In and Around Newport, on the Oregon Coast

There is no place on the Oregon coast without its charms. With most of the coast designated as State Park it has suffered relatively little from development. The central portion is the most densely populated, with the towns of Newport and Lincoln City accounting for the bulk of those numbers. It is, however, not to be thought of as a particularly urban area. Within easy distance is the rugged grandeur and historic headlands of Cape Foulweather, and Cape Perpetua; the amazing rocks of Ona Beach, and the places where rock and water play interesting games: the spouting horn at Depoe Bay (also the world's smallest navigable harbor) and the Devil's Punchbowl. Whales migrate along the coast, sea lions hang out at Seal Rock. Or go into town and enjoy what they have on offer.

Newport is a picturesque waterfront town, benefiting from having access to both a bay and the ocean. There are a number of touristy type things to do, a wax museum, Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum, and giftshops. It also has an annual marathon, Brew Festival, Seafood Festival and Renaissance Faire. It's home to two important marine science venues, two historic lighthouses, and a lovely art-deco bridge, which spans the bay.

Lincoln City seems to go on forever in length, yet hasn't that much width. You think you're through it, countryside reappears, then you're back in the town again. There's a good reason for this. LC began as five separate and distinct towns that decided to merge their tax-base and identities into a new unified whole. LC is a town of gift shops, used bookstores, and the Siletz Tribe's Chinook Winds Casino.

Both these towns, along with Depoe Bay, are good jumping-off points in the thriving whale watching industry along the Oregon coast offering charter tour boats out to the great mammals during their migrations.

All without leaving Lincoln County.

Quick Tips:

Any portion of the coast can be windy and cool regardless of the season so take a jacket.
Binoculars are great for watching the sea lions, whales, and birds.

Websites: Lincoln County
Newport Chamber of Commerce
Lincoln City Visitor and Convention Center
Depoe Bay Chamber of Commerce

Best Way To Get Around:

As with the rest of the Oregon coast, a car is by far the easiest and most convenient way to get around.

There’s a group of shaggy creatures hunched and huddled on the beach, a conclave of strange beasts napping. Turn and turn again, one alien landscape replaces another. Runic messages are spelled out. Linear arrangements lie like the remnants of columns, the vestige of a pillar lined processional way, long unused. Broken causeways leading nowhere. Here and there incomplete carvings, shapes partly removed from the rock, like bas-reliefs, and apparently abandoned. This is not a strange new world, nor an ancient ruined civilization. It‘s Ona Beach.

The official website contains such a completely inadequate description that I can’t see it making anyone want to go out of their way to visit this beach. Especially not with places like Yaquina Head nearby. That’s a shame. Ona Beach State Park is one of coast's best-kept secrets and my favorite section of coastline. It has a very unique landscape; a long stretch of fascinating rock formations that you can explore.

Beginning at the parking area, with picnicking facilities and meadows adjacent, a short hike through woods and over a bridge above the creek leads to the sandy beach. To the south you’ll be able to make out the rock formations, but you wont be able to appreciate them until you approach closer. Then, of course, you’ll find it hard to walk away. Each twist of your head or single step changes the view and reveals something new and fantastic. There is very little sand within this rocky area. The images below are of rock sculpted by time and tide still attached to the larger rock base below. Look for what appears to be a whale's fluke protruding from the rock below, it seems that while the whale was diving both mammal and water transmogrified. It also makes a handy seat.

There are pools left behind by the retreating tide, but generally these don’t contain larger creatures, although occasionally there is a surprise. What you will more normally see are tiny little fish frantically seeking somewhere to hide when they see you. I’ve tried sneaking up on them, it can’t be done. The problem for them is that, in most of the pools, there’s nothing to hide under, so they just zip round and round until you feel exhausted for them.

As always at an Oregon Beach you can look for agates or other interesting things along the shoreline, watch people playing with their dogs or kids in the surf, or just walk.

It is important to go when the tide is out or the rock formations will be inundated. Occasionally, after a large storm, the rocks are encroached upon by sand. The oblique western light in the later part of the day is best for photography as the shadows cast allow the rocks more definition. The cliff face blocks direct eastern light early in the day.

Open: Dawn to dusk.
Admission: None.
Oregon State Parks: 1-800-551-6949

If you go when the tide is well on its way back in (or out) you'll get to experience the "sound." As the tide surges in it pushes the pebbles and cobbles of the beach forward onto shore. Then as it surges back out it drags the rocks. This wave action creates a remarkable noise that consists of many thousands of rocks clicking and clacking together, simultaneously and overlapping. However, with the tide well in, you'll miss the tidal pools, and all they contain, so my best advice would be: go first when the tide is out to explore the tide pools, leave to explore the headland and other areas of the coast, and return with the tide.

The long staircase down to the beach is a welcome addition to those of us who used to have to slide down the long slope one direction and claw our way back up the other. The cobbles of the beach are lava rock, worn smooth by wave action. Time was you could collect one as a memento, but this is no longer permitted. You can collect as much driftwood as you want. I've found some really great pieces here -- nature's sculpture.

The sea lions are those blobs laying about on the larger rock formations relatively close in to shore. Mostly they are very lazy beasts, but occasionally you can see them cavorting in the water.

There is a museum/interpretive center on the headland in a sort of bowl area, the result of the removal of a large quantity of rock for gravel before the headland as a whole became protected.

The lighthouse itself is the tallest in Oregon, and if you make it all the way to the top (110 of 114 steps) you can closely examine the first order Fresnel (pronounced fray-Nell ) lens. Every light has its own unique pattern of on and off timing (called its characteristic) which, checked against entries in a mariner's master lights log, can identify exactly where your ship (and you) are on planet Earth at that specific moment, a little known secondary purpose of lighthouses. The volunteers here have lots of info -- all you need do is ask. The light is now automated.

Quarry Cove Tide Pools, the only wheelchair accessible tide pools in the world, are below the lower parking area. This second set of pools are artificial, man-made constructions, that were not fully established or thriving when last I checked.

Open: Dawn to dusk. Lighthouse: 12-4pm, weather permitting. Interpretive Center: 10am-5pm & 10-4 in winter.
Admission: Day use permit of $5, good for 72 hours, and up to 9 persons per vehicle.
Location: North end of Newport, off Highway 101.
Contact: 541-574-3100, or080mb@or.blm.gov
Websites: Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area
Lighthouse BLM site. Lighthouse NPS site. Yaquina Lights Also covers the Bay Light.
Tide Tables

Keiko, the killer whale, placed the Oregon Coast Aquarium on the map coming here to live, in a purpose-built tank, as part of the plan to rehabilitate and return him to the wild. Since Keiko died (December 12, 2003 in Taknes Bay, Norway) there will be no definitive answers as to the success of the program. But he’s still one of two topics of conversation people working at the aquarium encounter on a regular basis. Response to the second common topic is "No, there aren’t any great white sharks here." The sea life, fish, mammal, or avian, found here is representative, for the most part, of what is found along Oregon’s coast.

The Aquarium is actually a series of linked buildings and exhibit areas set in a nicely landscaped area. With viewing overlooks of Newport Bay local nature is also incorporated, in a less predictable way -- what might be in the bay is changeable on any given day. On site facilities include a cafe and gift shop.

--EXHIBIT HIGHLIGHTS--
--"Passages of the Deep." The "passages," suspended mid-way into the depths, provide a 360-degree view with windows in the floor. The Species Guide lists everything swimming in this tank, each entry linked to more information. Oregon waters contain only about 15 of the world’s 450 shark species and only about a third are represented in the exhibit which you can preview and explore with this online Clickable Exhibit and the Shark Cams. The exhibit works it way from near shore out, progressing to the ocean deeps.

This exhibit can be unnerving for some people, but is housed separately so you can skip it. I’ll admit to being spooked by leaning backwards to watch one swim over me only to notice a dark eye gliding by with only mere inches of glass between it and my face.

If you’re brave enough (with proper certification) volunteer to do interpretive dives (or clean the tanks!) with the sharks.

--"At the Jetty." Features coho salmon and white sturgeon in a 35,000-gallon habitat re-creation.

--"Enchanted Seas." Awww, seahorse babies are so cute -- and tiny. Last time I was here there were dozens of them and births are common. This area’s exhibits focus on some of the more unusual and threatened sea creatures and features a number of Seahorse varieties. Potbelly seahorses really do have a little potbelly, and leafy dragons look like they have leafed branches sprouting from their bodies.

Outside Exhibit Areas:
--A walk-through outdoor seabird aviary. Most notable: tufted puffins.
--Harbor seals and sea lions
--Sea otters, which haven’t been extant in Oregon waters since the early 1900s.
(All sea mammals are rescued animals deemed not releasable.)

Map of Newport with the Aquarium shown as #19.
Open: 9am-6pm, summer; 10am-5pm, winter, closed Christmas.
Contact: 541-867-FISH (recording), (fax) 541-867-6846

Looking for the Northwest Passage. . . so much of Oregon’s history involves just that. During his third voyage Captain James Cook had two ships Resolution and Discovery under his command. In early March of 1778 he had shortly departed Hawaii. On the 7th the ships came within sight of land again, a promontory of high cliffs thrust into the sea. He was looking for the Northwest Passage generally. He was looking for a place to put in to escape a storm at sea specifically. He found Oregon.

It is generally very windy and blustery here at Cape Foulweather, the historical marker onsite warning that winds of 100mph are not uncommon. March had come in like a lion that year and so this section of coastline, always stormier than the rest, was worse than usual. Thus Cook's descriptive name, which it retains to this day. A name to match the foul mood the weather gave him.

Otter Crest Scenic Viewpoint, with no facilities, provides an impressive view from this craggy headland 500-feet above the ocean. What seems to be a dead end street becomes the parking area. The Lookout Observatory and Gift Shop is perched on a projection of the prominence. Outside are coin-fed binoculars for spying on the whales as they pass close in below during their annual migrations: south late in the year and back north in the spring.

A note of humorous irony is always injected into the scene for me when I recall that it was at this point that Cook had declared Oregon would never be of any use to anyone, ever, ever, ever. But not in those words, of course. He was wrong, of course. And he never found the Northwest Passage, of course.

Unfortunately Cook would loose his life a little more than a year later and so never had the chance to see how very wrong his prediction would come to be.

Oregon state parks contact: 1-800-551-6949

Other resources:
Capt. Cook Society: The Coast of Oregon
National Maritime Museum: Captain James Cook

The force of water can do amazing things over a period of time. Long ago, this headland was whole and solid. Slowly, lower portions were chiseled at and worn away by the incessant surge of the Pacific Ocean. First a cave was formed, and then later, another. Later still, the two caves became one. Then the roof collapsed, leaving a bowl-shaped hole in the headland, a bowl with a hole in the side through which the sea still enters and retreats endlessly. The colorful name given to this place is the Devils Punch Bowl.

You have basically two choices when you visit this place, but either way you decide to approach the bowl, you'll want to know what the tide is doing.

Choice #1: You can go when the tide is in, when the amount of water and the force of its movement is powerful and energetic. This is actually even more impressive in winter, when storms increase the volatility of the surf.

Choice #2: You can go when the tide is out and access the headland by following the trail down to the slender beach, which vanishes when the tide is in. The latter will let you actually enter the punch bowl and explore it. I personally don't find this as interesting as watching the surge of the surf continue to eat away at the bowl itself. It is also an approach requiring caution and strict adherence to observing the tide-table predictions. You do not want to get trapped down there.

Now that you know you have a choice, you also can guess where that vestige of orange paint you see in the bowl came from.

The top of the headland is yet another popular spot for whale watching. Below, there are more tide pools waiting to be explored. Picnicking facilities are on site.

Oregon State Parks Division: 800/551-6949, for more information.
Website: Devils Punch Bowl State Natural Area
Tide Tables

Depoe Bay, with only 6-square-acres of surface water, has the distinction of being the world's smallest navigable harbor, but can handle boats up to 50 feet in length, which must brave the narrow channel. To give more perspective: I don’t believe there is a place where you can’t get the entire bay into a single non-panoramic photo while standing at the water’s edge. In the film "One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest," this is where the fishing expedition begins, and here is the bridge they cruise under en route to the sea.

There is a place just south of the bridge along the seawall (which runs the length of the seafront) where you can safely park, with an area for viewing the phenomena known as the "Spouting Horn." Upon occasion, the ocean erupts in a geyser-like wave up to 60-feet high, which crashes inland, often into the southbound lane of Highway-101. This effect, which can be very unpredictable, is more vigorous during the winter, sometimes reaching into the northbound lane as well. Water being forced through fissures in lava rock is what causes these geysers and why they are unpredictable, as each wave is actually unique. There are other places along the Oregon coastline where this water-trick is performed, but this is probably the easiest to access.

A walkway passing under the bridge bridge provides an alternative to crossing the road, which can be thickly congested with traffic. There are an amazing number of little shops crammed into this town. Buy some salt-water taffy at one of the shops, which specialize in this, and watch the boats go in and out as you eat it. Depoe Bay bills itself as the "Whale Watching Capital of the World." It is the center of the whale watching cruise industry, and you have many choices as to vendor. The local radio station gives updates on viewing conditions.

Annual events: The third Saturday in September, the town cooks and consumes 3000-pounds of fish at its big "Indian Style Salmon Bake." You’re invited to join. Late May brings the "Fleet of Flowers Memorial Day Ceremonies" commemorating when in 1936: two local who men set out to rescue a floundering boat ended up loosing their lives in a violent storm.

Contact: Depoe Bay Chamber of Commerce PO Box 21, Depoe Bay, OR 97341. 541-765-2889. dbchamber@newportnet.com