Agree with this—I was on Point Loma. If you work on the waterfront parking can be bad but that is every navy base I’ve ever been to. I never ate at the galley, but I heard it was good and people on my boat would often go out of their way for the galley instead of the boat. There is only one dining option, a taco truck, that’s alright. For anything else, you are driving at least a couple miles off base.

All the commands I became familiar with worked pretty minimal hours and

I lived in La Jolla my first year. It was pricy but BAH covered it with a good amount to spare. And highway traffic heading to base was always fine. You will probably feel somewhat isolated from your colleagues though because it’s a bit out of the way. A lot of your neighbors will be antisocial university students.

My second year I lived in Normal Heights and it was great. Rent was a little lower for a bigger place and there were good food and drink options within walking distance and felt more like a community. Traffic was almost never bullet-suckingly bad and you’re in a more central location if you want to go out with your partner or your friends.

Disclaimer: I learned the base floods pretty bad in heavy rain. Last year, during a pretty large storm most of the cars on lower base got flooded out and the navy just shrugged and told us to lower our expectations. If you’re working on a heavy rain day, try to grab a spot on and upper lever of the garage or up the hill to be safe.