Depoe Bay Whales!

I  have been under the weather the last few days. I got an outer ear infection in my right ear that started bothering me last Wednesday. Thursday we bought some over the counter drops that didn't help at all. Yesterday we went to an urgent care here in Newport to get it checked on. The doctor's name is David Allen. He went to Westmont in Santa Barbara. His girlfriend at the time lived in Ventura, so he knows Ventura fairly well. Small world!!

The pain had been spreading past my ear into my jaw bone. Ibuprofen wasn't even helping anymore, and I had to take a vicodin to help me sleep. You all know I hate taking pills, so it REALLY was hurting. It was keeping me from going anywhere. Patty is a trooper and played nurse. She wouldn't go anywhere without me.

The doctor diagnosed it as an bacterial external ear infection. We think that those 40 mph winds on Tuesday when we went to see the Japanese dock probably caused the problem. Anyway they cleaned the ear with an antibiotic cleanser and prescribed an antibiotic and steroid ear drop called CIpro HC OTIC. I'm on my second day of the drops and even though it still hurts, it is probably 50% better. Today we went out again, with cotton in my ear.

Today we went to Depoe Bay about 8 miles north of here. Depoe Bay's claim to fame is that is has the worlds smallest navigable harbor.

Depoe Bay Harbor

 We were checking out the harbor from the bridge that you have to go under to navigate into the harbor and noticed several seals swimming around.

Seal next to the dock

On the other side of the 101 was a Whale watching center. You could either cross the road or go under the bridge on a walkway.

Walkway under bridge

This channel is the only way in and out of the harbor.

Depoe Bay Channel

In the above picture you can see some railing on the right. That is where we are standing to take the picture below of the bridge. Boats have to maneuver around this point to go under the bridge into the harbor.

Depoe Bay Bridge

Depoe bay is heavy with shrimp. The whales hang around here to eat. They have a Whale Center where you can look for whales. They had seen one about 10 minutes before we arrived. The gray whales that we usually see in the Channel Islands have mostly passed already. These are most likely blue whales. We waited for awhile but did not see any. 

Here is the main shopping area from across the street at the Whale Center. There is a sea wall the entire length of town.

Depoe Bay Town Center

This is just offshore from the seawall. We just love views like this!

Rock at Depoe Bay

We walked from one end of town along the shops and let Patty check them all out. We then crossed the street and walked back along the seawall.

Depoe Bay

We didn't see any whales, but I had read somewhere online that there was a state park about 3 miles further north called Boiler Bay State Park that some whales might visit. We drove there, and what a GREAT decision!

There were two whales just offshore having their full of shrimp! One of them was no more then 100 yards from us. Whale watching boats showed up, but they couldn't get as close as us because of shallow bottoms. The ranger back at the Whale Center told us that whales prefer eating in shallow water because it is less work for them. In this picture you can see the whale spout and his back. When you consider that we are using a simple Casio digital camera you can see how close these huge animals were to us.

Whale spout

We kept saying we were going to leave, but then they would re-surface. We could have stayed for an hour or more. We actually have at least a dozen pictures. Here he is diving so you can see his tail fin.

Dive, Dive!

Seeing these whales really was a highlight of the day! Just think if I had stayed in again today! We have now seen bald eagles and blue whales in the wild. What an awesome God!

We read there was a road worth driving called Otter Crest Loop. It is about 3 miles and for much of it is one way only. We thought this traffic sign was unusual.

Otter Crest Loop Sign

Here is what the road looks like. Pedestrians can walk both ways. :)

Otter Crest Loop

As we were driving on Otter Crest Loop, Patty saw this house on the hill and informed me she wanted to move here and buy this house. I mentioned how she would miss the kids, she said she would move them up here too!

Patty's House

Here is the view from Patty's house. As it turns out, it is a gift shop at what is called Cape Foulweather. The name is appropriate because at times the winds can hit 100 mph here. We are safe in not moving here!

Patty's View

We continued to Devil's Punchbowl. This is a 'bowl' that was caused by the ocean causing a hole in the rock and then the winter fierce storms churning around causing a bowl.

Devil's Punchbowl sign

We were surprised to see people in the bowl! Some water was coming into it, but not much. I got back home and Googled it and found out that a couple times a year this is possible. I need to find out more. The pictures I saw had this filled with water. I don't know if this will happen while we are here.

Devil's Punchbowl

Here is a picture I found online. It is what I expected when we got to the punchbowl.

Online Photo of the Punchbowl

After the Punchbowl we went to Szabo's Steakhouse and Seafood for diner. They have a Tuesday night special that is a 16oz rib-eye steak diner for $11.99! Patty had a Salmon steak diner for $12.99. They were both very good. The place was packed at 5:30! It was setup for maximum persons, kind of like family dining. Square tables right next to each other. This place has a good thing going! 

That's it for today,

Love you all!

Brian and Patty