On Wednesday we drove northward and explored the historic
(aka “quaint”) town of Newport, OR.
BUT! We intentionally left in
time to be at Seal Rock, en route, at low tide.
At low tide, vast expanses of sand and tidal pools are exposed,
giving us a look at the coastal water creatures. We did see this non-water creature along the
path. Ugh – a Banana Snail. Luke’s hand gives it some dimension. It was huge.
And slow.
Here are the tidal pools that we explored.
Lots to see – green anemones
Pink anemones
2 different types of sea stars
Dungeness crabs (ok, I admit, this one is dead and only the
shell, but the live one that I got underwater looks like a blob)
Seaweed polyps, waiting patiently for high tide.
Seagulls, thankful for low tide! The pickings were easy for this fellow. He just peeped under the rock shelves and
plucked off sea stars
Mussels – thousands upon thousands of mussels!
From Seal Rock, we drove into Newport, a cute waterfront
town that still has an active fishing business.
Of course, if you want to catch your own, you can go out on a “head
boat”, bring in small tunas, and pay to have them washed, cleaned, filleted,
and iced down.
This future fisherman was crabbing off of the dock with mom
and dad. He was quite apt at handling
the large crabs.
Commercial fishing boats work the waters, too. This one is rigged for tuna and salmon.
There are also commercial eeling boats…ugh. We talked to one of the fishermen on this eel
boat – the eels are big and fat (3 to 4 ft long, 3 to 4 in in diameter) that
are lured into big tubs with bait and one-way entrances and then shipped off to
Korea for 1) food 2) oil 3) eel skin products like wallets. These boats are not quite the caliber of the
tuna boats – we didn’t want to risk having the nice guy see us take a picture
of his boat, so we sort of fudged the shot.
Harbor seals are a real nuisance for the fishermen and are
occasionally shot. But damn, they sure are cute, lazing in the water!
And boy, did we make a happy purchase! Several of the boats advertise “fresh tuna”,
so we thought we’d give it a try. The
first boat explained that sanitary regulations require that they sell only
whole fish. After the customer buys the
fish, he can fillet it for them, but the customer has to take the whole fish. A
fisherman can’t sell a fish that is older than 4 days from the date of
catch. Some of the boats go out for a
hundred miles and stay out for 2-3 days.
That means sell, sell, sell when you return! He suggested that if we just wanted a piece
of fish, we go to a fish market. We’ve
seen the market prices of $8/pound. So,
undeterred, we visited the eel fisherman and then wandered over to another
boat. The nice guy there gave us the
same story, but offered to sell us a small (11 pound) fish. By the time they filleted it, it was 4 large
(15 inches or so) fillets and several smaller “belly” pieces. By the time I cut it up and froze most of
it, we had 7 large meals. Last night’s
meal was so large that we had enough left-overs for tuna salad for lunch today.
The boat ---
The fish haul ---
Oh, and our cost?
$30!!!!
In the afternoon we visited the Yaquina Head
Lighthouse. The lighthouse was built in
1873. At 93 feet tall, it is Oregon’s
tallest lighthouse. And it still uses
the original First Order Fresnel lens, 12 feet tall! The parts of the lighthouse and lens were
brought in by sea (no coastal roads in those days) and assembled on site.
The setting reminds
us very much of Maine.
Lots (thousands) nest on the rocks off of the point of land
of Yaquina Head Lighthouse. This mama
seagull decided that one of the windows would work just as well.
Basking seals are also on the rocks. Happy fellow ---
And look carefully at these two - rolled over on their backs, taking in as
much sun as possible on the bellies. Not
a bad life.
The coastal wind is
relentless and hard, probably 25-30 knots constantly on the shorelines. With July temperatures in the low 60s, we
were worn out by the time we finished our tidal walk. Thought the wind would blow us down at the
lighthouse. The climate is pleasant, but
the wind! Oh, wow!
On Thursday, southward to the southern part of the Oregon
coast. Not nearly as many pictures, as
we took our time at our stops, plus wandered around a couple of little towns
(ice cream!!!) Our first stop was
another wind blown beach, this one with high dunes.
This “rock” is actually a sand ball, formed much like a
snowball by being blow by the wind along the beach, picking up size as it goes.
Tsunami debris warnings are posted at all beaches. I have a picture later of a boat that is
washed up on the rocks for the tsunami in Japan 3 years ago.
Next lighthouse, Heceta Head Lighthouse. This only 56 feet tall, but due to the
strategic location, it is rated as the strongest lighthouse on the Oregon
coast. Again, a First Order Fresnel
lens, this lighthouse can be seen 21 miles from land. We got a tour up into this one.
Here is the lighthouse, lighthouse keeper’s cottage, and
associated buildings, from a nearby point.
We were idly curious by the mention of a natural site where
carnivorous plants grow. Oregon has a
fantastic free guidebook; one that takes you milepost by milepost along the
coast, with descriptions of every interesting site along the way. Now, we’ve seen carnivorous plants – like the
little Venus Flytrap sold in Wal-Mart, but decided to go the mile of so out of
our way to see what the excitement was about.
Oh, my! Thousands upon thousands
of Darlingtonia carnivorous plants in one small bog area!
Not only are there thousands of the plants, but they are not
6 inches tall, they are over 3 feet tall!
So beautiful! (and no bugs in the area, either!)
Friday, further south to explore the Oregon Dunes. This large dune area (you can’t see it all)
is set aside specifically for recreation.
What type of recreation?
ATV’s and OHV’s!
The parking lots associated with these dunes are filled with
enormous RV’s pulling enormous “toy haulers”.
I can’t imagine negotiating the roads in something this long! And
speaking of motor homes, campers, trailers, all sorts – there are more here per
square foot than we’ve ever seen!
Federal campgrounds, state campgrounds, commercial campgrounds, side of
the road, waysides, everywhere, motor homes.
They are packed in every imaginable spot. And there are lots of spots.
The Umpqua River Lighthouse oversees the dunes. It is identical to the earlier visited Heceta
Head Lighthouse, perched on a 165 foot elevation. The site is also the location of the family
housing for the Coast Guard.
We did walk to see some of the dunes closer. This one is slowly being reclaimed by the native red
fescue grass.
Lunch in Coos at a recommended fish market/café. Rather small!
But the clam chowder was thick and wonderful.
After lunch, one more lighthouse. The Cape Arago Lighthouse is not available to
visit, as it is owned by area tribes.
Luke caught a nice view of it.
This same viewpoint gave us the classic Oregon coast – so
beautiful!
Last stop for the day was at the Simpson Reef, where the
largest haul-out on the Oregon coast for marine mammals such as sea lions and
seals. The Stellar sea lions and the
seals were there! The California sea
lions won’t arrive for another week or two, but the volunteer said that when
they do arrive, there are thousands of the noisy rascals. There was one
Elephant Seal.
Yet another classic Oregon coast picture from that
viewpoint.
The volunteer pointed out tsunami debris in the area. This picture shows the debris, the hull of a
boat, floated over from Japan.
Here is the actual location and why they have not recovered
the debris.
We still have no internet or cell at our campsite, so I am
preparing this blog and will try to post as we travel tomorrow. ************whoo hoo! posted!! *****
Our new campsite will be in Klamath, CA, near the Redwoods National Forest. Lisa and her family will be joining us there
for the next week!
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