Bolivar Peninsula, Texas Bolivar Peninsula, Texas Bolivar Peninsula ( ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Galveston County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,417 at the 2010 census. The communities of Port Bolivar, Crystal Beach, Caplen, Gilchrist, and High Island are located on Bolivar Peninsula. The peninsula was named by 1816 for Simón Bolívar, the famed South American political leader involved in the independence movements of Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and other Latin American nations. The pirates/privateers Jean Laffite and Louis-Michel Aury each used the Bolivar Peninsula as part of the pirate "kingdom" established around the Galveston Bay. The peninsula was part of
USS Simon Bolivar (SSBN-641) vessel to the inbound channel for passage to the SSBN refit site, and the beginning of the next patrol cycle. During the off-crew period, critical skills were practiced and enhanced at the Fleet Ballistic Missile Training Center at the naval base where off-crews were located (Naval Base Charleston for Simon Bolivar). Specialized facilities were used for sonar, weapons and engineering training. Included was a control room simulator in which control room watchstanders (Officer of the Deck, Diving Officer, Chief of the Watch and planesmen) could practice realistic casualty responses that could not be simulated on board the submarine. One critical