This has been a lovely day. We’ve journeyed down the coast to Depoe Bay, and are staying in an absolutely wonderful B&B on Whale Cove (Whale Cove Inn). In addition to more wonderful views, we had a terrific lunch in Pacific City at the Pelican Pub & Brewery in a perfect place by the dunes at Cape Kiwanda. Cars can be driven on the beach, and the dory fleet of small boats also land on the beach; there is a lot of traffic on this beach.  We did see a couple of beached dory boats but, regrettably, I did not get pictures.

I did, however, get a picture of the rock formation known as the “other Haystack Rock.”

We stopped in Otter Rock and saw the Devil’s Punch Bowl.  The tide was high and the wind was howling, it was beautiful.  Pictures do not do it justice; the golden rock formations are so solidly massive and in stark contrast to the swirling sea.

We continued on to (the west coast) Newport and its quaint Nye Beach and Historic Newport Bayfront on Yaquina Bay.  The Bayfront area is home to a busy working fishing fleet, in addition to a U.S. Coast Guard Station, NOAA’s Pacific research fleet and all sorts of shops, galleries, and restaurants. We enjoyed a fabulous dinner of Dungeness Crab soup and fresh tuna at Local Ocean as we watched the last boats come in for the day. This is known as the Dungeness Crab capital, and our timing was good since crab season ends in mid-August and they are already in short supply.

The icing on the cake was returning to our room and seeing a Gray Whale hanging out in the cove outside our window. As it rolled to feed, it kept showing one side of its tail fluke, known as “sharking.” Perfect.