It depends. Sometimes the gate is locked. if it's locked you can go around by climbing down the cliff in front of the parking lot, skirting below the fence and then hopping the rocks out to the front. it's really not that tough as long as you have the right gear and you take your time, especially in the dark.
There is also a path through the marsh but it's pretty mucky.
Most of the time the gate is unlocked so you can walk right through the Coast Guard parking lot. I may be wrong about this and if I am someone please correct me but I have done this for the last 15 or 20 years and other than the night after 9/11 no one ever stopped me. Of course the night after 9/11 is another story. Let's just say that I hadn't seen an M-16 set to full "rock n roll" since Nam. we should have known better but what the hell it was mid-September and the push had just started.
