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

Hatfield Marine Science Center

In Newport there are two "aquarium's", the Oregon Coast Aquarium and the Hatfield Marine Science Center. According to TripAdvisor they recommend the Science center over the commercial Aquarium. We've done many aquariums.

Oregon State University Marine Science Center

We first decided to walk out on the Port of Newport public fishing pier.

Public Fishing Pier

Most people were not fishing, but crabbing. They had several types of crab cages, but these crab nets were the most prevalent. They would tie a piece of fish on the bottom, put a rock in it for weight and through it in.

Crab Net

After just 10 -15 minutes they would pull the nets up. Where we were standing they would usually pull one or two crabs.

Mr. Crabby

We then went to the Hatfield Marine Center. This was named after the late Republican Oregon Senator Mark Hatfield. There is no fee to visit, but they do recommend a $5.00 per person donation. The Oregon Coast Aquarium is $18.95 per person. 

This old submarine was used to find treasure in a shipwreck in Yaqiuna Bay by local law enforcement. Yaquina is pronounced  (Ya-Kwinn-A). There was no treasure in the shipwreck and the submarine got stuck in the rocks. It was not used again and was donated to the Science Center.

Submarine at Hatfield

They have an octopus on display in this tank.

Octopus tank

The lighting is not great for the photo, but you can see the tentacles.

Octopus in bottom right

They had a bunch of hands on displays and fish tanks, here is a hands on tidepool display with sea stars (star fish), sea anemone and other tidepool sea animals.

Tidepools

At 11:00 a guided tour of the center's estuary was led by the intern you can see in the above picture. It was about a 1/2 mile walk through paved and unpaved trails including the mud flats.

Here we are standing in the mud flats. You had to keep the feet shuffling or you would start sinking and water would start accumulating. The tour guide is using a 'shrimp gun' to draw shrimp out of the mud.

Shrimping

She found several. She said shrimpers use these guns to harvest shrimp to eat.

Shrimp

Don't judge me! It's not what you think! Yes weed is involved. No I'm not smoking it!

There is a grass here called Pickle-weed. It thrives in salt water. The tour guide said it actually tastes like pickles. She took a bite and gave us all some. I'm tentatively taking a bite. It just came out looking bad! I can't trust Patty with the camera! :)

Is it legal?

Not sure if the Pickle-Weed actually tasted like pickles. It was certainly salty. I ended up spitting it out. At least I tried it! Patty did too, but she had the camera! Fear Factor here we come....

We then decided to go to the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse which is not the same as the Yaquina Head Lighthouse that we went to earlier in the week.

Yaquina Bay Lighthouse

The Yaquina Bay Lighthouse was opened three years earlier then the Yaquina Head lighthouse. The problem was that the light could not be seen except from straight out. After three years they closed it and opened the Head Lighthouse which is still in use.

We parked in the park and walked to it. It was a nice walk.

Lighthouse

It turns out we were walking up from the back of the lighthouse. Good news that the gate in the back was open.

Back of Lighthouse

This is really a lighthouse. Notice that it is a house with a light built into the roof of it. Very unusual to the type of lighthouses we are used to. There are actually three stories of living quarters, plus a basement.

Lighthouse Parlor

These stairs are going to the third floor of the house. There is just one bedroom on the third floor. From there you need to climb a ladder to get to the lens.

Stairwell

The ladder to get the the light is blocked off. The third floor is as high as you can get.

Ladder to light

Here is a view of the harbor entrance from the lighthouse. Notice the two jetty's to keep the waves out and keep sandbars from forming.

Harbor Entrance

Here is the front of the lighthouse. It was going to be demolished in 1946 but Newport would not allow that. It was saved. What a blessing!

Front of Lighthouse

Just down the path from the lighthouse is the Fisherman's memorial for those lost at sea.

Fisherman's Memorial

Many family and friends leave flowers and pictures on the memorial of those that have died.

Memorial

Here is a picture of the Newport bridge from the other side. We just really like this picture and wanted to post it. The Newport bridge was opened in 1934 so it is actually pretty old. No wonder it is so classic looking!

Newport Bridge

That's it for today,

Miss you all and love you,

Also Happy Birthday to Cynthia today! 

God Bless,

Brian and Patty

Cape Perpetua Scenic Area

We went to a farmers market in Waldport which is just about 6 miles south of us on highway 101. Didn't buy anything there, but it was still a good time looking at mainly crafts and such. I Googled any attractions near by and found there was Cape Perpetua Scenic Area. We decided to drive there. It is about 3 miles south of the next little town of Yachats.

Cape Perpetua

We first went to the Visitors center and talked to a very nice ranger named John. He gave us some great pointers on where to hike that was within our ability. There are some great views from the visitors center. They even supply binoculars but we always bring our own.

View from visitors center

The rock around Cape Perpetua is volcanic and makes for great tide pools! The waves are also very rough and make for some great 'geyser' action. You can see one explode up in the picture below.

Rough warter

Per Ranger John's advice we drove about 2 miles to the Rock Shelter trailhead. This is way up in the mountains. We actually got into a cloud as you can see in the picture of the sign. The Rock Shelter is just that, s shelter built out of rock by the CCC conservation core back in 1933.

Rock Shelter trail

We started on the trail. The trail is about a half mile loop.

Rock Shelter trail

Pretty soon we got to the Rock Shelter. We may go back on a clear day because we were told you can see 17 miles out and see the curvature of the earth from up here.

Patty at Shelter

This is looking from the other side of the shelter.

Still standing after79 years!

Taken from inside the shelter you can see Highway 101 and the Oregon coastline.

Framed Coastline

We continued on the loop past the shelter which did end up back to the parking lot. The sun and fog are fighting to get through the trees in this picture. We thought it looked cool.

Sun and fog

We decided to go to Devil's Churn which is another half mile hike. This one is considered moderate because the last part is down steps to volcanic rocks. Not for the faint of heart which I am when it comes to heights. In the middle of the picture you can see some buildings. That is where the parking area is. To the right you can see the trail that leads down to Devil's Churn.

Devil's Churn

We weren't sure if we were going to hike all the way to the bottom or not. We would start out and decide when we got there. Those that know us, know that means if possible we probably will go all the way to the bottom.

Trail of the Restless Waters

We headed out on the trail. What makes us want to go on is how beautiful everything is around here. Always something to see around the next bend or in this case switchback.

Devil's Churn Trail

As we got closer to the bottom it became less a trail that I like. We happened upon Ranger John again and he assured me I would be OK the rest of the way down. We'll see!

Devil's Churn Trail 2

But look at it. How can we not go down all the way? We have to try!

Devil's Churning it up

We continue down carefully. Well at least I do, Patty has no problem with stuff like this!

Getting Closer

If you look back at the picture just above the map of Devil's Churn taken from way up high, it probably makes more sense now. You can see more clearly how this trail goes down to the churn. The tide is coming up so the water is getting rougher.

Rough Water

We finally made it down to the rock. It was really worth it. You can see that the steps are crumbling at the bottom.

Finally down!

You can see the water hitting the rocks behind Patty.

Water explosion behind Patty

The water has really started churning. This is because the tide continues to rise.

Wave Action

A bunch of kids went out to the end to get wet. Every once in awhile a big set would come in and soak them.

Kids getting soaked

We hiked back up to the truck and drove back to our home. It was about 4:00 when we got back. We called Mom and Dad and had nice conversations with them. 

It was truly a blessed day!

God Bless you all,

Brian and Patty