The view of the infinite Pacific Ocean is a bit blocked from here at Port Hueneme Beach Park, with the shadowy outlines of Anacapa and Santa Barbara Islands, part of Channel Islands National Park, impeding the horizon in two places. But those hilly outcrops also add some texture to the oranges and greens of the setting November sun, so what they take away in terms of the vastness and emptiness that defines ocean views like this one, they more than make up for in cool looking photos. Sitting on a bench on the Port Hueneme fishing pier, I pull my jacket tighter around me and adjust my earmuffs around my sunglasses. The wind is cutting, and temperatures of low 40s with the wind chill are a bit much for a California kid like me. But the beauty makes it worthwhile.

The sun finally vanishes behind Santa Barbara Island, and dusk changes the color of the ocean in front of me. A few more moments spent staring, and it is time to head back to my hotel, reflecting on an incredible weekend here along southern California’s Pacific coast.

Port Hueneme (pronounced why-knee-me) sits just past Malibu, where the east-west of the coastline through that ritzy city turns back to the north, heading toward Oxnard and Ventura. In 1871, the Hueneme Wharf was built here, the largest and most important deep-water wharf in Southern California, and the principal shipping wharf for more than twenty years. Today, this city of just over 20,000 is best known for being the location of Naval Base Ventura County, home of the U.S. Navy Construction Battalions, also known as the Seabees (from the CB of Construction Battalion).

I arrive on a brisk and windy November Friday afternoon after making the quick hour and a half or so drive from Los Angeles up Pacific Coast Highway. (Port Hueneme is also accessible from U.S. 101 for those coming from further afield or who prefer the freeway to PCH.) My stay is at a simple Holiday Inn Express, made possibly by a couple free nights that were about to expire from one of my credit card perks. The hotel is just a long block from the beach, past a railroad track that fans will recognize from Back to the Future Part Three.

The 1250 foot fishing pier here was originally built in 1956, and is the centerpiece of Port Hueneme Beach Park, a nice area with plenty of parking and a myriad of sitting and picnicking spots. It also has the best sunset views (in my opinion) in the area, both from the pier itself and using it to break up your photos. But it can be cold, and I shiver even when in my heavy winter jacket like a true Californian. (My German ancestors would probably laugh at such “mild” temperatures.)

Fortunately, during daytime, the wind reduces to just a cold breeze, so while I keep my jacket on for much of my seaside time over the weekend, I don’t feel overly frozen with the sun out. And Port Hueneme Beach Park has a couple reasons to visit during the day. First, a long paved bike and pedestrian lane leads from the parking area to a now-in-disrepair lighthouse, itself a reconstruction after the original was moved to the other side of the naval base. Signage along the way tells some of the history of the area, and also warns against feeding the feral cats that abound along the route.

And along the beach park itself sits a sundial that serves as a memorial. In January 30, 2000, Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashed here in the waters off Port Hueneme, killing all 88 on board. Their names are engraved around the sundial, which was created to cast a specific shadow at 4:22pm each January 30. It is moving, and in the Jewish tradition, I lay a stone on it to honor the memory of those lost.

If you like fresh seafood, Port Hueneme Beach Park has the amazing Surfside Seafood. The halibut here was in the water earlier this morning, and one can have it fried as fish and chips or grilled in tacos. Or both. (Yes, I opt for both, one of the advantages of traveling with A.)

(There are other solid looking food options, few of the fancy variety, within just a few minutes. I enjoy a poke bowl at Poke Ramen, and the raspberry mocha at Anacappuccino – a play on the island name that still makes me smile while writing it – was divine.)

Port Hueneme is most definitely a military city. Naval Base Ventura County is home to about 19,000 personnel, making it far and away the largest employer in the county, let alone the city, and my hotel seems to mostly be made up of active-duty military or those visiting them. And while the base itself is closed to the public, the U.S. Navy Seabee Museum is open and free. And it is absolutely worth an hour or two.

Originally, the military – and especially the navy – used civilian contractors for construction purposes. While those were overseen by a vice admiral, they were not active military personnel. That changed after Pearl Harbor, when arming such civilian contractors would have been seen internationally as guerrilla warfare. So the Navy Construction Battalions were born, and from their initials (CB) came the nickname of Seabees.

The museum here walks through the history of the Seabees, with a major focus on World War Two, where Seabee battalions built pontoon bridges over rivers in Europe (like that famously over the Rhine), pontoon wharfs to deliver desperately needed material and manpower to the beachheads at Normandy, and a whopping 111 airstrips and 441 piers in the Pacific island hopping campaign. It is safe to say that without these amazing feats – and so many more that the museum talks about – the war may not have been won.

I am especially awed by the pontoons themselves, one of which is on display, that basically functioned as legos, able to be fashioned into almost anything needed depending on the circumstances. It is this ability to adapt to just about any battlefield situation that gave the Seabees their motto: Can Do. (And yes, they did.)

Some of the stories told here at the U.S. Navy Seabee Museum are truly incredible, like the engineer who used his Caterpillar armored bulldozer to take out a Japanese pillbox (with the blade raised to deflect enemy fire), to a Seabee-invented Coca Cola plant made out of old oxygen tanks and an Imperial Japanese searchlight, to sneaking into a North Korean rail yard and stealing locomotives (and beer as the legend goes) following the naval landing at Incheon to repair and use those trains for moving materials to the lines.

There are too many stories to tell, and too many cool inventions and tactics to mention. All I can say after my morning wandering the museum is, to the hundreds of thousands of men and women who have served as Seabees from World War Two to today, thank you.

One thing sadly lacking in Port Hueneme, at least by my own research which I admit has its flaws, is fine dining. But just a few minutes up the coast, made into a fifteen minute drive by having to go around the naval base, is Ox and Ocean, the upscale restaurant inside the Zachari Dunes at Mandalay Beach resort. The steaks look delicious, but we are only a few feet from the water, so it is more seafood, a lobster pasta and yet another incredible piece of halibut, this time served over black lentils and buerre blanc. I can’t imagine a more perfect way to end such a meaningful weekend.

Port Hueneme is a place that is probably not on many tourist radars, lost to other, more well-known and upscale, Southern California beach cities. But if you’re looking for something a little quieter, a bit slower, and perhaps a tad more meaningful, give a weekend of seafood, sunsets, and Seabees here a go. You won’t regret your visit.

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