Pho-tos: March 2005

Day 3

Wednesday March 23, 2005:
A fire boiled our water for a breakfast of oatmeal and yoghurt, then we took our time breaking camp, cleaning up and saying our goodbyes to the shade. We enjoyed a beautiful drive down the coast and kept an eye out for whales. We spotted one and pulled over to watch it for a few minutes. It was very far away and was making feeding dives. A little further up the road we arrived at the sea lion caves. The cave is the largest sea cave in America! To see the lions you walk down a path and ride an elevator some 200 feet down. You look through a chain-link fence at a big (2 ½ acre) cave full of sea lions. Herds of Stella sea lions come here to rest, mate, and calve. California sea lions (AKA circus seals) show up too. From our visit we determined that the sea lions also come to the cave to make a lot of noise and stink up the place. As soon as the elevator opens you are hit with the smell of hundreds of sea lions. They’re constantly “roaring” which sounds like broken motor boat operated by the winner of the world belching contest. It was really cool to see and hear, though I could have done without the smell. The was discovered in the 1800s and was full of sea lions then too. They discovered sea lion bones some 30 feet above the water which are still on display! Because of the unique conditions of the cave it’s difficult to know exactly how old they are. From the cave you can also spot the Haceta lighthouse which is claimed to be the most photographed lighthouse in the world (we took a photo of course). Outside the cave, you can walk to a viewpoint and look at the cave’s entrance where sea lions enjoy the sun and make more noise. It’s also where they have their calves. Sea lions live in the cave year round but it is most full of lions in the spring and summer months.
After enjoying the sea lions, we raced back north up the coast to try to reach Yaquina lighthouse before it closed for tours at 4:00, we arrived at 3:40 and were told that the they’d been so busy they had to close the lighthouse early (make sense?) so we went to the interpretive center and learned about the Fresnel lenses that cover lighthouse lights and took some pictures. Some other day, we’ll return to go inside, it looks really interesting. It was very windy and rain was threatening to take over so we were glad to head home to our warm apartment. We did stop to shop for a while in McMinnville, and had a good night’s rest.

Yaquina lighthouse

Yaquina lighthouse

sea birds, sea birds

thousands of sea birds!

an ocean view from Yaquina lighthouse

sea lions (be glad the smell doesn't come through) it's blurry 'cause it's dark in the cave and flash photos are not allowed

cave lions

sea lions playing in the water in the cave

the cave

a sign from the cave

a sign up in the cave

sea lion bones (old)

from the cave

from inside sea lion cave looking north (Haceta lighthouse)

the entrance to sea lion cave

outside sea lion caves looking down at entrance

Day 2

Tuesday March 22, 2005:
We survived a chilly night of camping, then cleaned up and went down the road to Depoe Bay. As the ocean came in view, Devin jokingly asked Susan if she could see any whales, at that moment a whale came to the surface a few times and we could see the plume! We pulled over later and looked for more without any luck. We arrived at our destination where we purchased tickets on a charter boat to see whales! The boat ride alone was worth the price. The waves were fun, but some of the passengers (not us) got a little sea sick. We were lucky though, in that we spotted several plumes. From the boat we could see the California grey whales’ backs and even a tail! The hour whale-watching trip was the highlight of the day.
Afterward, we enjoyed some delicious lunch at “The Chowder Bowl”. The food was great and we got stuffed! After lunch we headed south to Yaquina Bay and explored some tide pools. Star fish, sea anemones and a bunch of sea lions on a rock made our photo album. There’s a lighthouse there too that we’re planning on seeing tomorrow. That night we had foil dinners and bundled up better for another cold night. We slept much better, but have decided not to camp another night.