Depoe Bay is known as the whale watching capital of the Oregon coast and we’d agree with that – we saw several whales (spouts and tails) just whilst we were walking along the sea front after breakfast! Depoe even has its own Blow Hole on the shore (a geological oddity that allows for water spouts as high as 20-30 feet in the air if the sea conditions are right (too calm for us so only a couple of feet if that!). It’s also got the smallest harbour (Guinness world book of records), it certainly has a narrow entrance, especially at low tide!
We took a day’s ride out along highway 101 down to Cape Perpetua stopping off at the many stunning outlooks and rock formations along the way such as Otter Rock, Cape Foulweather (more like Calmweather during our visit!), Devil’s Punchbowl,
Newport and the beautiful Yaquina Bay bridge & two lighthouses – Yaquina Bay (only wooden one on the coast) and Yaquina Head (93 feet high, apparently the tallest on the coast),
Seal Rock, and the Devil’s Churn and Spout Horn at Cape Perpetua and view from the top of the Cape along the coastline.
Next day we carried on down through Florence, quick hike up to Heceta Head lighthouse (masses of harbour seals around the rocks here with pups), through Reedsport and past the massive dune area, quick photo stop at Umpqua lighthouse before overnighting in Coos Bay (our worst motel to date and we’ll say no more on that!!).
Happily leaving Coos Bay, we stopped off at Cape Arago – well, this definitely made up for our rubbish motel! We explored the lovely Shore Acres Garden, then at Simpson Reef wildlife lookout, we saw harbour seals, very noisy californian sealions and one juvenile elephant sealion. Volunteers had set up binoculars and telescopes and happily identified the wildlife for us.
We then came across a weekly Coast Guard rescue exercise, which we watched for a while! Then, on down to the lovely town of Bandon (Cranberry Capitol of the west coast) with the Coquille River lighthouse, some strangely shaped and named sea stacks on the beach (including Face Rock).
Had to have a look at Cape Blanco lighthouse built in 1870 and reputedly the oldest and highest (you may have detected a trend here – everything has to be older, bigger, higher etc here and all the towns have straplines!!).
From Coos Bay down to Brooking, the coastline is stunning, and we were once again blessed with mainly blue skies. Along the Samual H Boardman state scenic corridor, the coastline is scattered with many rock stacks and arches (Arch Rock, Thunder Rock, Whaleshead etc).
Then we travelled on through Brooking and said goodbye to Oregon and crossed the border into California, where we were promptly engulfed with the infamous sea fog!