Five Tips for Fleet Week 2019!

My first tip for you, you can't do this year, as the opportunity has already passed. It's go on Friday if you can. It was smooth sailing (excuse the reference) with short lines and no crowds - at all.

So the second tip I have for you - Get there early! There are a whopping 6 Navy vessels for you to visit. You can enter as early as 8:30. You can get there early and be first in line! Then just return and jump in the next line.

You'll go through an x-ray station. Pick up a map on the left and then head straight to the large hangar, where all the action is located. Walk to the left, and get in line to take the tour of the ship of your choice.

I took a tour of the USS Spruance-DDG 11. I think it was a good thing this is the one I chose, because I only had time to visit one.

Tip #3: If you only have time to visit one ship, visit the Spruance! It was the best tour. I only took one, so you might ask "How do you know?" Well, I talked to a gal who'd already taken three or four others, so I have it on good authority. It was the best tour.

Tip #4: Take a camera and snap away! I took a lot of cool photos of the ship. We got to go up to the bridge, and get a view from there. No photos on the bridge. We had to climb some steep ladders to get there, and some steeper ladders to get back down. Which leads me to my next tip.

Tip #5: If you have ambulatory issues, check with the seamen helping the lines for the ship tours. They can guide you to the right tour. Some of the tours involve climbs like this one, some not as much.

There were lots of cool airlocks and hatches. I imagined the ship out at sea, and what it might be like if you had to be on the ship for long periods of times. Climbing up, climbing down. Dark corridors. Opening hatches and crawling up through them. I wondered how long those periods might be. I thought about what it might be like to have a smaller ship as your home, with lots of hatches. I'd definitely add a few portholes.