East & West Coast

While being stationed on both the East & West coasts on destroyers I happily saw a lot

I obviously lost a pretty good sized chunk of naval pictures over over the decades. I probably have them in a shoebox somewhere nearby?

For baby boomers like my wife and I that are the same age, we grew up in an era whereby pictures were expensive! I have an extreme few during my Naval experience, yet this one walking down the steep side-walk to the Subic Bay Marina to rent a boat may be the best.

I very regularly rented 22 foot ferrite concrete sailboats with a crew of 2 (minimum) to 6 others (maximum) in order to go island hopping in the Philippines. Normally this would also include scuba equipment for those certified and snorkeling equipment for those that wanted it (many had their own).

I learned how to sail in San Diego and did so like crazy on windy days! On other days I drove my motorcycle’s to the beaches, mountains and deserts. I had three motorcycles in the four years I spent in San Diego. The first was a new 1976 Kawasaki KZ-400 purchased in South Dakota and shipped to me in early 1977. The second was a new Kawasaki 1977 KZ-1000. The third was a very low mileage used Suzuki GS-750.

I became certified in Scuba diving in Subic Bay with my best friend. Our first certification dive was exploring a sunken barge from WWII. I ended up taking nearly 50 or so dives here, which included feeding Moray Eels left-over steak by hand on another island (The Philippines has 7000) . A bunch of us took seven days of liberty on an island while making three dives per day!

On the way to rent another sailboat in the Philippines
On a mission “80”
Walking down marina ramp in Philippines to rent sailboat
Dave Grewing 20 YO - 77 - 2nd of 4 jumps at last few seconds of day legally dropped in near desert conditions while watching sunset over ocean
20 YO – 77 – 2nd of 4 jumps at last few seconds of day to be legally dropped over desert while watching sunset over ocean…Breathtaking. Photo by Bruce Jensen

On Sunday morning March 20 1977 I took my first jump from a small plane with five people originally in it; Pilot, Jump Master, My best friend Steve, another, and I. I volunteered to jump first.
The Jump Master with just a few jumps shy of two thousand under his belt stated that it was the worst jump he had ever seen in his life and highly encouraged me to never come back again after he caught back up with me on the ground.
You should have seen the look on his face when Steve and I showed up two weeks later to jump again. Art (the Jump Master) never allowed me to jump first again from that point forward.
BTW: Every subsequent jump from the first jump forward was significantly better than the previous.
Steve Duncan and Dave Grewing prior to first jump
20 YO – 77 – Prior to 1st jump
First Parachute Jump Certificate
Picture of airfield prior to jump
20 YO – 77 – 3rd of 4 jumps 2700 feet and climbing – airport runway and buildings are in picture

The base that I was stationed at for a year of specialized schooling can clearly be seen in the left 1/4 of this view between the first pier mooring pole and the land-point at mid-center.

I learned how to sail just a short distance on the other side of this point at the Navy Marina while becoming qualified in nearly every type and length of sailboat that they rented.
Naval Visits
18 YO - Sep 76 - KZ-400 SD
18 YO – Sep 76 KZ-400 SD
Dave Grewing, Mike Prusha, Bob Murray
19 YO -77 KZ-400 CA
Dave Grewing 19 YO - Aug 77 - KZ-1000 CA
19 YO – 77
KZ-1000 CA
10th of 12 Bikes
US Naval Marina San Diego, CA
Recent Internet pic of Naval Marina
Modern Day Picture of Naval Marina 2
Recent Internet pic of Naval Marina