Many days of my childhood were spent lounging the length of the pier at the Cement Ship. I can still smell the bait of the fisherman and the birds swooping in to steal a fish here and there.
The SS Palo Alto was built as a 434 foot tanker at the end of WW1 in the US Naval Shipyard in Oakland. Sometimes referred to as the Cement Boat, it is actually a ship made of concrete. Cement is just one of the ingredients making up its concrete mass.
Bought and Towed to Seacliff Beach in Aptos in 1929, the Seacliff Amusement Corporation built a pier out to the ship. They turned it into an amusement ship with a ballroom, cafe and pool.
Unfortunately, with the advent of the depression, the company went bankrupt and the ship was abandoned when it cracked a couple of years later. It was subsequently used as a fishing pier for years. This ship has become a landmark in the area where many memories were created. Families strolling along the walkway with fisherman lined up with their poles reeling in their daily catch was a daily occurrence.
Eventually deterioration made the ship unsafe and the pier was fenced off from the public. The cement ship has now become a home to seagulls and an artificial reef for marine life.
The ship has split from water damage from the severe winter waves of 2016.
Overlooking the ship, is a walking path, a museum, camping sites for RVs and picnic tables and grounds.