July 15…. Newport OR

On Tuesday, we got up early (8:30 am!!) and had breakfast out and then went into Newport OR, the “Dungeness Crab Capital of the World”.

Evidence of crab fishing is everywhere here! Stacks of traps, giant crab signs, places advertising crabs for sale, steamed or boiled, crab sandwiches, crab cakes, just plain containers of crab meat. Places to rent traps wherever you turn.

After breakfast, Susy and I walked down to the waterfront and out on a long public pier, right alongside the Yaquina Bay Bridge. A few people fishing, but a few dozen throwing traps into the water. We stopped and talked to a man for a while and he gave us all kinds of info about the area, about fishing for and eating crabs, about the whales outside Yaquina Bay (where we were), about the weather, and just some nice conversation.

He explained about the fog, and how it really only happens when it gets so hot back in the Willamette Valley where we were last week. We also asked him if it was always this cold here, and he just looked confused and said this isn’t cold. Huh. Standing out on that pier in the wind I was freezing my tail off. 🥶

Leaving the nice man to his fishing, we headed over to the Oregon Coast Aquarium.

The aquarium specializes in species particular to…. you guessed it, the Oregon coast.

Birds, sea lions, sea otters, and lots and lots of fish, sharks, sea anemones, starfish, and the rest of a large cast of characters.

We also signed up for the backstage tour. It was interesting, not something I’d do again, but the tour guide gave us a lot of info. We learned that most of the birds and mammals, and some of the larger sea creatures were sent to the aquarium to be rehabilitated after various injuries. They nurse the animals back to health, release those that can survive back in the wild, and keep those at the aquarium that wouldn’t be able to be on their own anymore. The orca that was star of the movie Free Willy, was one of them. Brought to the aquarium, he was rehabbed and released way back when.