Whale Watching at Depoe Bay

We woke up on our third day and ate breakfast at the hotel. They couldn’t serve a traditional continental breakfast because of as Skylee would say - dang Covid. Instead, they had a process to order boxed breakfast and fresh fruit smoothies. The smoothies really took their breakfast experience to the next level. 

Our hotel - The Coho

The view outside our room

Most of the guests staying in the rooms around us had dogs. The room right next to us had this cute puppy.

We hit the road. Our first planned stop was going to be Boiler Bay State Park, but it was closed because of Covid. Instead we went to see the Devil’s punch bowl. It is a natural rock formation that water swirls in and out of. Because it was low tide there wasn’t much water in the bowl area. There was nearby trail with nearby viewpoints. We walked around and enjoyed the views. We also spent time watching birds and surfers. 

Twinning

Then we headed to Depoe Bay to go whale watching. The charter company we chose also  booked fishing excursions. When we checked in a boat full of fishermen had just gotten back. We watched them clean the fish and the crabs they caught. They crabs were particularly interesting to watch. 

We boarded our boat - the Tackle Buster and took a short ride into the nearby bay. Inside the bay there were 3-4 Grey Whales. We had a spot at the very front of the boat and we watched these whales come up the surface many times. The best part of the experience was when one of the whales came up near the boat. We could very audibly hear the water expel from the whales blow hole. It was pretty remarkable. We had pretty rough seas and by the end of our hour most of our group was getting a little sea sick. It was totally worth it to see the whales.

Panoramic view of the area where we saw the whales

After a short ride back to the dock we were ready for some lunch. We found a great local place - Gracie’s Sea Hag. It was excellent. Alison, Dan and I all go the crab melt - it was so delicious. 

After dinner we explored a few of the shops around Depoe Bay. We found a shop that sold handmade taffy- Holly was in heaven. Dan and I also got some ice cream - it was a little too cold for everyone else. 

Holly was very attached to the taffy

Next we drove to Yaquina head lighthouse. This lighthouse is run by the National Parks service. Most of the area was closed due to Covid, but they allowed people to  park just outside the lighthouse area and hike to the lighthouse. It was ~1 mile in. We decided to hike. The closer we got to the light house the windier and foggier it became. The weather in Oregon is crazy. Today in particular we had wild swings in weather. One minute we would have sunny blue skies and a moment later it would be windy with thick fog. In this case the fog gave the a horror flick look, which is appropriate considering the lighthouse was used in the film, The Ring. 

Dan took this photo

After the lighthouse we drove back to the Coho and went down to the beach. The kids enjoyed playing in the sand and looking in the tide pools. Alison and Kristin watched a GMC help a Nissan get unstuck. It was surprisingly good watching. Tonight we got take out from a Thai place. Then we bought a bonfire kit from the hotel and drove down to the beach. We could have walked, but Dan has always wanted to drive on the beach. It was still windy so we were looking for a little alcove area to keep our fire sheltered from the wind. As we were walking past one alcove area a couple told us they were leaving and offered their fire/spot to us. We happily took it and added our fuel to the fire. We had a nice large bonfire on the beach. It was really warm and out of the wind. We roasted marshmallows and made some s’mores. Sitting on the beach enjoying the fire and the ocean was the perfect way to end the day.