingy) that you can stand on to see past the tall person who will always stand in front of you.

When the ship reaches the first bridge it will be necessary to get to the pedestrian lane on the west-most bridge to see the Iowa being towed to the pier in Benicia.  That may require five or ten minutes of walking.  If that sounds like too much work, then consider the shore under the bridge; I've seen fishermen there, but I don't (yet) know how to get there, and the view there will probably be as restricted as the view from Vista Point (but you may get a better view of me in my kayak).

The ped lane on the bridge should be roomy enough to give everyone a view of the strait to the west of the bridges, but there's a fence that makes taking photos more complicated: see the next image.

View of the industrial pier (to the upper-right) from the G. Miller Jr. bridge, shot from between the bars of that stupid fence..

I don't think that the public can get onto the auto pier, but I haven't really researched it; my hunch is that security concerns will keep people away.

Another option, if you are one of those unlucky people without a boat, is the fishing pier at the Martinez marina.  I think the view won't be very good, and if a lot of people show up, it won't be very comfortable (but there will probably be plenty of parking).

If you really want a good view, it might be best to wait until Friday, when the ship is towed to Richmond, because there will be more options.  I'll put those in another blog entry.