Saturday, July 19, 2014

More Oregon coast


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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